King Solomon's Mines

Starring: Cedric Hardwicke, Paul Robeson, Roland Young, Anna Lee, John Loder, Arthur Sinclair
Directed by: Robert Stevenson
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
1937

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Hunter Allan Quartermain (Cedric Hardwicke) reluctantly agrees to help a woman (Anna Lee) find her missing father (Arthur Sinclair) in the unexplored area of Africa, where he was searching for King Solomon's Mines.

Review:

Tim: Be careful if you venture down the rabbit hole that is movies in the Allan Quatermain franchise. Technically, this is the 2nd film version of King Solomon's Mines. There is a 1919 version, which I simply can't track down. Regardless, most people view this, the 1937 version, as the real start of this character on the big screen. For the most part, the film is an entertaining action adventure story. It definitely has some very strong moments throughout the film. As a whole, the movie could easily have been better. It's a decent adventure story.

Apparently, the movie follows the book more closely than later adaptations. I haven't read the book, so I am unable to comment. The movie follows a group of explorers searching for a woman's missing father, and potentially, the fabled diamond mines of King Solomon. Their trek will take them deep into the heart of Africa's more unexplored, dangerous terrain. It's a fun story, especially when you consider the time period in which this film came out- Africa was this very wild, exotic location. The idea that large amounts of land were unexplored seemed very possible. That is the film's biggest strength- that it sweeps the audience up in this dangerous, exciting adventure.

The cast is fine, although they did tend to stray into overacting. Cedric Hardwicke did a decent job as Allan Quartermain (I'm not sure why they spelled it that way in the film). He's not the most likeable or charismatic character in Hardwicke's hands, but he does give off that aloof, professorial vibe that apparently jives with the book. Anna Lee was relegated to the typical female role of the area- she does lots of screaming and is in need of rescuing. I will say that it was nice to see her depicted as a determined, strong-willed woman (at least as close as you could get in the 1930s). Her performance was fine. Paul Robeson got a surprising amount of screen time, mostly so that he could sing. In some ways, I enjoyed these odd breaks in the story for a song. It helped create the atmosphere of Africa and Robeson does have a pretty good voice. However, the song numbers were also a bit disruptive and on occasion, went on way too long. For example, Robeson does tremendous work with the catchy "Climbin' Up", which added greatly to the film. But, he just keeps singing and singing and singing. After a while, I started laughing when he sang the lyrics, "mighty mountain!" in that deep, deep voice of his. It started to seem silly after a certain point. That was not good for the overall film.

The film has some nice moments throughout. The movie did transport the audience to Africa, which was a good achievement. I thought the scenes in the desert were particularly well done. You really felt their plight and my mouth started to get dry, thinking about how badly they needed water. The scene with the villagers looked impressive (but again, it went on way too long). Finally seeing King Solomon's mines was impressive as well.

This film does a good job of giving us a grand adventure story. Unfortunately, too many scenes drag on and the singing disrupts the flow of the story. The actors were average- no one gave a truly great performance. When you add all of that up, I'd say King Solomon's Mines was a decent movie, but it's not as good as I'd hoped.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: King Solomon's Mines (1950)