King Solomon's Mines (1937)

At the time this film was made Gaumont British were really pushing the boat out in an attempt to break the American market.Sadly they failed and became insolvent in the recession of 1938,allowing Rank to buy their assets.The film has a strong cast,not least,Paul Robeson,who had to come to England to get top billing.Whilst the production may look dated now,it was state of the art at the time.Sydney Fairbrothers performance must be the most chilling committed to film.

This movie version (the first) is true to the book and displayed movie magic for its time. Its got Cedric Hardwicke in it who has done other Africa themed films making you right at home with this one. I personally liked the Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger version better but again the book is the best bet and makes for interesting reading as you can't wait to find the fabled King Solomon's Mines. The premise is that Solomon not only possessed wisdom never before seen but immense God-supported wealth making him use gold for everything as he had no money considerations whatsoever. Apparently his mines provided a great deal of this or so they would have us believe. It is a good story when told and this movie tells it good enough. I enjoyed a snack with this plus a tasty drink on standby. Imagine all that wealth sitting there and the locals paying it no mind because their spear and their hut are more important than shiny stones. The Native Indians in America had no use for gold either remarking that the little yellow nuggets drove white men mad making them want it even less. Its only as good as we say it is

King Solomon's Mines is a British adventure film that was the first of five film adaptations of the 1885 novel of the same title by Henry Rider Haggard.It stars Paul Robeson, Cedric Hardwicke, Anna Lee, John Loder and Roland Young.This 1937 film is about the events that happen when an expedition was organized by Anna Lee to locate her father who disappeared in the wilderness of Africa while searching for King Solomon's mines,a well-known legendary diamond repository.Added to the plot is how Alan Quatermaine and his troupe has managed to locate it.No question about it that the film has been more than 75 years ago.It was obviously dated particularly the special effects and production values as compared with today's films and especially the remakes that were made after it.But compared with those recent remakes,this version remains closest to the version of the novel and arguably remains the best among them.If one is able to get a copy of it,it will definitely be worth watching.

This is a rousing adventure story that has only a few flaws that keep it from an even higher score--amazingly good for a film that has somehow been allowed to slip into the public domain! The film begins with a really dumb girl (Anna Lee) and her even dumber father (Arthur Sinclair) hitching a ride along with the famous Allan Quartermain (Cedric Hardwicke) as he goes to meet a client. It seems that Quartermain's exploits as a great white hunter are legendary, though he seems a pretty likable guy who really is so unlike the two Irish idiots he happened upon. By the way, I have absolutely nothing against the Irish--it's just that the characters really overdo the 'I'm Irish' bit through the first part of the film.Along the way, they happen upon a dying man and his co-traveler (Paul Robson) and they learn about some sort of treasure of King Solomon's mines. Almost instantly, the father takes off in search of the treasure--even though it's blinking insane to travel through unknown African territory and through deserts to do this---alone!!! And, it turns out his daughter is also an idiot, as soon she steals one of Quartermain's wagons and sets off in search of her father and the treasure. Oddly, Quartermain's client who has hired him for a safari (Roland Young) decides that he and Quartermain should follow her and try to save her from herself. I say they should have just let her die and then celebrated with some pie...but that wouldn't make a very interesting movie, would it?! Eventually, their insanely difficult journey brings them to a strange land where there really is an honest-to-goodness treasure. But, they have to battle the tribesmen AND nature to get the treasure and, hopefully, find the idiots and save them from themselves.Overall, this is a really good African adventures story because the natives really do appear to be Africans, the scenery sure looks like Africa and there is no trace of the usual stock shots of animals from Asia or South America like you'd usually see in the countless low-budget films set in Africa that were the rage from the 1930s-50s. And, the story and acting are quite good, though I was a bit surprised to see Hardwicke as an action-hero--he's got a lovely voice and was a good actor, but 'macho' is not normally a word I'd associate with him! About the only problem with the film is all of Paul Robeson's gratuitous singing. Yes, he has a wonderful voice in the film, but the songs seemed irrelevant to the plot and were simply tossed in because he had a great voice. Also, oddly, his first song sure sounded a lot like a re-working of "Old Man River"--a song he made famous on Broadway and film in "Showboat" (1936).