King Solomon's Mines (1950 film)
Encyclopedia
King Solomon's Mines is a 1950 adventure film
loosely based on the 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines
by Henry Rider Haggard, starring Deborah Kerr
, Stewart Granger
and Richard Carlson. It was adapted by Helen Deutsch
, directed by Compton Bennett
and Andrew Marton
and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
. The film won Academy Awards
for Best Cinematography, Colour
and Best Film Editing
and was nominated for Best Picture
.
Like virtually all film versions, it changes Haggard's plot to include a female lead. But this version strays even further from the novel than the 1937 British adaptation King Solomon's Mines
. There are several African characters in the book, particularly Umbopa, a king in disguise. In the earlier film, Paul Robeson
received top billing
for the role, whereas in this version, Umbopa's importance is greatly reduced.
Filming took place at the following locations in Africa: Murchison Falls
in Uganda
; Astrida, "the land of giant Watusi
s"; Volcano Country and Stanleyville
in the Belgian Congo
; Tanganyika
; and Rumuruti
and Machakos
in Kenya
.
In 1959, a sequel titled Watusi
was made by the same studio.
(Stewart Granger
), an experienced hunter and guide, is reluctantly talked into helping Elizabeth Curtis (Deborah Kerr
) and her brother John Goode (Richard Carlson) search for her husband, who had disappeared in the unexplored interior of Africa on a quest to find the legendary mines. They have a copy of the map he used. A tall, mysterious native, Umbopa (Siriaque), joins the safari
. During the grueling journey, Elizabeth and Allan begin falling in love.
The party encounters Van Brun (Hugo Haas
), a lone white man living with a tribe. They learn that he met Curtis. However, when Allan recognises him as a fugitive who cannot afford to let them go, they take him hostage to leave the village safely. Van Brun tries to shoot Allan, killing his faithful right hand man Khiva (Kimursi). Allan dispatches Van Brun and the party flees from the angry villagers.
When they finally reach the region where the mines are supposed to be, they are met by people who resemble Umbopa. They discover that their companion is royalty; he has returned to attempt to dethrone the evil King Twala (Baziga). Umbopa leaves with his supporters, while Allan, Elizabeth and John travel to a tense meeting with Twala. With his last rifle bullet, John kills a would-be attacker, temporarily quelling the natives.
The king's advisor, Gagool (Sekaryongo), communicates that they have seen Curtis and leads them to a cave that contains a trove of jewels and in which they find the skeleton of Elizabeth's husband. While they are distracted by this discovery, Gagool takes the opportunity to leave and triggers a booby trap that seals them in the cave. However, leaving the jewels behind, they find a way out through an underground stream and return to the settlement, just as Umbopa and his followers arrive.
Umbopa's people have an unusual method of deciding the kingship. The two claimants duel to the death. Despite cheating by one of Twala's men, Umbopa wins. Afterwards, he provides an escort for his friends' return trip.
, Errol Flynn
was offered the role of Quatermain, but chose instead to star in Kim
. This paved the way for Granger's rise to stardom, as King Solomon's Mines proved to be much more popular.
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....
loosely based on the 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines
King Solomon's Mines
King Solomon's Mines is a popular novel by the Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the missing brother of one of the party...
by Henry Rider Haggard, starring Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
, Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger was an English-American film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s rising to fame through his appearances in the Gainsborough melodramas.-Early life:He was born James Lablache Stewart in Old...
and Richard Carlson. It was adapted by Helen Deutsch
Helen Deutsch
Helen Deutsch was an American screenwriter, journalist and songwriter.Deutsch was born in New York City and graduated from Barnard College. She began her career by managing the Provincetown Players...
, directed by Compton Bennett
Compton Bennett
Herbert William "Bob" Compton Bennett , better known as Compton Bennett, was an English film director, writer and producer. He is perhaps best known for directing the 1945 film The Seventh Veil and the 1950 version of the film King Solomon's Mines, an adaptation of an Allan Quatermain...
and Andrew Marton
Andrew Marton
Andrew Marton was a Hungarian-American director, producer and editor...
and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
. The film won Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for Best Cinematography, Colour
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
and Best Film Editing
Academy Award for Film Editing
The Academy Award for Film Editing is one of the annual awards of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nominations for this award are closely correlated with the Academy Award for Best Picture. Since 1981, every film selected as Best Picture has also been nominated for the Film Editing...
and was nominated for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
.
Like virtually all film versions, it changes Haggard's plot to include a female lead. But this version strays even further from the novel than the 1937 British adaptation King Solomon's Mines
King Solomon's Mines (1937 film)
King Solomon's Mines is a 1937 film, the first film adaptation of the 1885 novel by the same name by Henry Rider Haggard. It starred Paul Robeson, Cedric Hardwicke, Anna Lee, John Loder and Roland Young...
. There are several African characters in the book, particularly Umbopa, a king in disguise. In the earlier film, Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
received top billing
Billing (film)
Billing is a performing arts term used in referring to the order and other aspects of how credits are presented for plays, films, television, or other creative works...
for the role, whereas in this version, Umbopa's importance is greatly reduced.
Filming took place at the following locations in Africa: Murchison Falls
Murchison Falls
Murchison Falls, also known as Kabarega Falls, is a waterfall on the Nile. It breaks the Victoria Nile, which flows across northern Uganda from Lake Victoria to Lake Kyoga and then to the north end of Lake Albert in the western branch of the East African Rift....
in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
; Astrida, "the land of giant Watusi
Tutsi
The Tutsi , or Abatutsi, are an ethnic group in Central Africa. Historically they were often referred to as the Watussi or Watusi. They are the second largest caste in Rwanda and Burundi, the other two being the Hutu and the Twa ....
s"; Volcano Country and Stanleyville
Kisangani
Kisangani is the capital of Orientale Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the 3rd largest urbanized city in the country and the largest of the cities that lie in the tropical woodlands of the Congo....
in the Belgian Congo
Belgian Congo
The Belgian Congo was the formal title of present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo between King Leopold II's formal relinquishment of his personal control over the state to Belgium on 15 November 1908, and Congolese independence on 30 June 1960.-Congo Free State, 1884–1908:Until the latter...
; Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
; and Rumuruti
Rumuruti
Rumuruti is a settlement in Kenya's Rift Valley Province....
and Machakos
Machakos
Machakos is a town in Kenya, 64 kilometres southeast of Nairobi. It is the capital of the Machakos District in Eastern Province of Kenya. Machakos Town is a major rural centre, and also a satellite town due to its proximity to Nairobi. Its population is rapidly growing and is 192,117...
in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
.
In 1959, a sequel titled Watusi
Watusi (film)
Watusi is a 1959 MGM adventure film directed by Kurt Neumann and produced by Al Zimbalist and Donald Zimbalist. The screenplay was by James Clavell based on the novel King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard...
was made by the same studio.
Plot
Allan QuatermainAllan Quatermain
Allan Quatermain is the protagonist of H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines and its various prequels and sequels. Allan Quatermain was also the title of a book in this sequence.- History :...
(Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger was an English-American film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s rising to fame through his appearances in the Gainsborough melodramas.-Early life:He was born James Lablache Stewart in Old...
), an experienced hunter and guide, is reluctantly talked into helping Elizabeth Curtis (Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
) and her brother John Goode (Richard Carlson) search for her husband, who had disappeared in the unexplored interior of Africa on a quest to find the legendary mines. They have a copy of the map he used. A tall, mysterious native, Umbopa (Siriaque), joins the safari
Safari
A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...
. During the grueling journey, Elizabeth and Allan begin falling in love.
The party encounters Van Brun (Hugo Haas
Hugo Haas
Hugo Haas was a Czech film actor, director and writer. He appeared in over 60 films between 1926 and 1962, as well as directing 20 films between 1933 and 1962....
), a lone white man living with a tribe. They learn that he met Curtis. However, when Allan recognises him as a fugitive who cannot afford to let them go, they take him hostage to leave the village safely. Van Brun tries to shoot Allan, killing his faithful right hand man Khiva (Kimursi). Allan dispatches Van Brun and the party flees from the angry villagers.
When they finally reach the region where the mines are supposed to be, they are met by people who resemble Umbopa. They discover that their companion is royalty; he has returned to attempt to dethrone the evil King Twala (Baziga). Umbopa leaves with his supporters, while Allan, Elizabeth and John travel to a tense meeting with Twala. With his last rifle bullet, John kills a would-be attacker, temporarily quelling the natives.
The king's advisor, Gagool (Sekaryongo), communicates that they have seen Curtis and leads them to a cave that contains a trove of jewels and in which they find the skeleton of Elizabeth's husband. While they are distracted by this discovery, Gagool takes the opportunity to leave and triggers a booby trap that seals them in the cave. However, leaving the jewels behind, they find a way out through an underground stream and return to the settlement, just as Umbopa and his followers arrive.
Umbopa's people have an unusual method of deciding the kingship. The two claimants duel to the death. Despite cheating by one of Twala's men, Umbopa wins. Afterwards, he provides an escort for his friends' return trip.
Cast
- Deborah KerrDeborah KerrDeborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...
as Elizabeth Curtis - Stewart GrangerStewart GrangerStewart Granger was an English-American film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s rising to fame through his appearances in the Gainsborough melodramas.-Early life:He was born James Lablache Stewart in Old...
as Allan Quatermain - Richard CarlsonRichard CarlsonRichard Carlson was an American actor, television and film director, and screenwriter.-Career:Born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, Carlson graduated from the University of Minnesota with an M.A. degree, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He later appeared on the Broadway stage in the 1930s after studying...
as John Goode - Hugo HaasHugo HaasHugo Haas was a Czech film actor, director and writer. He appeared in over 60 films between 1926 and 1962, as well as directing 20 films between 1933 and 1962....
as Van Brun a.k.a. Smith - Lowell Gilmore as Eric Masters, District Commissioner
- Kimursi as Khiva, Chief Bearer in Red Fez (as Kimursi of the Kipsigi Tribe)
- Siriaque as Umbopa, Tall Prince-in-Exile
- Sekaryongo as Chief Gagool, Witch-like Guide to Diamond Mines
- Baziga as King Twala, Usurper (as Baziga of the Watussi Tribe)
Casting
According to Robert OsborneRobert Osborne
Robert Jolin Osborne is an American actor and film historian best known as the primary host for Turner Classic Movies, and previously a host of The Movie Channel.-Life and career:...
, Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
was offered the role of Quatermain, but chose instead to star in Kim
Kim (film)
Kim is a 1950 adventure film made in Technicolor by MGM. It was directed by Victor Saville and produced by Leon Gordon from a screenplay by Helen Deutsch, Leon Gordon and Richard Schayer, based on the classic novel of the same name by Rudyard Kipling....
. This paved the way for Granger's rise to stardom, as King Solomon's Mines proved to be much more popular.