King Solomon's Mines
All actors and roles (10)
Short description
Allan Quatermain, a seasoned hunter and guide in Africa, is reluctant when Elizabeth Curtis asks him to lead an expedition into the continent's interior. Her husband vanished while searching for the legendary diamond mines of King Solomon. The money Quatermain stands to earn persuades him to accept, since he wants his son to receive a good education in England. Accompanied by Elizabeth's brother John Goode and local bearers, the party heads into unfamiliar territory, where hostile tribes and a rival German explorer stand in their way. The film is based on H. Rider Haggard's novel and is set in the late nineteenth century.
Andrew Marton directed this 1950 release, which came before his work on The Longest Day, with Compton Bennett also credited as director. Sam Zimbalist produced from a screenplay by Helen Deutsch, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer backed it on a budget of two million dollars. Deborah Kerr plays Elizabeth Curtis, Stewart Granger appears as Allan Quartermain, and Richard Carlson, Hugo Haas, Lowell Gilmore and Kimursi round out the cast. The film, which runs 103 minutes, earned five million dollars worldwide, comfortably above its cost.
On IMDb it holds 6.7 out of 10 from around 7,800 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.5 from a much smaller group of 140. A film critics' rating of 7.9 from 13 reviews is notably higher than both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The scene in which Deborah Kerr (1921-2007) cuts off her hair, only to then appear with a perfect hairstyle, caused uproarious laughter among audiences during preview screenings, and producers even considered removing the scene altogether. No one could figure out how to otherwise explain the change in her hairstyle, so the scene remained.
- The ritual dance shown on screen in the village of the Umbopa tribe is still performed today.
- The escape of frightened wild animals in Africa was filmed on location, but the footage was lost, and the scene was reshot in Hollywood with a trained elephant.
- The logistics of filming were a nightmare. Over 2.5 tons of equipment, including specially constructed trucks, were delivered to the city of Mombasa, as some scenes were to be filmed on Mount Kenya. Film was flown from Hollywood to Africa and back in special refrigerated containers, where a specific temperature was maintained. Along the way, the planes made several stops where the containers were additionally cooled.
- The African actors who appeared in the film were hired locally.
- The desert scene was filmed in the state of New Mexico.
- At the beginning of the film, a real shot was fired at the elephant.
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