People in my part of the world have a saying “One person’s dusk is another person’s dawn”. History of cinema had plenty of such examples, and one of them is King Solomon’s Mines, 1985 action adventure film directed by J. Lee Thompson, known for helping career of one of 1990s most popular actresses, while in the same time representing beginning of the end for one of the most iconic 1980s film studios.
Film represents adaptation of eponymous 1885 novel by English writer H. Ridder Haggard, immensely popular work known for inspiring “lost world” genre. The script by Gene Quintano and James R. Silke is set in Africa during first decades of 20th Century. Protagonist, played by Richard Chamberlain, is Allan Quatermain, great white hunter who gets hired by American archaeologist Jesse Huston (played by Sharon Stone) to find her father, Professor Huston (played by Barnard Hughes), who has disappeared while trying to locate mythical King Solomon’s Mines. Two of them, accompanied by Quatermain’s native friend Umbopo (played by Ken Gampu) find that Professor was captured by Colonel Bockner (played by Herbert Lom), pompous Imperial German Army officer who wants to locate the Mines and find the treasure that would finance German war effort. He is aided by Turkish slave trader Dogati (played by Jonathan Rhys-Davies) who hates Quatermain. Quatermain manages to set Professor free, but he is warned that he must stop Bockner and Bogati from locating the treasure.
Produced by Cannon Group, studio specialised in low budget exploitation films, King Solomon’s Mines represented attempt to deliver old school adventure film very much like those in Indiana Jones series or Romancing the Stone. Although made with relatively low budget, film featured decent production values, exotic Zimbabwe locations, and an effective musical score by Jerry Goldsmith. Veteran director J. Lee Thompson didn’t bother with the complexities of plot nor with too much exposition (so characters of Quatermain and Jesse are introduced in the middle of the search), but he compensated lack of depth with fast pace and series of interesting, sometimes spectacular and sometimes downright silly action scenes. Richard Chamberlain, actor who was at the time best known as television star, does relatively decent job in the role of iconic adventurer. Sharon Stone, who was cast by mistake, is burdened with terrible dialogues and cliches, but she nevertheless does decent job and even has some chemistry with Chamberlain, despite two of them reportedly not liking each other at the set. Most memorable roles belong to Herbert Lom and Jonathan Rhys-Davies; the former plays arrogant militarist in such over the top way that he prevents the film from being taken seriously; the latter enjoys playing villain whose rivalry with Bockner provides additional comic relief. The biggest flaw of the film is in sometimes poor special effects, but they don’t manifest themselves until the latter part that takes place inside the mythical mountain. Critics hated the film and box office results weren’t particularly good, so this film and its sequel Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (shot back to back) contributed to the financial woes of Cannon Group which would ultimately end that studio. On the other hand, Sharon Stone, despite traumatic experiences on the set, rose her profile just enough to maintain her career and become great Hollywood star in the next decade.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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