Wednesday, April 15, 2020

King Solomon's Mines (1937)

Epic adventure in deepest darkest Africa. Irish miner O'Brien (Arthur Sinclair) heads off looking for King Solomon's diamond mines and thus become the richest man in the world. His daughter Kathy (Anna Lee) enlists the help of English game hunters and adventurers Quartermain (Cedric Hardwicke), Curtis (John Loder) and Commander Good (Roland Young) plus the rather mysterious Umpopa (Paul Robeson) to help her find her father... and plenty of diamonds.

The adventure takes them across blistering desert and up mountains until they reach the mines guarded by a native tribe. Umpopa finally reveals that he is the true tribal king who had been usurped, obviously his usurper Robert Adams is rather keen that their adventure now ends...

A well-paced adventure, the wonderful backdrop of Africa adding tremendous presence. The wonderfully deep voice of Robeson also adding as much presence. Of course the stereotypes are a bit dated nowadays (though if we are to be honest Anna Lee's terrible "Irish" accent is probably the worst culprit) but that doesn't detract from the old fashioned but glorious fun.