King Solomon's Mines (1950)

Filmed on location this '50's jungle adventure is nothing less than
magnificent in it's techincolor glory and should have been one of
the first films to be released on dvd. I wish mgm would get their
pace together and release this gem. The vhs tape in the meantime
tries it's best to capture all the films splendor such as jungle
stampede by over 1000 animals and the native tribe ritual dances
to name a few. Come on mgm get the lead out!

What is particularly disappointing about "King Solomon's Mines" is its overall predictability. From its faux "Gone With The Wind - ish" main title sequence through its lumbering and uneven pacing, the film is not one cohesive narrative, but four mixed up into behaving as one. Long before we reach the end of this story we've figured out that Elizabeth's husband is quite dead. The romance that develops between Granger and Kerr is stoic and flawed - cropping up from a bitter antagonism and out of blind necessity. Richard Carleson, as Liz's brother, John Goode, is wasted with bits of business that lead us into discovering the real reason why Mr. Curtis would ditch Mrs. Curtis for the wilds and unknown. The final sequence in the film, a laborious dance that belongs in an Arthur Freed musical but ends with a public execution is quite anti-climactic and, well...boring. There's little to no resolution for the main characters and little to suggest that this film could have won such overwhelming votes to be a DVD Decision Winner among other such fine contenders as "The Spirit of St. Louis" or "Bathing Beauty".

Of course, all of this fluff and nonsense would be slightly forgivable if the print quality of "King Solomon's Mines" was something to cheer about. It is not. The Technicolor negative exhibits an inconsistently rendered image with excessive amounts of age related artifacts throughout. Colors are, on the whole, weak, softly focused and poorly contrasted and balanced. Occasionally we are treated to a stunning sequence of color photography, as with the aformentioned dance of the Watusis, but for the most part we are given a dull palette onto which some color has been smeared. The travelogue footage - obviously shot long before the principle actors had arrived on location - is grossly out of focus and quite faded. There are nicks, chips and tears in the negative, making the footage appear much older than the rest of the film stock. The audio is mono but nicely balanced with limited spread but optimal audibility. A theatrical trailer is the only extra included.

Bottom line: "King Solomon's Mines" is not vintage MGM in the way that the studio's earlier African adventures like "Trader Horn" or "Mocambo" are. Instead it's a clap trap of events buttressed by a feeble tale of self discovery that strangely is never fully realized.