King Solomon’s Mines (1937)

White hunter Allan Quartermain (Cedric Hardwicke) takes rich men on safari in Africa. Along the way he picks up an Irish father and daughter in need of a ride. When dad learns that the fabled King Solomon’s Mines are nearby, he takes off alone across the desert. When daughter (Anna Lee) learns of this, she and the enigmatic Umbopa (Paul Robeson) steal a carriage to go off looking for him. Of course Allan and his team follow suit. Let’s talk about Mister Robeson.

Paul Robeson and his amazing baritone pipes rose to Hollywood fame with Show Boat (1936). He chose to leave Hollywood for the UK where he expected to find better roles for black men. One of these roles is as the aforementioned Umbopa in the first major adaptation of King Solomon’s Mines. He was angered when he saw that scenes shot later depicted the Africans as stereotypes and in 1942 said he would quit acting until there were better roles for African Americans. He would never do another film.

I’m curious what exactly Robeson objected to. Compared to most films of its era, it was downright culturally sensitive. And keep in mind the source material was a little problematic to begin with. I’m not saying the filmmakers dodged every bullet, but this experiment here has appropriately lowered my expectations on such matters. I give them credit for making the controversial decision to have the African warriors played by actual African warriors. I know it came from the book, but why exactly did Allan need to identify himself as a “white” hunter? Were people reading his advert worrying they might be stuck with a purple hunter?

Thought lost for many years, here Allan Quartermain is not the daring action hero. Brave and capable, yes, but not yet the Indiana Jones inspiration. I have the 1950 version on the DVR and expect it to be more swashbucklier. This is the more famous book-turned-film from author Sir H. Rider Haggard, who also wrote She.

I remember a character with the name Allan Quartermain on a TV drama I used to watch that happened to be on during the daytime MY SISTER MADE ME WATCH IT, GET OFF MY BACK! Anyway, the lovely Anna Lee was apparently on General Hospital during the 80’s. You know, that Luke and Laura storyline really didn’t age well.

Albeit a bit clunky, and in the world of Google Maps, the Lost World genre loses some of its impact. But still, King Solomon's Mines is a better than fair adventure story. I’d consider watching it again, but I confess Robeson’s “Mighty Mountain” songs got a little tiresome. AMRU 3.