GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

daneldorado When Richard Chamberlin signed on to portray adventurer Allan Quatermain in this (1985) version of H. R. Haggard's novel "King Solomon's Mines," he probably gave no thought to how his co-star, the young Sharon Stone, would look on screen.Bad move, Richard. But it's a great boon for us viewers. The then 27-year-old Stone wears short shorts almost all throughout the movie, and after about two reels it's a strong bet that the audience was fixated on Sharon's gorgeous legs, never mind Chamberlin and his quest for African gold.The picture did well enough that the following year, 1986, a sequel was mounted, "Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold," again starring Richard Chamberlin and Sharon Stone. This time, however, Sharon wore long pants all the way through, and judging by the warm reception of Sharon's legs in the original film, there was absolutely NO reason to hide those perfect pins in the sequel. Maybe Chamberlin, the nominal star of the picture, objected to being upstaged... again?Dan Navarro [email protected]

ma-cortes This new agreeable version from H. Rider Haggard adventure follows again Allan Quatermain played by a likable Richard Chamberlain . However , the original novel took place in the 1880s or earlier, but this film moves Quatermain's adventures to the era of World War I, in an unusual case of a semi-update . This is the adventure of a lifetime starred by a fortune hunter called Allan Quatermain (one of the members of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) who teams up with a resourceful woman (Sharon Stone , according to her memoirs Kathleen Turner turned down the role of Jesse) to help her find her missing father lost in the wilds of 1900s Africa while being pursued by hostile tribes , a rival German explorer (Herbert Lom) and a slaver Arab named Dogati (John Rhys-Davies who along with Richard Chamberlain starred TV-series "Shogun") . Allan is leading a safari in search of legendary diamond mines and to save the damsel's father . They are pursued by German soldiers and must confront natives , animals and several dangers and risks until they find the King Salomon's mines . The brave hunter and the elegant lady become fast friends, confronting magic rites and cannibals in search of legendary diamonds mines . While a native (Ken Gampu) is reclaiming his rights over throne of an African tribe next to King Salomon's mines .This amusing spoof picture displays exciting action , thrills , humor with tongue-in-cheek , extraordinary adventures and outlandish cliffhanger situations abound . Richard Chamberlain as Quatermain is passable , though Stewart Granger in the classic of the 50s -by Compton Bennett, Andrew Marton and with Debora Kerr- is incredibly missed . Heat and ills affected the crew and main actors but Sharon Stone surprised for her resistance . Polished and colorful production design by Luciano Spadoni , though in low-budget and excessive transparency . The natives are played by a real ethnic people from Zimbabwe . Evocative as well as glowing cinematography by the Mexican Alex Phillips, being shot on location in Harare, Zimbabwe . Special mention to rousing and thrilling musical score by the great Jerry Goldsmith . The motion picture was middlingly directed by J. Lee Thompson , though filmmaker Tobe Hooper was attached to direct early in production . This film arrive in theaters in 1985, the year of the 100th anniversary of the first appearance of Allan Quatermain in the novel King Solomon's Mines in 1885. The sequel, Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987), adapted the novel Allan Quatermain (1887), it was an impressive accomplishment that Quatermain had two films arrive in theaters for his centenary celebrations .Other versions of this known story are directed by Robert Stevenson, a 1937 version in which the supreme role was performed by the singer Paul Robeson who proved his singing faculties. The best and classic version resulted to be directed by Compton Bennett, Andrew Marton with Stewart Granger and Debora Kerr . Kurt Neumann directed a rendition titled ¨Watusi¨ with George Montgomery and David Farrar . And TV adaptation directed by Steven Boyum with Patrick Swayze and Alison Doody, among others . Furthermore , ¨King Salomon's mines¨ was filmed concurrently with its sequel, "Allan Quatermain and the City of Gold" starred by same duo along with James Earl Jones and Henry Silva directed by Gary Nelson .

James Hitchcock H. Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines" has been filmed a number of times, but this is the only version I have ever seen. It is only very loosely based on the original novel; a greater influence seems to have been the first two episodes of the Indiana Jones franchise. The action is brought forward from the 1880s to the time of the First World War in order to make the main villain a German; "Raiders of the Lost Ark" had been set in the 1930s with Nazi villains. Haggard's Allan Quatermain becomes an action hero based on Indy himself, complete with bush hat (although without the bullwhip). Like Indy, Quatermain has a glamorous young female companion, Jessie Huston (who bears certain similarities to Willie in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom"). His male companions from the original novel, apart from the faithful African servant Umbopa, disappear.The 1980s are sometimes regarded as the decade which gave birth to the concept of political correctness, but there is little evidence of it in this film. (There is not a lot of evidence of it in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" either). For a film made in 1985, "King Solomon's Mines" achieves the difficult task of being, by a considerable margin, less politically correct than its source novel, published exactly one hundred years earlier. Haggard is never entirely free of late-Victorian assumptions about race, but he does treat his African characters with dignity and allows them major roles in his novel as heroes and heroines, not merely as villains. He even allows himself a romance between the African maiden Foulata and the white Englishman Captain Good. Interracial romances might have been acceptable to readers in 1880s England, but cinema audiences in 1980s America seem to have been more puritanical on this point. Neither Foulata nor Good appears in the film, and Quatermain's love-interest is supplied by the white Jessie, played by a young Sharon Stone. American squeamishness about mixed-race romance does not appear to have diminished in the quarter-century since 1985; in the recent film version of "Around the World in Eighty Days" Phileas Fogg's love-interest was a white Frenchwoman, not an Indian woman as in Jules Verne's novel. The most offensive thing abut the film, however, is the treatment of the African tribe, the Kakuanas. In Haggard's version they may have been noble savages, but here they are portrayed as ignoble ones, bloodthirsty cannibals who love to cook white people in a huge iron cauldron. This same old cartoon cliché comes up in the 1950s movie "Gentleman Marry Brunettes", but at least there its offensiveness is somewhat mitigated by its being presented in the context of a stage show; in "King Solomon's Mines", by contrast, the film actually appears to be suggesting that this is how real Africans behave. Ethnic stereotyping is not confined to Africans; we also have a treacherous, sadistic Turk and a ruthless, bullying German colonel. The film's problems are not confined to its racial attitudes. It was evidently made on a much lower budget than the Indiana Jones films, and the action sequences and special effects are not in the same class. The story is frequently illogical, confusing or both. Richard Chamberlain makes a lightweight action hero compared to Harrison Ford and Sharon Stone does not show any evidence of the qualities which would later make her a major star, other than her sex appeal which is much on display. About halfway through the film someone obviously thought that Sharon was not showing enough of her sex appeal, as it is notable that throughout the later scenes her shorts gradually get shorter and tighter, until she ends up wearing a pair of minuscule hot-pants which in the 1910s would probably have got their wearer arrested for indecency. Male viewers, however, might as well enjoy the sight of Sharon's legs; there is precious little else in this movie to keep anyone amused. The only thing that surprises me is that the film-makers evidently thought highly enough of the film to follow it with a sequel "Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold" It is sad to think that the director J. Lee Thompson was once responsible for films as good as "Yield to the Night", "Ice-Cold in Alex" and "Cape Fear". 3/10

rcj5365 Released in mid-1985,KING SOLOMON'S MINES was an attempt of producers Yoram Globus and Menaham Golan's angle eventually to cash in on the success of the Indiana Jones films of the early-1980's. It was also the producers attempt to remake the classic 1950 film of the same title which starred Stewart Granger. But with limited and negative results.Was this the remake of Stewart Granger's 1950 adventure classic with carbon copy hints taken from Steven Spielburg's RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK? It might have been,but anyway its only one of those "B" action-adventure that were all over the place during the entire decade of the 1980's well into the 1990's. The remake of KING SOLOMON'S MINES was a movie upon its theatrical release in 1985,was clobbered by the film critics,but despite to the audiences liking it,it was well-received at the box office despite making it one of the worst films of that year. However,it is not necessary to duplicate the 1950 version,but as far as the action scenes along with high adventure and fantasy it was a good effort by director J. Lee Thompson who had earlier two fantastic films that were successful in their own right....one was the Oscar nominated 1961 adventure film "The Guns Of Navarone",and the 1969 adventure-fantasy western "McKenna's Gold"(both films starred Gregory Peck),does astounding work with some of the intense action scenes.The casting of Richard Chamberlain(WTF???)in the lead role was challenging,but he does do justice to Stewart Granger's film and gives a great performance as a thrilling and daring action-adventure hero in this remake. Who said that Richard Chamberlain was NO Harrison Ford??? Yes,that Richard Chamberlain of "Dr. Kildaire","The Towering Inferno",and "The Winds of War" was in dire straits here when he signed up for the lead role as the two-fisted action hero. Sharon Stone,before Basic Instinct and other role is casted as the damsel in distress who basically ends up being rescued by Chamberlain from the clutches of a rogue of villains.The only saving grace here is film composer Jerry Goldsmith's rousing score which is the only thing that kept this from falling apart. Enjoyable fare. Avoid the sequel ALLAN QUARTERMAINE AND THE CITY OF GOLD which is no where never as better as the first.