SnoopyStyle Jesse Huston (Sharon Stone) hires adventurer Allan Quatermain (Richard Chamberlain) to find her father who has been captured by German Colonel Bockner (Herbert Lom) and ruthless slave trader Dogati (John Rhys-Davies). They are using her father Professor Huston to translate a map to King Solomon's Mines. Quatermain, his tribesman assistant Umbopo and Jesse go on a quest to rescue her father and find the legendary mines.The quote unquote comedy is so broad and so bad that the workable adventure has no chance to succeed. I would like to see them play this straight with a few jokes to spice things up. Chamberlain is good as Quatermain but Stone is bad as the clumsy Jesse. She's not that wide-eye innocent damsel-in-distress. I do like the adventure part which is similar to Indiana Jones except looks much more inferior. The constant stream of weak jokes border on spoofing the genre.

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 .

Leofwine_draca Okay, so somebody at Cannon decided it would be a good idea to make an Indiana Jones rip-off, utilising a 19th century boy's own adventure novel that hadn't been adapted for the screen for around forty years. Perhaps perceiving the ineptitude of the ensuing production, they did away with attempts at seriousness in favour of out-and-out comedy.This is a terribly, terribly poor film.I find comedy highly subjective, and as I have an unusual sense of humour I tend to dislike the genre (apart from rare treats like PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES). This is no exception. The jokes are lame, the overacting whiffs of embarrassment, the supporting characters are racist stereotypes. One of the "highlights" sees Quatermain and his love interest inside a huge cooking pot which they manage to tip over and roll down a hill. It's that kind of film.The backdrops are okay, but the special effects seem particularly dated for the age (case in point: the silly blue-screen effects used to convince us that Chamberlain is hanging over a pool of crocodiles). Chamberlain himself seems mildly embarrassed - and so he should, as his acting career never recovered from this double debacle (a sequel was shot at the same time). Sharon Stone, playing a dumb blonde sidekick, is the worst I've ever seen (equally as bad as Erica Eleniak in UNDER SIEGE). John Rhys-Davies seems to be reprising his role from the Indiana Jones films, while the only performance I enjoyed was Herbert Lom as a comic-book German colonel.Experienced action director J. Lee Thompson manages to give this film a decent pace and sense of momentum, but the woefully unfunny script scuppers it from the outset.

Celticnationalist To the uninitiated Golan/Globus are Cousin's Menahem Golan & Yorham Globus who were prolific producers of trash throughout the 80's making such 'classics' as Death Wish 2,3 & 4 & Missing In Action 1,2 & 3 (basically keeping Charles Bronson & Chuck Norris in work) among seemingly endless amounts of other less than fantastic fare released through their Cannon Film Studio.So if you come into King Solomon's Mines knowing what to expect (In essence a low budget B-Movie, done with some of the worse dialogue imaginable,terrible visual effects and non-intentional hilarious scenes) you should be able to sit back leave your Brain at the door and enjoy.While I realise this was made to capitalise on the success of Indiana Jones - Nobody watching this should compare the two, If anything this is a Indy spoofRichard Chamberlain stars as Allan Quatermain who teams up with a young woman (a Pre-stardom Sharon Stone) to locate her Professor Father who's gone missing in Africa. This has action in bucket loads, plenty of Comedy (some of it intentional - some of it not), The Acting is very hammy - baddies Herbert Lom is hilarious as is John Rhys DaviesDirected by J.Lee Thompson (The original Cape Fear & The guns of Navarone) A great Director who sadly ended up making trash mostly starring Bronson for Golan/Globus.Filmed entirely in Zimbabwe - obviously back in that particular Country's good old days - Not Unsurprisingly it bombed taking just $238,000 on a $12,500,000 BudgetIt's not great film making, It'll never win any awards (apart from the Razzies) but as B-Movie fun it's good stuff.Surprisingly followed by a sequel (Yes! there's more) Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold was Filmed at the same time and released a year later.*** out of *****