King Solomon’s Mines (1937)
(On TV, November 2019) As much as the stench of colonialism is strong in this first version of King Solomon’s Mines, it’s actually kind of fascinating to see such an unabashed African adventure at an early stage of cinema. Partially filmed on location, this film rather faithfully adapts H. Rider Haggard’s adventure novel with all the means available to big-budget cinema at the time. The plot elements are all well worn (all the way to natives being impressed at an eclipse, and a volcano-fuelled final escape) but it’s not impossible to suspend exasperation considering the age of the material. Black actor/singer Paul Robeson has an unusually high-profile role here as an exile chieftain coming back to take the throne—he even gets to sing the film’s final moments. Cedric Hardwicke is also compelling at lead adventurer Allan Quartermain, heading deep in Africa to find hidden treasure. There is still a bit of a kick to King Solomon’s Mines —a basic watchability to the result that transcends time and very different assumptions about how to portray Africa on-screen. It could have been much, much worse.