Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Martin Bradley Terrible! The 1950 version feels like a masterpiece when set beside this 1937 screen version of H. Rider Haggard's adventure novel "King Solomon's Mines". This alternates between the studio and actual African locations. The studio stuff is credited to Robert Stevenson while Geoffrey Barkas did the location work and the lack-lustre cast features Cedric Hardwicke, whose 'greatness' as an actor I've never been able to figure out, as Allan Quartermain. Roland Young, John Loder, Anna Lee, (dreadful), and Paul Robeson who gets top billing, (as Umbopa), as well as a song or two or three, (it wouldn't be a proper Paul Robeson picture without a few songs). It's probably no more offensive than other films of the period but it still leaves a pretty bad taste in the mouth. No-one's finest hour.

tavm In reviewing people of color in film in chronological order for Black History Month, we're now in 1937 when once again-like the last two of his I reviewed-Paul Robeson is involved in a movie that takes place in a jungle with several tribal natives. Among them are Robert Adams and Ecco Homo Toto, both of whom previously appeared with Robeson in Song of Freedom. Anyway, the singer/actor is traveling with several Caucasian explorers like Allan Quatermain (Sir Cedric Hardwicke), Kathy O'Brien (Anna Lee), and her father, Patric (Arthur Sinclair). As usual, Robeson provides many compelling moments whenever singing especially when up a mountain that provides echos. Things don't really pick up until the last 30 minutes but if you don't mind some of the exposition that comes before that, you won't be bored. So on that note, this version of King Solomon's Mines is worth a look. P.S. The director is one Robert Stevenson who was married to Ms. Lee at the time and would later provide Walt Disney with some of his most successful live action features of which one of those, Mary Poppins, would get Stevenson his only Oscar nomination.

MartinHafer This is a rousing adventure story that has only a few flaws that keep it from an even higher score--amazingly good for a film that has somehow been allowed to slip into the public domain! The film begins with a really dumb girl (Anna Lee) and her even dumber father (Arthur Sinclair) hitching a ride along with the famous Allan Quartermain (Cedric Hardwicke) as he goes to meet a client. It seems that Quartermain's exploits as a great white hunter are legendary, though he seems a pretty likable guy who really is so unlike the two Irish idiots he happened upon. By the way, I have absolutely nothing against the Irish--it's just that the characters really overdo the 'I'm Irish' bit through the first part of the film.Along the way, they happen upon a dying man and his co-traveler (Paul Robson) and they learn about some sort of treasure of King Solomon's mines. Almost instantly, the father takes off in search of the treasure--even though it's blinking insane to travel through unknown African territory and through deserts to do this---alone!!! And, it turns out his daughter is also an idiot, as soon she steals one of Quartermain's wagons and sets off in search of her father and the treasure. Oddly, Quartermain's client who has hired him for a safari (Roland Young) decides that he and Quartermain should follow her and try to save her from herself. I say they should have just let her die and then celebrated with some pie...but that wouldn't make a very interesting movie, would it?! Eventually, their insanely difficult journey brings them to a strange land where there really is an honest-to-goodness treasure. But, they have to battle the tribesmen AND nature to get the treasure and, hopefully, find the idiots and save them from themselves.Overall, this is a really good African adventures story because the natives really do appear to be Africans, the scenery sure looks like Africa and there is no trace of the usual stock shots of animals from Asia or South America like you'd usually see in the countless low-budget films set in Africa that were the rage from the 1930s-50s. And, the story and acting are quite good, though I was a bit surprised to see Hardwicke as an action-hero--he's got a lovely voice and was a good actor, but 'macho' is not normally a word I'd associate with him! About the only problem with the film is all of Paul Robeson's gratuitous singing. Yes, he has a wonderful voice in the film, but the songs seemed irrelevant to the plot and were simply tossed in because he had a great voice. Also, oddly, his first song sure sounded a lot like a re-working of "Old Man River"--a song he made famous on Broadway and film in "Showboat" (1936).

Arthur Hausner This first version of H. Rider Haggard's 1884 novel has a wonderful cast (Paul Robeson, Cedric Hardwicke, Anna Lee, Roland Young and John Loder), excellent production values which includes a bubbling volcano pit, and good special effects when the lava starts eroding the walls of the crater. Even with black and white photography, it is very comparable to the 1950 Technicolor version (with Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr) and better than the 1985 version (with Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone). Because I am partial to Paul Robeson, I didn't mind the intrusion into the narrative of his singing three songs with his magnificent voice. (Who can make a film with Robeson without having him sing?) The movie is full of suspense, action (when the tribes battle each other) and some comedy provided mostly by Roland Young. Overall a stirring addition to the genre that should please its fans.