This movie is being released on Blu-ray by Olive Films (www.olivefilms.com – www.facebook.com/olivefilms) on February 21st, 2017.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If so, then I suppose George Lucas and Steven Spielberg must have been quite taken by the Cannon Group production of King Solomon’s Mines (1985). While this movie was based on the classic adventure book by Sir Henry Rider Haggard, it appears to be taking most of its cues from the popular hits Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). During its initial release it wasn’t particularly well regarded and it’s easy to see why. The movie certainly has a choppy, slapdash quality about it. Still, if you grew up in the 80s and enjoyed it as a kid, you may still get a kick out of it (even if some of the enjoyment derived is of the unintentional kind).
For those who don’t know, Cannon was an upstart film production company that peaked in the 80s and was striving to compete with the major studios. Over their decade or so in business, they did produce a few quality films. However, much of the material released was created with limited resources and lacked the skilled filmmaking that others possessed. Often, they would pre-sell movies based on titles, stars or make hasty deals without planning their stories out. So one can see how this production ended up obtaining financing and becoming one of their better known efforts. The Indiana Jones character was one of the most recognizable and well-liked of the period in cinema and he bares some resemblance to the hero of King Solomon’s Mines. The fact that this feature corresponded to the famous book’s 100th anniversary was no doubt another selling factor.
The movie begins with Allan Quatermain (Richard Chamberlain) guiding a young woman named Jesse Huston (Sharon Stone) through Africa. She’s determined to locate her father, who disappeared while on an exposition searching for King Solomon’s Mines. After coming into contact with a secret map, it becomes clear very quickly that many parties are trying to find the famed and legendary mines. Most notably, the nefarious German Colonel Bockner (Herbert Lom) along with a Turkish slave-trader (John Rhys-Davies, who also appeared in the Indiana Jones series). It doesn’t take long for the heroes to find the missing father, who then urges the pair to continue on and locate the site before the bad guys raid it.
It’s a quickly paced effort, with each series of gags and elaborate stunts following the next as these characters make their way from one exaggerated situation to another. Chamberlain is a likable lead and his easy-going manner helps to somewhat offset the story’s deficiencies. That’s a good thing, because had the stars involved taken it all seriously, the movie would be a complete disaster. There are a lot of gags in the movie and very few work, but a couple from the actor do raise a chuckle. There’s also a supporting character named Kassam (Shaike Ophir) who has a few good moments as one of the villains. He’s far more concerned about property damage than the lives of those he’s endangering, leading to an over-the-top and hammy but amusing series of comments.
Of course, this was also the 80s, so there are some politically incorrect and insensitive gags that really don’t play today. The romantic subplot is as corny as it gets and Stone, in an early film performance doesn’t have much to do but act shrill. And on a technical level, the movie has more than its share of problems. Many of the visual effects are quite poor, including some terrible rear projection effects. A giant spider and another large monster that are thrown into play look staggeringly bad. As for the finale, it’s also a bit of a mess. Some of the characters (in particular, a sinister witch) do bizarre things that aren’t well rationalized, and the villains get killed and come back so many times that it veers leaves silly exaggeration behind to become preposterous and absurd. While one expects corners to be cut with Cannon Films productions, this goes beyond the pale. The budget may have only been $12.5 million ($5.5 million less than Raiders and slightly under half of what was spent on Temple of Doom), but one still expects a little more quality for that kind of money.
Whether it is actually working, making some ill-advised jokes or looking like the filmmakers have simply out of money or patience, at least the movie isn’t boring. And this new Blu-ray looks phenomenal. I’ve saw the picture at the theater back in the day as well as on an early DVD release and it has never looked as clean or sharp as it does in this edition. If you have a fondness for the feature, this is an excellent clean up and transfer, resulting in the best image quality yet that I’ve seen (and that actually includes the original theatrical presentation).
As a B-movie and extreme cheese-fest, King Solomon’s Mines provides a few yuks, even if many actually come from some bad decision-making on set and screenplay woes. The movie is even more entertaining after seeing the 2014 documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, which elaborates on some of the troubles and personality conflicts that went on behind-the-scenes with some memorable anecdotes. If you’re a fan of Cannon Films or are already feeling nostalgic about this title, you’ll be happy with what you see.