King Solomon's Mines (1937 film)
Encyclopedia
King Solomon's Mines is a 1937
film, the first film adaptation
of the 1885 novel by the same name
by Henry Rider Haggard. It starred Paul Robeson
, Cedric Hardwicke
, Anna Lee
, John Loder
and Roland Young
. The film was produced by the Gaumont British Picture Corporation
and directed by Robert Stevenson
.
The 1937 film follows the original novel faithfully, except for some musical interludes deliberately added to give Paul Robeson a chance to sing. In contrast to later adaptations, it follows the book in playing Allan Quatermain
as a professorial type uninterested in romance.
dream chaser Patrick "Patsy" O'Brien (Arthur Sinclair) and his daughter Kathy (Anna Lee
) have failed to strike it rich in the diamond mines of Kimberley
, South Africa
. They persuade a reluctant Allan Quatermain (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) to give them a lift to the coast in his wagon.
Along the way, they encounter another wagon carrying two men in bad shape. Umbopa (Paul Robeson
) recovers, but Silvestra (Arthur Goullet) dies after boasting to Quatermain that he has found the way to the fabled mines of Solomon. Patsy finds the dead man's map. He sneaks off during the night, unwilling to risk his daughter's life. Kathy is unable to persuade Quatermain to follow him. Instead, they rendezvous with Quatermain's new clients, Sir Henry Curtis (John Loder
) and retired navy Commander Good (Roland Young
), out for a bit of big game hunting.
Kathy steals Quatermain's wagon to go after her father. When they catch up with her, she refuses to go back with them, so they and Umbopa accompany her across the desert and over the mountains, as shown on the map. During the arduous trek, Curtis and Kathy fall in love. On the other side of the mountains, they are surrounded by unfriendly natives and taken to the kraal
of their chief, Twala (Robert Adams
), to be questioned. Twala takes them to see the entrance of the mines, guarded by the feared witch doctor
Gagool (an uncredited Sydney Fairbrother
).
That night, Umbopa reveals that he is the son of the former chief, who was treacherously killed by the usurper Twala. He meets with dissidents, led by Infadoos (Ecce Homo Toto), who are fed up with Twala's cruel reign. Together, they plot an uprising for the next day, during the ceremony of the "smelling out of the evildoers". However, Umbopa needs Quatermain to come up with something that will counter (in the natives' minds) the magic of Gagool.
During the rite, Gagool chooses several natives, who are killed on the spot. Good notices in his diary that there will be a total solar eclipse
that day. The quick-thinking Quatermain predicts it as Gagool approaches Umbopa. Umbopa reveals his true identity to the people during the height of the eclipse and the rebellion erupts. Both sides gather their forces; during the ensuing battle, Curtis kills Twala, ending the civil war
.
In the fighting, Kathy slips away to the mine to look for her father. She finds him inside, immobilized by a broken leg, but clutching a pouch full of diamonds. Quatermain, Curtis and Good follow her, but Gagool sets off a rockfall to seal them in. Umbopa pursues Gagool back into the mine, where the witch doctor is crushed by falling rocks. The new chief manages to free his friends and gives them an escort to help them cross the desert.
1937 in film
The year 1937 in film involved some significant events, including the Walt Disney production of the first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.- Events :*April 16 - Way Out West premieres in the US....
film, the first film adaptation
Film adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
of the 1885 novel by the same name
King Solomon's Mines
King Solomon's Mines is a popular novel by the Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the missing brother of one of the party...
by Henry Rider Haggard. It starred Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
, Cedric Hardwicke
Cedric Hardwicke
Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...
, Anna Lee
Anna Lee
Anna Lee, MBE was an English actress.-Career:Lee studied at the Royal Albert Hall, then debuted with a bit part in the film His Lordship...
, John Loder
John Loder (actor)
John Loder was a British-American actor. He was born William John Muir Lowe in London.-Early life:Loder's father was General W. H. M. Lowe, the British officer to whom Patrick Pearse, the leader of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland, surrendered...
and Roland Young
Roland Young
Roland Young was an English actor.-Early life and career:Born in London, England, Young was educated at Sherborne School, Dorset and the University of London before being accepted into Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
. The film was produced by the Gaumont British Picture Corporation
Gaumont Film Company
Gaumont Film Company is a French film production company founded in 1895 by the engineer-turned-inventor, Léon Gaumont . Gaumont is the oldest continously operating film company in the world....
and directed by Robert Stevenson
Robert Stevenson (director)
Robert Stevenson was an English film writer and director. He was educated at Cambridge University where he became the president of both the Liberal Club and the Cambridge Union Society....
.
The 1937 film follows the original novel faithfully, except for some musical interludes deliberately added to give Paul Robeson a chance to sing. In contrast to later adaptations, it follows the book in playing Allan Quatermain
Allan Quatermain
Allan Quatermain is the protagonist of H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines and its various prequels and sequels. Allan Quatermain was also the title of a book in this sequence.- History :...
as a professorial type uninterested in romance.
Plot
In 1882, IrishIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
dream chaser Patrick "Patsy" O'Brien (Arthur Sinclair) and his daughter Kathy (Anna Lee
Anna Lee
Anna Lee, MBE was an English actress.-Career:Lee studied at the Royal Albert Hall, then debuted with a bit part in the film His Lordship...
) have failed to strike it rich in the diamond mines of Kimberley
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. They persuade a reluctant Allan Quatermain (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) to give them a lift to the coast in his wagon.
Along the way, they encounter another wagon carrying two men in bad shape. Umbopa (Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
) recovers, but Silvestra (Arthur Goullet) dies after boasting to Quatermain that he has found the way to the fabled mines of Solomon. Patsy finds the dead man's map. He sneaks off during the night, unwilling to risk his daughter's life. Kathy is unable to persuade Quatermain to follow him. Instead, they rendezvous with Quatermain's new clients, Sir Henry Curtis (John Loder
John Loder (actor)
John Loder was a British-American actor. He was born William John Muir Lowe in London.-Early life:Loder's father was General W. H. M. Lowe, the British officer to whom Patrick Pearse, the leader of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland, surrendered...
) and retired navy Commander Good (Roland Young
Roland Young
Roland Young was an English actor.-Early life and career:Born in London, England, Young was educated at Sherborne School, Dorset and the University of London before being accepted into Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
), out for a bit of big game hunting.
Kathy steals Quatermain's wagon to go after her father. When they catch up with her, she refuses to go back with them, so they and Umbopa accompany her across the desert and over the mountains, as shown on the map. During the arduous trek, Curtis and Kathy fall in love. On the other side of the mountains, they are surrounded by unfriendly natives and taken to the kraal
Kraal
Kraal is an Afrikaans and Dutch word for an enclosure for cattle or other livestock, located within an African settlement or village surrounded by a palisade, mud wall, or other fencing, roughly circular in form.In the Dutch language a kraal is a term derived from the Portuguese word , cognate...
of their chief, Twala (Robert Adams
Robert Adams (actor)
Robert Adams was a British actor of stage and screen. He was the founder and director of the Negro Repertory Arts Theatre, one of the first professional black theatre companies in Britain.-Early years:...
), to be questioned. Twala takes them to see the entrance of the mines, guarded by the feared witch doctor
Witch doctor
A witch doctor originally referred to a type of healer who treated ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. It is currently used to refer to healers in some third world regions, who use traditional healing rather than contemporary medicine...
Gagool (an uncredited Sydney Fairbrother
Sydney Fairbrother
Sydney Fairbrother was a British film actress.Born Sydney Tapping on 31st July 1872 in London, UK, she was educated at Blackpool, UK and Bonn in Germany. She made her stage debut in Birmingham, UK in 1890 with the famous Kendall Company and a few years later toured America with them...
).
That night, Umbopa reveals that he is the son of the former chief, who was treacherously killed by the usurper Twala. He meets with dissidents, led by Infadoos (Ecce Homo Toto), who are fed up with Twala's cruel reign. Together, they plot an uprising for the next day, during the ceremony of the "smelling out of the evildoers". However, Umbopa needs Quatermain to come up with something that will counter (in the natives' minds) the magic of Gagool.
During the rite, Gagool chooses several natives, who are killed on the spot. Good notices in his diary that there will be a total solar eclipse
Solar eclipse
As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or partially blocks the Sun as viewed from a location on Earth. This can happen only during a new moon, when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least...
that day. The quick-thinking Quatermain predicts it as Gagool approaches Umbopa. Umbopa reveals his true identity to the people during the height of the eclipse and the rebellion erupts. Both sides gather their forces; during the ensuing battle, Curtis kills Twala, ending the civil war
Civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
.
In the fighting, Kathy slips away to the mine to look for her father. She finds him inside, immobilized by a broken leg, but clutching a pouch full of diamonds. Quatermain, Curtis and Good follow her, but Gagool sets off a rockfall to seal them in. Umbopa pursues Gagool back into the mine, where the witch doctor is crushed by falling rocks. The new chief manages to free his friends and gives them an escort to help them cross the desert.
Cast
- Paul RobesonPaul RobesonPaul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
as Umbopa - Cedric HardwickeCedric HardwickeSir Cedric Webster Hardwicke was a noted English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly fifty years...
as Allan Quatermain - Roland YoungRoland YoungRoland Young was an English actor.-Early life and career:Born in London, England, Young was educated at Sherborne School, Dorset and the University of London before being accepted into Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
as Commander John Good - Anna LeeAnna LeeAnna Lee, MBE was an English actress.-Career:Lee studied at the Royal Albert Hall, then debuted with a bit part in the film His Lordship...
as Kathy O'Brien - John LoderJohn Loder (actor)John Loder was a British-American actor. He was born William John Muir Lowe in London.-Early life:Loder's father was General W. H. M. Lowe, the British officer to whom Patrick Pearse, the leader of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland, surrendered...
as Sir Henry Curtis - Arthur Sinclair as Patsy O'Brien
- Robert AdamsRobert Adams (actor)Robert Adams was a British actor of stage and screen. He was the founder and director of the Negro Repertory Arts Theatre, one of the first professional black theatre companies in Britain.-Early years:...
as Twala - Arthur Goullet as Sylvestra Getto
- Ecce Homo Toto as Infadoos
- Makubalo Hlubi as Kapse
- Mjujwa as Scragga