“KING SOLOMON’S MINES” (1950)

I remember my Mother and Dad taking us children to see this – and I also remember the publicity prior to its release which included a serialisation in one of the comics of the day. We were hooked before we even had a chance to see the film which in those days took about six weeks or more from its London release to arriving in the town in the North of England close to where we lived.

It was thrilling to see this on the big screen in Technicolor and we had a glimpse of the African jungle which we had no chance of seeing at that time but we would have read a lot about it in books of the day.

                                                

There have been a number of  film adaptations of H. Rider Haggard’s adventure novel, ”King Solomon’s Mines”. One film had been released in 1937,with Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Paul Robeson and then Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released this one in 1950, starring Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger.It took Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer nearly four years to get ”KING SOLOMON’S MINES” into production. They had originally planned to have Errol Flynn star as the Victorian hunter – Allan Quartermain but Flynn dreaded the idea of spending time away from any form of luxury, while on location in Africa. He ended up taking the leading role in MGM’s other adventure, ”KIM”, in which he spent his off-camera hours at a resort in India.

British actor, Stewart Granger, took the role of Quartermain . . . and became a major Hollywood star. The other cast members included Deborah Kerr as Elizabeth Curtis, the woman who hires Quartermain to lead a safari in search of her missing husband; Richard Carlson as John Goode, Elizabeth’s likeable older brother; Siriaque as the mysterious Umbopa, who is revealed to be King of the Watusi; and Hugo Haas as Van Brun, a former hunter who is wanted by British authorities for murder.

Directed by Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton, ”KING SOLOMON’S MINES”was filmed on location in the Republic of Congo and Kenya, along with California.

Very loosely based upon Rider Haggard’s novel, ”KING SOLOMON’S MINES” the film tells the story of Allan Quatermain (Stewart Granger), an experienced hunter and guide in 1897 Kenya, who is reluctantly talked into helping Beth Curtis (Deborah Kerr) and her brother Jack Goode (Richard Carlson) search for her husband, who had disappeared in the unexplored interior of Africa on a quest to find the legendary mines. They have a copy of the map that Henry Curtis had used in his journey. A tall, mysterious native, Umbopa (Siriaque), eventually joins the safari.

Inevitably during the gruelling journey, Elizabeth and Quatermain begin to fall in love.MGM castStewart Granger in many ways fitted the role of Allan Quatermain perfectly. He looked the part.

Deborah Kerr as Beth Curtis sets the journey in motion to find her husband.    Richard Carlson who was later to be The Maze and Creature from The Black Lagoon, played Elizabeth Curtis’ brother, John Goode.

                                          

This film was the third most popular film at the British box office in 1951.   It earned $5,047,000 in the US and Canada and $4,908,000 elsewhere. After production and other associate costs were deducted, the movie made a profit of $4,049,000, making it easily MGM’s most successful film of 1950.

“KING SOLOMON’S MINES” (1950)  Scenes from the Film below:-

Below are images from “KING SOLOMON’S MINES”, the 1950 adaptation of H. Rider Haggard’s novel. The film starred  Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr and Richard Carlson:

“KING SOLOMON’S MINES” (1950)

Also starring Robert Taylor, Dana Wynter and Edmund O’Brien

It seems vital to post something here on the 70th Anniversary of the D Day Landings – and this film at times captures the invasion pretty well I would have thought.  SEE THE ORIGINAL FILM TRAILER BELOW.

 Richard Todd should also be mentioned today as he was the first paratrooper out from the  planes involved in the taking of Pegasus Bridge.  He did say in a radio interview that, as the first man out, he was able to get down on the ground and prepared before any of the enemy were alerted to what was happening. He also added that as he looked up a few minutes later many planes with gliders were under fire and a lot of them were being shot down.

As we know Pegasus Bridge was secured by the Allies.  Years later Richard Todd played Major John Howard who led the assault on Pegasus Bridge – in the film The Longest Day.

View in the Link Below the exciting Trailer to D-Day The Sixth of June :-

SEE THE ORIGINAL FILM TRAILER BELOW:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SNJR4eJ36o&feature=player_detailpage

Below Robert Taylor chats to a fan about this film :-

What a film this is -probably one of the most sinister and scary ever with Karl Boehm cast in the leading role as the repressed film cameraman who murders each of his victims in a truly horrific manner.

It has just been announced that Karl Boehm has died at the age of 86 – and I have to say after a long career in acting this is the film that he is best known for – certainly in England.

Anna Massey had a very good leading role in this film and she sadly passed away only a year or two ago.

In her autobiography in 2006, Telling Some Tales, she told of  a difficult early life and  her failed marriage (1959–1962) to actor Jeremy Brett. The couple had one son.  However after the early part of her life –  mainly unhappy – on August 1988 at a dinner party  she met  metallurgist Uri Andres. The couple were married from November 1988 until her death in 2011 – and so she found the happiness she longed for quite late in life.

The Dam Busters was on TV this Spring Bank Holiday here in England – and I just could not resist putting this fabulous picture of the Lancaster Bomber flying over a dam – it is an iconic image from a story we have come to know so well after the success of the 1955 British film.

This is another of the good B Westerns that Tim Holt did for RKO between 1940 and 1952, with a pause during World War Two for Air Force service.

I have recently purchased a book – The Animated Man – A Life of Walt Disney.

Written by Michael Barrier.

In his research he and his wife had travelled to England and met up with actor Richard Todd who became  a personal friend of Walt Disneyand this is the article he wrote about that meeting :-

Meeting Richard Todd – by Michael Barrier :-

Richard Todd, the star of three of Walt Disney’s first live-action films, died in England on December 3, 200 at the age of 90.  For Walt Disney he appeared in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952), The Sword and the Rose (1953) and Rob Roy the Highland Rogue (1954). He appeared in many other films, too, and was nominated for a best-actor Oscar for his role in The Hasty Heart (1949). He was a true war hero, as one of the first British paratroopers to land in Normandy. He was, in short, a dashing and glamorous figure, and, as my wife and I learned on June 22, 2004—just a few weeks after Todd took part in ceremonies commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of D-Day—a delightful luncheon companion.

We were in England during an extended research trip to Europe, for The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney. I had been in touch with Todd by mail and email for some months, and we had agreed to meet for lunch at Grantham, in Lincolnshire, about an hour’s train trip north of London, near Little Humby, the village where Todd was living then. We’d had no confirmation from Todd of our plans in the days just before our scheduled meeting, and so Phyllis and I felt some apprehension when we got off the train at Grantham.

We needn’t have worried. Waiting on the platform for us was a very dapper elderly man, using a cane but immediately recognizable as Richard Todd. As Phyllis said—she had become a fan as we watched a dozen or so Richard Todd movies in preparation for the trip—he still had those twinkling blue eyes. His handsome necktie, he told us later, bore the insignia of his Royal Air Force unit.

Todd drove us in his Mercedes to the Angel and Royal, an 800-year-old Grantham hotel where King Richard III once held court in what was now the main dining room. It was closed for lunch, unfortunately, and so we would have lunch in the bar. As we waited for our table to be made ready, Richard suggested rather gingerly that perhaps we might have something to drink before lunch. When I proposed Bloody Marys, he readily assented.

We talked about Walt Disney and the Disney films over the excellent lunch that followed, Richard Todd expanding on what he had already written about his Disney experiences in the two volumes of his autobiography, Caught in the Act and In Camera (neither of which was ever published in the U.S., although copies are available through used-book dealers). You’ll find quotations from our interview in The Animated Man, along with a photo of Todd with Walt at Coney Island, which he sent me later.

As I listened to Todd at lunch, and a few weeks later on tape, the years fell away; his voice was still that of the strikingly handsome young actor who was easily the most successful Robin Hood on the screen, excepting only Errol Flynn (the publicity photo at left above is of Todd in that role). At 85 he was still very much a movie star, in other words, and in the best sense: not as an ego but as a presence. I’m grateful that I got to spend a couple of hours with him.

After lunch, Phyllis and I took photos of ourselves with Richard Todd; that’s her with him in the photo above. And then he drove us back to the Grantham station, for our return trip to Kings Cross station. A lovely day.

The Castro Theatre was hosting a 3-D Film Series recently including the 1953 Vincent Price vehicle House of Wax. Even better, the Castro Theatre was screening these 3-D films in 35mm “Dual-interlock,” an arduous process, especially from a theatre management perspective. Basically, the “dual-interlock” projection system uses two projectors to simultaneously run two versions of the film, one filmed for the left eye and one for the right; further, this screening method requires an actual “silver” screen, special polarized glasses (not the typical red/blue, or anaglyphic ones), and an intermission to allow the projectionist to change the reels on both projectors at the same time. The end  result is apparently first rate

Even the opening credits were exciting. Crisp vivid picture with not even the slightest colour degradation creating an often startling 3-D effect.

Above – Scenes from ‘House Of Wax’

Treasure Island

I have never seen this picture before which is taken from above  the set of the Hispaniola on the sound stage at Denham Film Studios.

The photo above was taken during the shooting of Treasure Island, at Denham Film Studios in England which was Walt Disney’s first all-live-action feature, made in England in 1949 – released in 1950. The director, Byron Haskin, and his assistant, Mark Evans, are seated at the right, in front of the wheel. On the crane at left are Freddie Young, the legendary cinematographer and camera operator Skeets Kelly.

I have used the picture below before – but is a similar scene from a lower angle – and is actually two pictures joined together as you can see

but  nevertheless it gives a good view of what is going on :-

Robert Newton was the actor chosen to play that key role  of Long John Silver. His performance wasn’t just the definitive portrayal of Long John Silver, it became cemented in the public’s mind as what a pirate should be.

A great character in the hands of a great performer.

Robert Newton brings enormous charisma to the role, and because of it, the audience is always left guessing (just as Jim is) to the character’s true nature. He’s a bad man to be sure, but is there also kindness in him?  Somehow you just cannot help but like him.

Rancho Notorious and Johnny Guitar on at the Castro Theatre San Francisco

Just come across the wonderful Double Bill which is showing in San Francisco later this month a Western Double Bill  of 50s Westerns : Fritz Lang’s Rancho Notorious (1952) and Johnny Guitar (1954).

Below: Two pictures of the interior of this Theatre. Looks very stylish.

Rancho Notorious is a 35mm print. I hadn’t seen this film until about 5 years ago although I remember it well in terms of the promotion when it came out but I  didn’t realise until it was on Television in England that it was made in Colour. Good film though I now realise.

Visitors to San Francisco look out for an iconic landmark – the Castro Theatre. Built in 1922, the Castro Theatre is arguably the grandest place in San Francisco to see a film – not just the old classics – the Castro Theatre shows the full range of film formats, from classic black-and-whites, to  3D favourites.

Just buy a ticket at the window, venture into the grand screening room, and sink into your plush velvet chair. Take in the music wafting from the organ, manned by a live organist before each show – the lights dim, the screen begins to glow, and you become part of film history.