Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37686 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-02-03
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Color, Dubbed, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.com
Camp and cult fans may get a few laughs from this tongue-in-cheek version of the classic H. Rider Haggard adventure novel from '80s low-budget outfit Cannon Films. Richard Chamberlain gives a pun-prone take on Great White Hunter Allen Quatermain, who is recruited by Sharon Stone to rescue her father from the clutches of a German colonel (Herbert Lom) and a Turkish slaver (John Rhys-Davies), who have captured him to possess his map to the legendary diamond mines of King Solomon. Director J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone) and the game cast do what they can with the dodgy special effects and groaner-filled script; viewers who don't mind sub-par serial-style thrills might find some kicks here. --Paul Gaita

Customer Reviews

A fun loving, hilarious adventure that really entertains
Vastly superior to its rather lackluster sequel ALLAN QUATERMAIN AND THER LOST CITY OF GOLD (which was actually filmed back-to-back with this production), this entertaining and fun loving tribute (or some might say rip-off) of the Indiana Jones movies benefits (unlike its follow-up) by the sure hand and capable direction of veteran J. Lee Thompson (of the original GUNS OF NAVARONE) and a suberp supporting cast that includes the always entertaining and eminently watchable John Rhys-Davies and Herbert Lom as the two main villains, a Turkish slaver and a World War I era German Colonel respectively.
Based very loosely on the classic H. Rider Haggard adventure novel of the same name, this movie features Richard Chamberlain as adventurer Allan Quaterman who is recruited by the sexy and gorgeous Jessie Huston (played by a pre-famous Sharon Stone) to rescue her father who has fallen into the villains hands in attempt to locate the fabled King Solomon's mines.
What follows is a fast paced, fun and thoroughly entertaining adventure with some eye popping stunts and some truly cheesy special effects.
No matter though, this movie promises high adventure and entertaining escapism. Movie fans will have fun spotting references to other movies of the 1980s from the Indiana Jones adventures to 1983s FOOTLOOSE and that movies game of unintentional chicken.
I was one of the (evidently) few who actually made it to see this movie in the theaters on its release in 1985 and one who instantly picked it up on VHS. Of course when the DVD was released in February of this year I was there to instantly pick it up. Still fun after almost 20 years this DVD comes well recommended.

Indiana Quatermain and the Mines of Doom
H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines is one of those stories where it often feels that only the title and the odd character name have been filmed. If there were a prize for the least faithful version, Cannon's 1985 romp would win hands down. Richard Chamberlain's Great White Hunter Allan Quatermain may be a reluctant guide on a quest for the fabled mines, but this time his only companion is Sharon Stone, eager to save her archaeologist father from Herbert Lom's dastardly and cartoonish Wagner-loving German officer (the plot has been updated to pre-WW1 Africa). No prizes for guessing that this is inspired more by Indiana Jones than H. Rider Haggard (it even co-stars John Rhys-Davies as another Arab, this time on the bad guys' side), with the stunts increasingly outrageous and the tone firmly tongue in cheek.

Shot almost back-to-back with the dire Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold and originally brandishing the how-are-they-ever-going-to-fit-that-on-the-marquees title Allan Quatermain and King Solomon's Mines and the Lost Caves of Death, it's a film almost as overloaded as it's rejected title: for the first half or so it's surprisingly entertaining, but eventually the relentless energy starts to wear you down as you realise that the film's used up most of its best stunts and jokes and is running out of clichés to rehash and lampoon. Certainly there's nothing in the second half to match a comic marketplace chase or a very silly train rescue that sees Quatermain work his way through variations of Indy's truck chase before skiing along the rails as he holds on by his bullwhip... In many ways, DVD is an almost ideal way to see it: a little too much to sit through in one go, a self-created intermission certainly helps.

Chamberlain makes an amiable if overly reliant on dynamite Quatermain, though Stone is an irritatingly screeching heroine and Lom too much of an over the top caricature to provide much threat. J. Lee Thompson keeps it moving, Jerry Goldsmith contributes an enjoyably heroic score and there's enough of a sense of fun to paper over the weak spots.

FUNNY, FUNNY, FUNNY!
I laughed through this whole movie. I'd never seen Chamberlain and Stone in a comedy before this. I thought it would just be an adventure movie, but it's not. It's so crazy! I couldn't believe my eyes! I enjoyed it, but I can't even begin to find the words to describe this film. You've really got to see this for yourself.