A trio of adventurers including Allan Quatermain set off through the dark jungles of Africa in search of the legendary treasure trove of the diamond mines of King Solomon and become involved in a bloody civil war within a lost African tribe.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: NR
Release Date: 11-JAN-2005
Media Type: DVDAdventure yarns don’t come more ripping than King Solomon’s Mines, the classic Great White Hunter tale. Novelist H. Rider Haggard’s hero, Allan Quatermain (Stewart Granger), reluctantly agrees to lead an Englishwoman (Deborah Kerr) and her brother (Richard Carlson) deep into uncharted territory in Africa, in search of the lady’s lost husband. What follows is a cavalcade of boys’ adventure stuff: charging rhinos, cannibals, an incredible wildlife stampede, and the back-of-the-neck-tingly thrill of venturing into unmapped lands. The location shooting, including tribal rituals, is marvelous throughout, and the movie manages to pack a great deal of material into 102 minutes without ever seeming rushed. A remake of a 1937 film, King Solomon’s Mines was itself remade badly, with Richard Chamberlain, in 1985, and Quatermain was essayed by Sean Connery in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, but purists will prefer Stewart Granger’s stalwart-yet-sardonic hero–his career never quite got over the role. –Robert Horton

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The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines is the highly-anticipated sequel to the popular TNT original movie The Librarian: Quest for the Spear. Noah Wyle (“ER”) reprises his role as Flynn Carsen the nerdy yet precocious librarian who was called to protect the world’s greatest secrets. Along with Wyle much of the original cast including Bob Newhart Olympia Dukakis and Jane Curtin return for another round of rip-roaring pulse-pounding adventure. In addition the lovely Gabrielle Anwar (Scent of a Woman) joins the cast to accompany Carsen in his mission to save the world’s most valuable treasures. The Librarian: Return to King Solomon’s Mines is directed by Jonathan Frakes (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) with Dean Devlin (Independence Day The Patriot) serving as executive producer. The script is by Marco Schnabel based on characters created by David Titcher.System Requirements:Run Time: 92 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR UPC: 053939765229 Manufacturer No: T7652Only one film under his belt, and already Flynn Carsen (Noah Wylie) is talking like Indiana Jones. “Relax,” he tells a companion before daringly retrieving an ancient artifact before it can be used for evil. “This kind of stuff happens to me all the time.” A character of modest charms (much like this made-for-cable movie), Carsen is not your typical movie action hero. His brain serves him better than his brawn. Early on, his knowledge of vegetation plays a key role in a cliff-jumping escape from pursuing bad guys. Carsen, for those just tuning in, is a librarian at the Metropolitan Library, which secretly houses history’s mythic artifacts, including the sword Excalibur, and the Shroud of Turin. The fate of the world is once again in Carsen’s hands when a map to the legendary King Solomon’s Mines is stolen. Carsen embarks on another fantastic global adventure, with stops in Casablanca (with inevitable references to the Humphrey Bogart classic) and Kenya. This time, he has new female companionship, Emily (Gabrielle Anwar), a beautiful archaeologist who can match the much-educated Carsen degree for degree. Reprising their roles from the first film are Olympia Dukakis as Flynn’s meddling mother, who tries to fix him up with his third cousin (“You’ll have plenty to talk about”), Jane Curtin as flinty library administrator, Charlene (“Save your receipts”), and Bob Newhart as his mentor, Judson. Savvy viewers will see plot twists and character revelations coming from a mile away, but that is all part of the fun, as are the hokey special effects and knowing humor (“There’s always a secret passage,” Carsen observes while navigating a catacomb). Who know if there will ever be another Indiana Jones movie. Until then, The Librarian is worth checking out, especially on DVD, where it can be enjoyed without intrusive commercial interruption. –Donald Liebenson

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