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Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold

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Allan Quatermain and
the Lost City of Gold
Film poster
Directed byGary Nelson
Screenplay byGene Quintano
Lee Reynolds
Produced byYoram Globus
Menahem Golan
Starring
CinematographyFrederick Elmes
Alex Phillips
Edited byGary Griffen
Alain Jakubowicz
Dan Loewenthal
Music byMichael Linn
Distributed byCannon Film Distributors
Release dates
January 30, 1987 - USA
December 18, 1986 - West Germany
March 20, 1997 - Special Edition
Running time
99 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3.8 million (USA) (sub-total)

Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold is an adventure comedy film directed by Gary Nelson and released on January 30, 1987 in the United States. It is loosely based on the novel Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard. It is the sequel to King Solomon's Mines.

The role of Allan Quatermain is reprised by Richard Chamberlain as is that of Jesse Huston by Sharon Stone, who was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Awards for "Worst Actress" for this role. The movie also starred James Earl Jones as Umslopogaas, Henry Silva as Agon, Aileen Marson as Queen Nyleptha, Cassandra Peterson as Queen Sorais and Chamberlain's then real-life partner Martin Rabbett as Robeson Quatermain.

The film was made simultaneously with its predecessor, King Solomon's Mines, although it was released a couple of years later. Despite the tremendous liberties both movies took with the source material, being more similar in tone to the Indiana Jones film series, Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold was loosely based, mostly, on the book sequel of Haggard's King Solomon's Mines, entitled simply Allan Quatermain. In that book, which depicts Quatermain's last adventure (although it's just the second in the series of novels), the character and his associates go searching for a lost white tribe in Africa, and end up involved in a war between the rival queens of the kingdom. An opulent set was constructed for the movie just outside Victoria Falls.

Plot

After surviving their expedition to King Solomon's Mines, Allan and Jesse have settled down in colonial Africa. They are engaged to be married and Jesse plans that they will travel to America for the wedding. But Allan is restless.

A man chased by two strange masked men emerges from the jungle, and is recognised as one of Quatermain's friends. He is delirious and is cared for by Jesse and Allan, but at night, his pursuers return and kill him.

Before he died, he told Allan that his brother, supposedly lost, is alive, and that they have found the legendary 'Lost City of Gold'. Quatermain immediately starts preparing for an expedition to find his lost brother. Jesse is furious and stalks off, but then realises how important this is to Allan.

Allan and Jesse are assisted by Umslopogaas, a fearless warrior and old friend of Allan's, to put together an expedition. Swarma, a spiritual guru, and five Askari warriors, accompany them. The group crosses the Sahara desert; two Askari are lost when Swarma trips a trap that opens a pit under the road to the city. Another member of the party is lost when savage Esbowe warriors attack the group. Many spears get thrown at Quatermain and his friends, but Umslopogaas deflects most of them by with his giant axe.

Quatermain and his friends indeed discover the city. The inhabitants, both black and white, are friendly, and Allan meets his brother Robeson, seemingly in good health and at peace in the society. The city boasts two queens--the noble and beloved, Nyleptha and her power-hungry sister, Sorais. But the real leader is the evil High Priest, Agon, feared by all.

Allan raises the population against Agon and Sorais, who musters an army to recover the city by force. Allan realizes that they can make all the weapons they need out of gold, which is mined by the population. The final battle ends when, atop the temple, during a lightning storm, Allan uses Umslopogaas' axe to channel the lighting and melt the gold (into liquid form) causing it to flow off the side of the structure and pour over the attacking horde, turning Agon and his army into gold statues.

Cast

Music

The movie features just over half an hour of original music written by Michael Linn; for financial reasons, the producers reused material composed by Jerry Goldsmith for the first movie (although Linn's score does use Goldsmith's main theme), supplemented with music composed for other productions from Cannon Films.[1]

The score was initially released by Silva Screen in 1988 on a CD with cues from Manifesto (scored by Nicola Piovani), Making the Grade (Basil Poledouris), Doin' Time on Planet Earth (Dana Kaproff) and The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (Dov Seltzer); in 2009 it was issued on its own album by La-La Land Records. Cues in italic contain material composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

  1. Train Delivery/Don’t Fool With Quatermain (1:48)
  2. Quatermain Shows Off (1:53)
  3. Quatermain Meets Swarmi/Dumont Dies (3:20)
  4. The Ruse (2:53)
  5. Jessie Fingered (2:07)
  6. Umslopogaas (3:27)
  7. Earthquake (2:57)
  8. Quatermain Leaves Akawi (1:40)
  9. Worms (1:12)
  10. Love Scene (3:02)
  11. Agon Wants Revenge (5:04)
  12. Dumont’s Gold City/Coda (3:11)

Reception

According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film has received two positive and one negative review.[2][3][4][5]

Controversy

Based on a 19th-century novel that, though progressive for its time, reflected some racist attitudes, the film itself has been criticized for conveying some of these same racist themes. The book Africans and the Politics of Popular Culture provides a harsh critique saying it reached "levels of racism unachieved since the 1930s."[6] Though the film has been portrayed as a comedy and a satire not all critics have been satisfied that the racist themes are excused under this pretense.[citation needed]

Releases

MGM released the film on DVD on February 10, 2004.[2]

References

  1. ^ http://sdtom.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/allan-quatermain-and-the-lost-city-of-goldlinn/
  2. ^ a b "Allan Quatermain & The Lost City of Gold : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". Dvdtalk.com. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
  3. ^ "Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
  4. ^ Maslin, Janet (1987-01-31). "Movie Review - Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold - FILM: 'QUATERMAIN,' STARRING CHAMBERLAIN - NYTimes.com". Movies.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
  5. ^ "Movie Review : Celluloid Fool's Gold In 'Quatermain' - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. 1987-02-02. Retrieved 2013-09-08.
  6. ^ Falola, Toyin; Agwuele, Augustine, ed. (2009). Africans and the Politics of Popular Culture. University Rochester Press. p. 231.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
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