July 8 movie: King Solomon's Mines. I think this is Stewart Granger's best movie. Based on an H. Rider Haggard story, Granger plays a guide who takes Deborah Kerr and her brother into the interior of Africa. They're looking for Kerr's missing husband, who went in search of the titular mine.
It's an exciting movie, a great ripping yarn, and a gorgeous travelogue of Africa. Also interesting is the portrayal of African people -- it's the oldest movie I've seen which acknowledges that different regions of Africa have distinct communities with distinct languages and cultures. Near the end of the movie there is a breathtaking dance sequence which (according to Robert Osborne) was completely accurate to Watusi tradition, not Hollywood-ed up at all. Compared to Too Hot to Handle just twelve years earlier, with its extremely offensive scenes in the Amazon, it's almost amazing. Another really spectacular scene is the action sequence where the party is overrun by a stampede. I've watched that scene several times now and I'm still trying to figure out how they did it. It looks so real.
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