Watusi

"Guardians of King Solomon's Mines!"

1959 1h 25m EN

😐

5.8

MID

★5.8TMDB · 10

Adventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Following WWI, fortune hunter Allen Quartermain's son Harry travels to Africa to search for King Solomon's mines. He dons a special medallion given by his father from the Watusi tribe, who guard the mines. Along the way, Harry and his friend Rick meet and take with them Erica, daughter of a missionary killed by a local tribe.

“Guardians of King Solomon's Mines!”

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Cast

George Montgomery
Harry Quartermain
Taina Elg
Erica Neuler
David Farrar
Rick Cobb
Dan Seymour
Mohamet
Robert Goodwin
Jim-Jim
Rex Ingram
Umbopa
Anthony M. Davis
Amtaga
Paul Thompson
Gagool

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Kurt Neumann
Writers: James Clavell
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

85 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.2× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

67 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Quartermain Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor William B. Gulick shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

George Montgomery and Taina Elg and David Farrar carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Guardians of King Solomon's Mines!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Kurt Neumann directs. William B. Gulick cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

185 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $0.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Made its money back 3.2× over at the box office.
467 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
5Part of the "Quartermain Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Editor William B. Gulick shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7George Montgomery and Taina Elg and David Farrar carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Guardians of King Solomon's Mines!".
9IMDB entry: tt0053436 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 10 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
11Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Editing: William B. Gulick
Makeup / hair: Sydney Guilaroff
Runtime: 85 min · 1h 25m
Status: Released
Budget: $485,000
Box office: $1,545,000
Return: 319% of budget
Original language: EN
IMDB: Watusi (1959)

Part of

Quartermain Collection

Stewart Granger as Allan Quartermain and George Montgomery as his son Harry Quartermain. In these two movies an R was integrated to the novels' fictional character name Quatermain.

Also by

Kurt Neumann

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-11-11
★ 6/10
This is pretty much a straight "reimagining" of H. Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines" story. This time, though, it's the son of the famous "Quartermain" dynasty "Henry" (George Montgomery) who alights on the sleepy African village where his father's friend "Rick" (David Farrar) is nursing his beer. He wants to go back to the mines and help himself to some precious gems. Replete with supplies and their native factotum "Jim-Jim" (Robert Goodwin) they set off on their perilous trek. What's missing thus far is soon found as they travel - in the guise of German traveller "Erica" (Taina Elg doing her best Deborah Kerr impression) and now we are good to go with a standard adventure featuring crocodiles, snakes, restless natives, a few very useful worms and some beautiful (and occasionally shockingly graphic) archive photography. The denouement, indeed the last half hour of this all goes remarkably smoothly and is really rather disappointing. Extra points if you can spot Rex Ingram as it meanders along slowly but determinedly and though it's all entirely derivative and has about as much action as an edition of "Daktari", it's still a watchable film that plays to just about every colonial stereotype and is very much of it's time.

Production companies