I'm sure in reflection that Kathleen Turner is grateful that she turned down the role of Jessie in the amusing but nearly disastrous ripoff of the original versions of "King Solomon's Mines", a blatant attempt to repeat the success of "Raiders of the Lost Ark". The character, played by Sharon Stone, was as pathetically annoying as Kate Capshaw was in the disappointing "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", and is more so in this, hideously ridiculous. Her Razzie nomination for this is justified because watching her on screen is just painful. Once again, and doubly so, her only purpose seems to be to put Quatermaine (Richard Chamberlain) at risk, as well as the native companion who nearly goes off a cliff due to her constant caterwauling while she's driving along side a mountain with a huge ravine next to it. Her character is supposed to be a throwback to the type of screwball comedy heroines played by Miriam Hopkins, Constance Bennett, Carole Lombard and Jean Harlow, an insult to those great ladies and the writers of those brilliant classics. Her character isn't scatterbrained. She's no brained.

"A blind monkey sometimes finds a banana" says the new character played by James Earl Jones, and there's no great white hope as long as he's around Stone. In fact, there is a Great White Hope here, the presence of the lost city which apparently was populated buy a lost African civilization of white men. Every nasty stereotype possible about Asians and Africans are utilized here, often laughably so, over-scored in the background with Jerry Goldsmith's ripoff of John Williams' classic theme. At least Jones, in leopard skin, is spared a ridiculous costume. Well let me rephrase that. At least he was spared the cheap community theater "Lion King" costumes of the other natives. The Indian sidekick (Robert Donner) is another lame, cowardly stereotype that after a while makes you pray he becomes gator food.

In all honesty, the film is good looking, lavish in its location footage and special effects, with a river whirlpool unimpressive site. It has the feeling of a forties serial with the occasional thrill-ride I'm going to Muse the park. A tunnel they enter in the river that speeds them up a great amount is a lot of fun, a nightmarish variation of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Disneyland. They did put some thought into the art direction with some neat sets. But like "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and the last half of "King Solomon's Mines", this suffers from the issue of being way too much, accompanied by an absolutely horrendous screenplay and uninspired direction.

The set for the lost city itself looks like leftover sets from the musical version of "Lost Horizon" combined with a Vegas shopping mall. Henry Silva as the high priest of the lost city (who speaks perfect English) is joined by Cassandra Peterson no less as his Queen, literally wearing a brass bra. Silva resembles Jack Palance in a bad wig. I expected John gielgud to show up in any moment as his "Lost Horizon" character of Chang in the lost city sequence. Still, films like this no matter how bad, when accompanied by a lot of popcorn can be a lot of fun. Just be sure who has aspirin present because Sharon Stone's constant bellowing will make that necessary. A film so delightfully audacious in its hideousness, it really has to be seen to be believed.

Adventures , humor and romance in the exotic African jungles starred by the legendary Allan Quatermain . This sequel from H. Rider Haggard adventure follows again Allan Quatermain played by a sympathetic Richard Chamberlain . However , the original novel took place in the 1880s or earlier, but this film moves Quatermain's adventures to the era of World War I, in an unusual case of a semi-update . This is the adventure of a lifetime starred by a fortune hunter called Allan Quatermain (one of the members of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) who teams up with a resourceful woman (Sharon Stone , according to her memoirs Kathleen Turner turned down the role of Jesse) to help her find his missing brother lost in the wilds of 1900s Africa while being pursued by hostile tribes and a rival sorcerer (Henry Silva) . Naturally , there are numerous , exploits , adventures , thrills during their expedition . The search for lost city leads a safari formed by a warrior (James Earl Jones) wielding a deadly ax , a coward man named Swarme (Robert Donner) and five Ascaris through treacherous terrain of the jungle fending off Massai tribes , Lions , beasts , dangerous underground caves filled with monsters and strange bugs . As Allan is leading a safari in search of legendary forbidden city and to save his missing brother . Allan Quatermain once again teams up with Jesse Huston where the discovery of a mysterious old gold piece sends Quatermain looking for his long-lost brother, missing in the wilds of Africa after seeking a lost white race . They must confront natives , animals and several dangers and risks until they find the lost city ruled by nasty Agon and defended by legions of white slaves . The brave hunter and the elegant lady confronting magic rites , roaring lions , an evil high priest , starving animals , silly bugs and monsters .

While attempting to find his brother , Allan and Jesse discover a lost African civilization in this weak rendition of an H. Rider Haggard adventure . This amusing spoof picture displays exciting action , thrills , humor with tongue-in-cheek , extraordinary adventures and outlandish cliffhanger situations abound . An ostensible follow-up to the equally shallow first part . Richard Chamberlain as Quatermain is passable , though Stewart Granger in the classic of the 50s -by Compton Bennett, Andrew Marton and with Debora Kerr- is incredibly missed . Update but lacking the style of the classic versions . Heat and ills affected the crew and main actors but Sharon Stone surprised for her resistance . Polished and colorful production design by Trevor Williams , though in low-budget , excessive matte paintings and transparency . The natives are played by a real ethnic people from Zimbabwe . Evocative as well as glowing cinematography by the Mexican Alex Phillips, being shot on location in Harare, Zimbabwe . Special mention to rousing and thrilling musical score by the great Jerry Goldsmith . To cut costs, the movie score was just a reuse of the material composed by Jerry Goldsmith for the first movie ¨King Salomon's mines¨ ; just half an hour of original music written by Michael Linn . The original film ¨King Salomon's mines¨ and its sequel, ¨Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold¨ , adapted the novel Allan Quatermain (1887),arrive in theaters the year of the 100th anniversary of the first appearance of Allan Quatermain in the novel King Solomon's Mines in 1885 , it was an impressive accomplishment that Quatermain had two films arrive in theaters for his centenary celebrations .

. Other retelling of this known story about the greatest hunter taking on the African jungle and remade several times result to be the followings : directed by Robert Stevenson , a 1937 version with Cedric Hardwicke , Roland Young , Anna Lee , in which the supreme role was performed by the singer Paul Robeson who proved his singing faculties. The best and classic version resulted to be directed by Compton Bennett, Andrew Marton with Stewart Granger , Richard Carlson , Hugo Haas and Debora Kerr . Kurt Neumann directed a rendition titled ¨Watusi¨ with George Montgomery , and David Farrar . And TV adaptation directed by Steven Boyum with Patrick Swayze and Alison Doody, among others . Furthermore , ¨King Salomon's mines¨ was filmed concurrently with its sequel, "Allan Quatermain and the City of Gold" starred by same duo along with James Earl Jones , Henry Silva and Cassandra Petersen - Elvira- as evil queen .

The motion picture was middlingly directed by Gary Nelson , though filmmaker Tobe Hooper was attached to direct early in production . Gary is an usual TV director as episodes (Disneyland) as long time television movies (Murder in Coweta County , his best film) and occasionally cinema director (Allan Quatermain in the lost city of gold) ; children films (¨Freaky Friday¨ , ¨Get Smart¨ , ¨Jimmy the kid¨) ; Western (¨Molly and Lawless John¨ and ¨Santee¨) his most known and successful film was 'The black hole' .

"...makes Plan 9 from Outer Space look like Citizen Kane...(?)" C'mon. A bit of hyperbole now and then is OK but this comment is a bit overdone. Hey, I liked this movie. Dumb? Yep. Lousy script. Yep again. I would guess that H. Rider Haggard would be rolling in his grave at the considerably less than good job they did on this one. Is it dog? Likely. I think that not only James Earl Jones did it for the paycheck. I think Richard Chamberlain, Sharon Stone and Henry Silva did it for the paycheck too. But, then Chamberlain made the Towering Inferno, which was not only bad but boring, in which he played a bad guy. But, seriously folks, getting back to this amusing remake of King Solomon's Mines, you can't take this film seriously. Too bad, though. Being one who loves costume dramas, the script does leave some talented people with little to do but try and keep a straight face while stumbling through the action. Check it out for yourself.