Watusi (1959)

Director:

Kurt Neumann

Writers:

James Clavell (writer)
H. Rider Haggard (novel)

Release Date:

21 August 1959 (West Germany)

Genre:

Adventure

Tagline:

Guardians Of King Solomon's Mines!

Plot Keywords:

Africa | Bare Chested Male | Based On Novel

Cast

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

Also Known As:

The Quest for King Solomon's Mines (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:U | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #19122)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Quotes:

Rick Cobb: Look, Erica. I'm pretty beat up, and I haven't got too much hair, and I'm not too young anymore. What I mean to say is, well, I'd like you to marry me.
Erica Neuler: It's difficult to think with so much danger around.
Rick Cobb: Not for me it isn't! Oh, well. I'd have made a lousy husband, anyway.

Movie Connections:

Version of King Solomon's Mines (2004) (TV)

WATUSI (Kurt Neumann, 1959) **

This film, apparently, was hastily concocted by MGM in order to exploit the excess of jungle footage shot during the making of KING SOLOMON'S MINES (1950); incidentally, while the latter had adopted the 1.37:1 aspect ratio (then still the standard in cinema), by the time WATUSI came along the Widescreen was in vogue – which meant that the 'old' scenes had to be stretched in order to fit the new format! Another strange fact connected with the film is that, while it was released in July 1959, director Neumann had died eleven months previously!; actually, he probably wasn't involved in the editing of any of his last three efforts given that they were all released posthumously – which, I guess, speaks volumes about how fast low-budget titles were churned out by Hollywood during this period…

Back to the matter at hand: the film is a sequel to the Stewart Granger/Deborah Kerr KING SOLOMON'S MINES; for the record, I own that version on VHS but haven't watched it in some 20 years!. Given WATUSI's B-movie status, casting this time around is somewhat second-rate (if likable enough): George Montgomery as famous hunter Allan Quatermain's son (with an aversion to Germans, the story occurring just after WWI), Taina Elg as – naturally – a German missionary and the sole survivor after an attack by Natives, and David Farrar as an ex-colleague of the elder Quatermain (who, rather cheekily, is also revealed to be of German parentage!).

The film is good-looking (generating a reasonable atmosphere throughout) and generally watchable, but its singular lack of purpose is more than evident – not least in the compactness of it all (running just 85 minutes), thin plot line (Montgomery retraces his father's steps towards the fabled diamond mines) and, perhaps fatally, its decision to supply romantic rivalry (whose outcome surprises no one) rather than a veritable tension within the group. With this in mind, even the potentially exciting climax in the cave – where the trio has to face perilous rock formation and the threat of lava from beneath in order to reach the coveted treasure – falls flat!; the titular people, then, aren't given anything to do other than sport a peculiar hairdo and engage in the occasional boring tribal rite/dance!