Hunter-Habib
AH legend
Most of us hunters & outdoor aficionados have probably watched Stewart Granger’s 1950 African Classic “King Solomon’s Mines”. I was quite blessed to watch this film in 1958 with my parents at the old Dacca Club cinema hall when I was just a little boy. And it immediately cemented the dream in young seven year old Habib’s mind that I absolutely must hunt in Africa someday (my dream eventually came true in 1974 during a mixed bag safari to Kenya, but it came with the unintended side effect of making me hopelessly addicted to hunting in the Dark Continent to such an extent that I now find myself going there once every alternate year even five decades later).
It wasn’t until recently that I was quite pleasantly surprised to learn Stewart Granger’s 1950 masterpiece actually spawned a lesser known sequel in 1959 by the name of “Watusi”. It was actually my amazing granddaughter who purchased a DVD of this film as a gift for me, while she was studying at the University of Oslo in Norway until her graduation last year. She surprised me with the wonderful gift yesterday, and I watched it with my family last night. And I must honestly say… I’m quite impressed.
The story (set in 1919) revolves around Henry Quatermaine, Alan Quatermaine’s son (briefly mentioned in the first film) now grown up & eager to follow his father’s footsteps in Africa as both a white hunter & in finding King Solomon’s Mines (after serving in World War I). We learn that Alan Quatermaine (Stewart Granger’s lead character in the first film) died in Africa during a hunt gone wrong. And that Harry’s Stepmother (who was played by Deborah Kerr in the first film) & step sister were killed during the war when a German U Boat bombed the ship which they were traveling by. For this reason, Harry harbors a lot of hatred towards Germans. He teams up with Rick, his father’s old professional hunting partner and (accompanied by a band of native Askaris & gun bearers) they venture off into the wilderness. Along the way, they rescue a young German Doctor named Erica from a group of hostile natives. Despite Henry’s initial antagonism towards her due to her German heritage, we all know that she’s the heroine of this film. Well, I won’t spoil the rest for all of you. So I highly recommend that you all watch this one.
The film features some pretty nice hunting scenes (a Nile river crocodile, zebras & a bull elephant). The elephant hunting scene is actually so realistically filmed, that I can’t help but wonder if a bull elephant was actually shot for filming purposes. I believe this, because of the way the elephant collapses on it’s hind legs first upon receiving a frontal brain shot… a detail which not too many film makers would be expected to know.
As for good firearms, this film has quite a few- A pair of .303 British Lee Enfields, a 9.5x57mm Mannlicher Schoenauer Model 1910, a Colt Single Action Army revolver (probably in .45 Long Colt) and a Webley & Scott revolver (probably in .455 Webley). Alan Quatermaine’s old 8 gauge Holland & Holland back action hammer double rifle (which Stewart Granger’s character famously made use of in the opening scene of the first film to shoot a charging bull elephant) also makes an appearance, although unfortunately doesn’t get to bag any game this time around. Henry openly says that he prefers modern small bore magazine rifles due to his military background. A really nice detail is that the producers actually had the characters use round nosed FMJ solids in the .303 British for the elephant hunt, instead of just making them use any army surplus spitzer tipped FMJ military ball (which shows that the filmmakers actually did their homework).
A really nice subplot in this film revolves around Henry eventually learning to let go of his grudges against German people as the film progresses. As a Bengali who served in the 1971 Indo-Pak War, I can wholeheartedly relate to his emotions. For many years, Bengalis harbored a strong hatred towards all Pakistani people but (sooner or later) most of us accepted that the Pakistani people were just as much victims of the war as the Bengalis were. And during times of war, nobody’s hands are 100% clean.
Unlike the first film (which exclusively revolved around Stewart Granger’s character always saving the day), this film takes a much more balanced approach towards character development by having all three of the main characters take turns in saving each other’s lives as the film progresses. Even the heroine shows that she’s just as skilled with a .303 British Lee Enfield (taking down scores of hostile natives) as she is with a first aid kit. This is a stark contrast to the first film, where Deborah Kerr’s character is basically a damsel in distress always needing to be saved.
The film runs for around an hour and a half. So it’s definitely not too long and well worth the watch. They just don’t make them like these anymore.
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