King Solomon's Mines

Jesse Huston hires Allan Quatermain to find her father Professor Jediah Huston, believed lost on an expedition to find the fabled King Solomon's Mines. Quartermain and his companion, the mysterious Umbopo, penetrate unknown country, following a map. Professor Huston has actually been captured by a German military expedition on the same quest, led by Colonel Bockner and Turkish slave-trader and adventurer Dogati, a long-standing adversary of Quatermain. Quatermain's group rescues Huston, who implores Quatermain to stop Bockner and Dogati from finding the mines. The group enter the tribal lands of the Kukuana, who capture them. The tribe is under the control of priestess Gagoola, who has Quatermain hung upside down over crocodiles. After defeating Gagoola's warriors, Umbopo reveals himself as an exiled tribal chief and the rightful ruler of the Kukuanas. As the tribesmen submit to him, Bockner and Dogati attack the village. Amid the ensuing chaos, Gagoola captures Jesse and flees into caves under the Breasts of Sheba, twin mountain peaks where the mines are located. Quatermain and Umbopo go after them, pursued by Bockner and Dogati. At the entrance to the mines, Bockner and Dogati's party reach a moat of quicksand. Bockner orders his men forward into the moat, and shoots them, and most of his own men, using their bodies as stepping stones. As they approach the entrance, Bockner shoots Dogati and takes command of the party. Inside the mines, Quatermain and Umbopo rescue Jesse and find the resting place of all the former tribal queens, including the Queen of Sheba who is encased in crystal. To keep her power as the Kukuanas' ruler, Gagoola attempted to sacrifice Jesse, who has a strong resemblance to the Queen. Umbopo pursues Gagoola. As Bockner and his men arrive, Quatermain and Jesse flee, ending up in a treasure chamber full of diamonds and other treasures. Bockner hears their voices from outside the chamber, but Gagoola seals Quatermain and Jesse inside the chamber, triggering the ceiling to lower on them. Quatermain and Jesse stop the ceiling trap, but then the chamber begins filling up with water. A stick of dynamite set by Bockner outside the chamber door explodes, sending them both out to safety. Bockner enters the chamber and lays claim to the treasure, only to be confronted by a wounded Dogati, who was wearing a protective vest, who forces Bockner to swallow diamonds, intending to cut him open to retrieve them later on. Meanwhile, Umbopo corners Gagoola, who leaps down a volcano's shaft and is incinerated in molten lava, causing eruptions throughout the mines. Dogati is partially buried when the chamber's ceiling collapses, but Bockner is unharmed. He gloats to Dogati after claiming more diamonds for himself. He leaves the chamber after firing at the ceiling, burying Dogati alive. Quatermain, Jesse and Umbopo flee through the collapsing caverns crossing a booby-trapped lake, to be stopped by Bockner, who demands their diamonds. Quatermain places the diamonds on the trap's trigger. Bockner takes the diamonds, falls into the lake, and is seized in the jaws of a Mokele-mbembe. The trap resets itself and the diamonds rise back to the surface, but Umbopo warns Quatermain and Jesse not to take them, saying they belong to the mountain. The trio continue their escape through the caverns, past lava, fire and falling rocks. Quatermain tells Umbopo to take Jesse to safety, and is struck down by Dogati, who survived the cave-in. In the ensuing fight, Dogati falls into a lava pit. Quatermain escapes from the mines just as the volcano explodes, sealing the entrance forever. Returning to the village, Umbopo assumes his place as the ruler of the Kukuanas. He and his people bid a farewell to Quatermain and Jesse. While exiting the village, they each reveal they had kept a diamond as a souvenir of their adventure, and kiss.