Adventure is a popular film genre, because movies can transport us to exotic locales which most people will never visit in real life. As far back as the silent film era, filmgoers have relished flicks with daring feats, fast-paced action, and intense peril. In recent decades, increasingly extravagant film budgets have made tropical location shooting commonplace, and computer technology has accompanied or replaced that even more recently. As the special effects grow more impressive, the stories grow weaker and more overdone.
Last year, an adventure film called “The Lost City” was released. It contains as many worn out tropes as you’d expect from a movie with such a predictable title. However, there are some interesting things to note about it, by which I don’t mean its all-star cast. While it seems like the kind of movie that could have easily been a flop, it had the largest opening weekend of an original film since the pandemic. Why were mask-scarred citizens willing to crawl out of their houses to see this movie?
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“The Lost City” was released on March 25, 2022. It was directed and co-written by brothers Adam and Aaron Nee, based on a story by Seth Gordon. This film stars Sandra Bullock of late 1980s–90s fame as the heroine, Channing Tatum of “Magic Mike” stardom as her love interest, and Harry Potter superstar Daniel Radcliffe as the antagonist. Brad Pitt makes an almost cameo appearance in a small role. It wasn’t prestigious enough to earn any Oscar or Golden Globe nominations, but it did rake in $192.9 million.It’s the story of novelist Loretta Sage (Bullock), who has achieved great success writing about the fictional Dr. Angela Lovemore’s exotic adventures. While Angela has exciting escapades with the strapping Dash McMahon, the widowed authoress is pressured into going on a promotional book tour with her dopey cover model Alan Caprison (Tatum). No sooner have they gotten started than eccentric billionaire Abigail Fairfax (Radcliffe) kidnaps Loretta. This egomaniac fancies himself a gentleman explorer, and he believes Loretta knows the real location of ancient treasure described in one of her books. He knows she based her books on archaeological research she did with her late husband, so he takes her to an island he has discovered, against her will, to locate the Lost City of D. Alan secretly has feelings for Loretta, so he hires CIA agent Jack Trainer (Pitt) to help him rescue her. After Jack is killed while making the escape, Loretta and Alan run into the jungle, where they must survive the elements while eluding the crazed Fairfax.
“The Lost City” is basically what would have happened if Indiana Jones were killed at the end of “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and Marion, his wife by that point, decided to write sensationalist books inspired by their archaeological adventures. The theme of a wealthy or powerful madman wanting to use an archaeologist to help him grave-rob for his own singular benefit is intrinsic to the “Indiana Jones” films. However, I wouldn’t say this movie is just a rip-off of the popular Spielberg-Lucas adventure films, since those films are far from original. It would be more accurate to compare it to a classic movie adaptation of the Victorian novel which started the lost world adventure genre, “King Solomon’s Mines” from 1950.
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“King Solomon’s Mines” is based on the H. Rider Haggard novel of the same name. The 1950 film stars Deborah Kerr, Steward Granger, and Richard Carlson. This Technicolor MGM film was not the first film adaption of the popular story, since there was a British version starring Paul Robeson, Cedric Hardwicke, and Anna Lee released in 1937. Although the 1950 film strayed farther from the book, it was noteworthy for its extensive location footage in Africa. The expense and difficulty of taking the whole production crew on an African safari paid off, since the movie proved to be the second highest-grossing film of the year and fared well at the Academy Awards.In 1897 in the Kenya Colony, refined Englishwoman Elizabeth Curtis (Kerr) persuades British safari guide Allan Quatermain (Granger) to take her into the African interior in pursuit of her husband. He set out to find the legendary treasure mines of King Solomon, but he hasn’t returned, so his wife fears the worst. Quatermain is reluctant to take a woman on the dangerous journey, but she is persistent. He forms a safari party including Mrs. Curtis, her brother, John Goode (Carlson), and a mysterious African named Umbopa (Siriaque). Following the same map Mr. Curtis used, they set out. During their arduous journey, they encounter many predators, both human and animal, and Allan and Elizabeth start falling in love despite their better judgement.
These two stories have a lot in common. Firstly, both center around a woman who journeys into the perilous jungle, Loretta and Elizabeth, respectively. Both women are widows, although we don’t find out Mr. Curtis has died until near the end of the film. Both stories feature an Englishman who is in search of an ancient treasure, the onscreen Fairfax in the new film and the offscreen Curtis in the old. Both women encounter adventurers who help them survive the perils of the wild, Jack in the 2022 film and Allan in the 1950. Both movies were filmed in exotic locations. The characters in both movies deal with dangerous wildlife during their quests. Both leading ladies end up falling in love quite unexpectedly with one of their travel companions, who are ironically both named Allan (though with different spellings).
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I think “The Lost City” did well because it followed a formula which has proven successful many times before. “King Solomon’s Mines” was a wildly successful book, inspiring many similar novels as well as countless films. The 1950s film adaptation was also groundbreaking. It showed that filming on location could be worth the expense and hassle, since it added realism, excitement, and a box office draw besides the actors and stories.“The Lost City” was also financially successful. However, its quality pales in comparison to the older movie. “King Solomon’s Mines” is a dramatic, exciting masterpiece which uses intelligent story matter and good dialogue to weave a tale. In contrast, “The Lost City” earns its PG-13 rating by using double entendres, suggestive situations, and genuinely stupid dialogue to keep its rather flimsy story afloat. That’s why the 1950 film remains a beloved classic over seventy years later, while the 2022 film has already been largely forgotten.
