She (1935)

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I watched the German dubbed version of the movie. It has a nice opening, great effects and a beautiful setting and goes well until they meet with "her". Then there is simply too much unnecessary dialogue instead of action :) I was wishing for some nice giant creature to appear... that would have made a great movie out of it. But unfortunately that didn't happen. I guess they were running out of money. The actors were quite OK, but nothing special. Apart from Nigel Bruce and Helen Mack maybe, who looked really nice as Tanya. On the other hand Helen Gahagan as "she" seemed miscast to me. The remake from 1965 was slightly better in my opinion. Overall I rate it 5/10.

I chose to watch the colourized version of this 1935, fantasy-adventure story. I was mainly interested in watching "She" because it was produced by Merian Cooper who, 3 years earlier, had dazzled and terrified movie-audiences everywhere with that all-mighty, movie classic, King Kong.Unfortunately, "She" was a pretty tame and, yes, mediocre follow-up to the likes of King Kong, where only on but a few occasions did it ever come close to living up to its anticipated potential.By its general appearance (due to some very outlandish, over-sized, art deco sets), "She" actually reminded me a lot of the Flash Gordon Serial which was popular movie-fare during this same time-line in movie-making history.All-in-all - I neither loved "She", nor did I loath it. It was OK, at best. And, yes, it was certainly worth at least one view.

If you've read Haggard's novel it's hard to like this movie version of "She" with much enthusiasm. The movie venue is a polar wasteland, not Africa. Ayesha (She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed) has somewhat mysteriously been alive for only 500 years or so, not for 2,000 years after first stepping into the Flame of Life. Many of Haggard's plot details are casually bowdlerized in this film, and the film characters are cardboard cutout versions of those in the book. Ayesha is a somewhat pallid control freak, not stunningly imperious. Leo Vincey is a mawkish, comic-book style hero who's turned on by the hot queen, not a sensitive, heroic figure who is overwhelmed by Ayesha's irresistible beauty and power. Horace Holly is just a Hollywood supporting actor, with none of the moral power of Haggard's Holly. And finally, the girl ("Tanya" in the film, "Ustane" in the book) is a dime-novel sweetie in the film, naturally she's in love with Leo -- in the movie she stands up for her man with an outthrust chin once or twice, in the book she faces down the dreaded Ayesha and dies for her loyalty to Leo. Mostly the movie is disappointing because the director and the writers abandoned any effort to capture the spell-binding mystery of Ayesha's immortality, and the book's pulsing action and sensual seduction of Leo. For my taste there's just too much 1930s cinematography here: almost every word of dialog is a speech, the scene cuts are clumsy and abrupt, it's much too dark, there's way too much relentless, breathlessly beseeching conversation, too much striding, too much of "take two steps away then stop turn and look back" kind of stuff. Ayesha declares "my kingdom is of the imagination" both in the film and in the book. Too bad you need too much imagination to make the film worth watching. Read more on my blog: Barley Literate by Rick

It might have been nice if RKO had gone through with the original budget for She with color and everything else they planned for it. It might even had meant a more substantial film career for Helen Gahagan Douglas.As it was Helen Gahagan Douglas left the screen and performing altogether for politics and a seat in Congress which she gave up to run against Richard Nixon for the Senate. The two Representatives set some new low standards for dirty campaigning, it wasn't completely one sided, but Helen coined the name 'Tricky Dick' for Nixon which clung to him the rest of his life.But in She, Douglas made an indelible impression as the ageless beauty from H. Rider Haggard's novel who tries to win the love of Randolph Scott, the descendant of a love several generations removed. It's on the quest for that ancestor that Randolph Scott and Nigel Bruce set off for the far reaches of Siberia where the widow of that ancestor left a journal telling of a lost civilization in the Arctic, built around an eternal flame promising eternal life for those who step into it. Along the way Scott and Bruce pick up Helen Mack and the three of them literally stumble on the cave entrance that leads to this fabulous place run by the thousand year old beauty Helen Gahagan.Randolph Scott is the stalwart hero that you see in many of his westerns. His American accent is explained by saying his branch of the family took off for America a generation or two back. Nigel Bruce is far from Doctor Watson, he's quite the two fisted action hero here, an aspect I never thought I'd see.For reasons I don't understand, the location was changed from Africa to the Arctic. Especially because RKO had that jungle set that was used for so many of their classics like, The Most Dangerous Game, King Kong, and Five Came Back, I don't understand the change. Maybe someone thought the jungle was starting to look familiar. This adaption of She contains all of H. Rider Haggard's sense of high adventure and drama. Unfortunately it lost money and killed the film career and started the political career of Helen Gahagan. It remains today though, not a bad film, the best known version of an often filmed tale.