She (1965) Film Review

I should know better and have told myself not to do this. It rarely goes well. But I finished the novel of She by H. Rider Haggard and thought I should re-watch two films based on the book. The film is always at an unfair advantage when you do this because you have invested so much time in the book - in this case a week - while the film passes by quite rapidly. The book was to me surprisingly good - at times quite verbose but highly imaginative and thoughtful. Haggard wrote it back in 1886 in serialized form and it was enormously popular as had been his earlier books about Quatermain. He published a sequel to She in 1904 called Ayesha in which our two boys believing she is still alive go off in search of her in Tibet. Here is a quick summary of the book.

It is narrated by Holly who had adopted Leo, the son of his friend, many years before and told to open a package when Leo turns 25. They do so and inside his father tells him in a letter that Leo's ancestor of 2,000 years before was Kallikrates who had fled Egypt with his wife and ended up in the land of She in Africa. She fell in love with him and when he tried to leave, She killed him. Now with his father's instructions Leo, Holly and their man servant Job go off looking for adventure and immortality. They find it. After a lengthy journey they find themselves there. She Who Must Always Be Obeyed takes a look at Leo and realizes that he is the reincarnation of Kallikrates. A local girl, Ustane, falls in love with Leo as well but that is a dangerous thing to do around She.

She has powers - she can kill simply with a look - and if she removes her veil her face is so beautiful that every man immediately falls in love with her like a heroin injection. The book is slow moving with many discussions between She and Holly about life, mortality, death and the outside world that she has had no knowledge of for 2,000 years. She doesn't even show up till half way through the book and has a mysterious presence throughout. It doesn't end up well. But there is the sequel.

In this 1965 version from Hammer they remove much of this mystery immediately rather stupidly. The three boys are in Palestine after WW I having a drink in a shady bar and chasing after dancing women who are quite clearly available. Leo is spotted by an ominous looking gentleman who sets up the bait of the lovely Ustane who Leo goes for like a bee to honey. He gets knocked on the head and taken to . . . She! What the hell is She doing in Palestine? Shopping? She sees his resemblance to Kallikrates and gives him a map to find her homeland. This quick appearance of She debases her value, her majesty and turns her almost into an ordinary woman. And this is the major issue with this film - She is made very ordinary - other than having immortality of course - just a girl who has been waiting for her love for a very long time. The casting is great - it is hard to imagine anyone but the rapturous Ursula Andress as She and it is always nice seeing Peter Cushing (Holly) and Christoper Lee (a high priest) together again. Leo played by John Richardson (also One Million Years BC) is certainly handsome enough if rather bland. The film never quite gets going - it has a few good scenes but it lacks energy and imagination.

Haggard paints a wonderful creative other worldly portrait of the land of She. An ancient civilization had once lived there but had died out from a plague and they built spectacular buildings and an intricate cave complex where all their embalmed bodies still reside. It is a fascinating mysterious world but the 1965 version feels more like one of those Weissmuller films where he comes across a white queen in a hidden city. I doubt a film could really capture the book - much of it the thoughts of Holly who feels very modern in his thinking.