She (1935)

Absolutely Fantastic

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This can be seen as one of five great fantasy films produced by Meriam Cooper. The other four are "Most Dangerous Game," "King Kong," "Son of Kong," and "Mighty Joe Young." This and the last three were written by Cooper's wife, Ruth Rose. It is the least seen and least appreciated of the five.The story and sets are as fantastic and spectacular as the other films. I think its emphasis on love might have made it a hard sell to kids and macho men and that is the reason it didn't do well.It does contain a fabulous performance by Helen Gahagan as the title character. She does make you believe that she is 500 years old and she manages a ruthlessness and passion that few actresses at the time could match. One might argue that her stage acting doesn't come off that well on film in every scene, but at moments it is exactly right for the story. Along with Falconetti's "Passion of Joan of Arc," this has to be considered one of the greatest single performances in film history.Helen Mack as She's rival for the affection of Leo (Randolph Scott) is also very good at times, although her accent seems to slip here and there. Scott is a bit wooden, but that is how he generally is on screen. Bruce Cabot seems to be in rehearsal for his great role as Dr. Watson which he would play several years later.The colorized version is quite nice. It seems to match the color of the period.The dance scenes seem quite dated, but they do reflect the revolutionary Ballet style of Nijinski.This movie is well worth seeing for any lover of fantasy films. It seems to have influenced Walt Disney's "Snow White," as well as the first Flash Gordon serial filmed the following year.It is probably time for a remake.

From the creator of King Kong comes another balls-to-the-wall fantasy adventure full of spectacle, set-pieces, and technical bravado in special effects that never really age but become all the more impressive in the detail and skill put into it. The story is recognizable: the Fountain of Youth is out there, and we must find it! However, once the adventurers have arrived, what is there to see but crazed natives, magical empresses, and frozen saber toothed tigers tucked away in the corner of an unforgiving arctic landscape? Everything for this movie was prepared on a large budget before actual filming began, at which point the budget was pulled and it was forced to be shot in black and white. Nevertheless, the money still survives in the set-pieces and special effects. And these aren't your average corner of the studio setpieces, this is grandiose, extras-filled spectacles with stairs stretching for forever and perfectly composed backdrops for cliffs falling off to infinity. The movie absolutely delights in motion, light, and magic, as She is introduced behind a veil of smoke, natives fall from a cliff in long shot, a corpse is disintegrated on-screen in a prolonged combustion matching live action sweep of She's arm, and aging occurs between bursts of vibrant white light.Yes, there are still ways that the film is painfully dated. The acting style is the stagy and overbearing declarative statement style of early sound era in order to appropriately capture the dialog with limited camera movements within the sets, the representation of natives will illicit giggles from those who aren't outright offended, and if you're the type of person who HAS to be a killjoy and think King Kong is all racist and stuff, She will probably feel a bit misogynistic (it's pretty much about a woman trying to hold on to a man who doesn't want her, preferring a new younger woman instead). However, there's some stuff that is still just downright delightful, including a prolonged Busby Berkeley-like dance interlude, a large avalanche, and the tongue-in-cheek sendup of characters like Holly, supposed anthropologist sitting back with a bemused expression and a pipe watching in fascination as cannibals get ready to eat him.It may not have created as iconic a character as King Kong, or made dinosaurs come to life sixty years before Jurassic Park, but She is still a wonderful movie.--PolarisDiB

Leo Vincey(Randolph Scott)is told of a legendary Flame of Life, that holds all secrets of eternal life. With his friend Horace Holly(Nigel Bruce), Leo will travel to the Arctic region of Manchuria, where a namesake relative made a partial discovery many years ago. The resting place of the flame is located in a deep remote cave and is under the guardianship of an immortal queen known as SHE Who Must Be Obeyed(Helen Gahagan), who believe's that Leo is her long-lost lover from 500 years earlier. Ruth Rose adapts this H. Rider Haggard story for director Lansing C. Holden. Photography and special effects are very good for a movie from the mid 30's. Also in the cast is the fetching Helen Mack.

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.