Review: She (1965)

Set in the Middle East in 1918, ex-soldier John Richardson, and his companions Peter Cushing (an adventurer and archaeologist) and Bernard Cribbins (a loyal manservant), get embroiled in some ancient tribal hokum after Richardson becomes besotted with the beautiful Ayesha (Ursula Andress), who gives Richardson a map and urges him to prove his worth by coming to find her. Upon arrival he finds that Ayesha is otherwise known as She Who Must Be Obeyed, an unbending ruler who believes Richardson to be the reincarnation of her dead lover. Together they must bathe in the Flame of Really Bad 60s Special FX. Or something like that. Christopher Lee plays scheming high priest Billali, who is the man behind the woman behind the title of the film.

 

Directed by Robert Day (“Corridors of Blood” with Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee, “The Haunted Strangler” with Boris Karloff), this 1965 adaptation of the H. Rider Haggard (“King Solomon’s Mines”) adventure novel is, like most Hammer films impressively made on what today would be regarded as a relatively modest budget. It almost works, actually, as it’s hard not to find some of this nonsense really watchable. However, it falls apart by the end because of the way the title character has been written. Writer David T. Chantler (who relocates the action from the Arctic locale in the novel, to the Middle East here) wavers on whether She is a villainess or not, and because of that, Christopher Lee only gets to stand out at the end, and by then it’s too late. Before the finale, his character feels like the ‘He’ behind ‘She’. Faithful to the source material or not, I believe the film would’ve been unquestionably better if Lee was made the top villain from the get-go, manipulating She.

 

Still, as is it’s quite fun if you like this sort of Saturday matinee thing, with Peter Cushing and the stunning Andress (who rightly gets top billing for playing the title character, despite Cushing and Lee being Hammer’s premiere stars) particularly enjoyable. Cushing actually starts off a little seedier than usual, seemingly getting off on watching Palestinian belly dancers. But before long, it becomes your typical Cushing ‘know it all’ character and he’s terrific. Nice Freud beard, too. Andress is the perfect vision of beauty...so let’s not talk about her acting ability or anything irrelevant like that. Boy do I need to see “Slave of the Cannibal God” as soon as possible. Although clearly dubbed, Ms. Andress otherwise makes for the perfect She Who Must Wear the Pants. Male lead John Richardson is frankly a bit stiff and forgettable, but most male leads in these sorts of films tended to be a bit bland. He’s tolerable but not remotely memorable. Rosenda Monteros, meanwhile, is flagrantly awful as the secondary female love interest, a pretty slave girl. I would’ve cut the role entirely to be honest. An alarmingly bare-chested Andre Morell, despite being a fine actor, just seems miscast as an elderly slave (and Monteros’ father). “Carry On” regular Bernard Cribbins gets the Anthony Newley comic relief role, and does it well (Nice hat, too). Unlike Andre Morell, Christopher Lee is one of the few Caucasian actors who can play a whole multitude of different races without seeming too silly (His “Fu Manchu” has dated, though). There’s nothing wrong with Lee’s performance here except he gets little screen time and even less dialogue. Apparently this was a point in his career where he was simply exhausted and unhappy to be on set. He may not be in the film much, but being the pro he is, you can’t tell he’d rather be somewhere else.

 

As is always the case with Hammer, the film looks more expensive than it presumably was. Hammer were second only to Roger Corman in getting a lot out of very little. The interior design in particular is outstanding, and She’s statue temple is awesome. It’s one of the coolest things you’ll see outside of an Iron Maiden album cover. The costumes, however...wow are they ever hit and miss. Andress at one point wears an outfit that can only be described as Big Bird after an accident with a hot stove. I bet she hated wearing that thing.

 

It’s not really my kind of Hammer film (And not just because I’m more a fan of Lee than Cushing), but it’s pretty watchable, if undoubtedly silly. The scene where a bunch of slaves are thrown into a molten pit is probably the most lasting image in the entire film. It’s quite nasty. Interestingly downbeat ending, though I’m not sure if it quite fits with the rest of this Saturday matinee adventure (Richardson’s uninspired performance doesn’t help, either).

 

Rating: C+