She

I really enjoyed Bernard Cribbins as Job, the valet or manservant of the Major, played by Peter Cushing. The barroom scene where Job and the Major take on a squad of drunken soldiers was great fun and should have been longer. Another poster mentioned what great fun it was to see Peter Cushing and Bernard drunkenly dancing with some sexy belly dancers and I agree. It was fairly decent movie that was colorful in the style that Hammer Production was well-known for in the Sixties. I had to wonder about She Who Must Be Obeyed soldiers who perhaps ripped off their garb and shields from another movie being made about the Roman legions on another studio lot. Ursula was very sexy and beautiful. Overall, it is about average sandal and sandals movie.

I'm not sure why everyone dislikes this film. It not only looks absolutely fantastic for a Hammer film, but also features some fantastic performances by some some of Hammer's best actors(and some who aren't Hammer actors). Some of the amazing performances come from the always excellent Peter Cushing, the(finally)newly knighted Christopher Lee, the great Bernard Cribbins and in her first(and last) Hammer film, the gorgeous Ursula Andress as SHE herself. This film is also wonderfully directed by another one-off Hammer director, Robert Day. However this film does have some low points as well. Some of the plot threads are a little silly and some of the later scenes are very repetitive. By no means the best Hammer film, but no where near the worst.

One really shouldn't need to say more about this movie than that it contains the gorgeous Ursula Andress in her most imperious role, plus the incredibly lovely Rosenda Monteiros. =) But if one must, one will say that this is a classic adventure of innocence, devoted to the concept of faithful and undying true love and the ancient dominion of the Divine Female over all. Completely knocked me over when I was 14 and hasn't lost anything since. I just love it.

I don't know if SHE was the most expensive film Hammer ever made but it sure looks like it. Of course it's not LAWRENCE OF ARABIA or ZULU but it does try to cash in on those two films at a fraction of their cost (and length). In addition to Ursula Andress in her prime (in fact "She Who Must Be Obeyed" is the role she was born to play), we get Hammer stalwarts Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee both giving really strong performances especially Cushing who is unlike any other character I've ever seen him play in a Hammer film.

John Richardson, who starred with Barbara Steele in the iconic BLACK SUNDAY back in 1960 and would be opposite Raquel Welch in ONE MILLION YEARS B. C. the following year, makes for a strong and attractive Leo Vincey. The different ending (from the book and other versions) gives the film a surprising poignancy you wouldn't expect.

H. Rider Haggard's novel of an ageless queen and a forgotten city has been filmed many times starting back in the silent era and as recently as 2001 but only this one and the 1935 RKO version have had any kind of staying power. Comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges. One is in B&W, the other color, one is set in the Arctic, this one (like the book) is set in the desert. The '35 version has tremendous art deco sets, Nigel Bruce, and the legendary Gustav von Seyfertitz. Helen Gahagan was regal as SHE but Andress is exotic and very desirable.

While the settings here aren't nearly as lavish, they were influential and this version was a favorite of countless impressionable minds during the 1960s including future filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. This Warner Archive edition stops short of a full restoration but the widescreen transfer allows us to see SHE in all its glory...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

H. Rider Haggard's "She" is a book that transcends its original intent. It's a great African adventure yarn, to be sure... but Haggard out-did his usual fare in this case, hitting a particularly resonant chord with his vivid archetypal image of the Eternal Female.

This particular film rendition similarly out-does the usual Hammer horror fare. The story is faithfully adapted from the book, with only the sort of changes that are inevitably needed to squeeze hundreds of pages of text onto less than two hours of celluloid. With no special effects or CGI to distract, Haggard's original plot remains the chief attraction, and what a great Saturday-afternoon adventure it is! Lost cities in Africa... a mysterious queen... the secret of immortality... these elements have been combined many times, but rarely any better than they are here.

Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing are solid actors, and give two otherwise conventional roles a delightful extra spin. But the real surprise is Ursula Andress, who seems to have been perfectly directed: she avoids stretching her limited talents, and concentrates on looking regal and mysterious. The costume design helps; I'm not a big fan of Ms Andress' charms, but I find the image of her in that golden-feathered headdress quite unforgettable.

A word also about the music. The four-note fanfare that announces the arrival in the hidden land is absolutely perfect. No lost-civilization film should be made without it.

I keep hoping that some director equipped with both budget and talent one day delivers the screen version that "She" really deserves. But until then, this one will do very nicely.