The Vengeance of She

Despite the title She Who Must Be Obeyed spends much more time receiving it than dishing it out in the unusual Hammer production which unlike most of their exotic melodramas has a contemporary setting and left the relatively cosy surroundings in the woodlands around Bray for the more exotic setting of Almeria in Andalusia, where troubled Scandinavian Olinka Berova - usually incognito in big hair and a very small skirt - disrupts a gathering of eurotrash on board a luxury yacht.

Scripted by Peter O'Donnell of Modesty Blaise fame it benefits from attractive photography by location specialist Wolfgang Suschitzky; while Hammer shows its once customary enterprising choice of composer in its mournful saxophone solo by Tubby Hughes.

Sequel to Hammer's version of She is actually more interesting than that film, at least to me. I loved the 1935 version of H. Rider Haggard's She. But the Hammer version did little for me. I found it very dull with only Ursula Andress' beauty to recommend it. This sequel is hardly a masterpiece but has enough going for it that it surpasses the previous film. The opening with the corny song playing while hitchhiking Carol (Olga Schoberova) is cornered by a rapist then saved by something mysterious is a moody start to things. The film keeps up that mood as the girl swims out to a yacht and hops aboard. She's being compelled towards Kuma, the lost city from the last film. Turns out Ayesha (again, from She) is attempting to possess the girl. As they make it closer to Kuma, the movie becomes a lot less interesting.

Olga Schoberova is beautiful but brings little to the part other than that. The scenes of her having nightmares screaming out "Ayeeeesha!" will give most viewers giggle fits. Still, she's not as wooden as Andress. Derek Godfrey is the bad guy but there's nothing bad about those awesome eyebrows. Edward Judd and John Richardson are solid. The great Andre Morrell has a small part as a man who helps Carol. Like She, this is pretty dry stuff. Worth watching for a nice score, atmospheric touches, and for Olga's beauty.

I was let down by Hammer Films' version of SHE (1965), so I wasn't particularly looking forward to its even less regarded sequel (concocted by Peter O'Donnell, who had earlier scripted the Joseph Losey camp classic MODESTY BLAISE [1966]!). Still, given that the film begins in a modern-day setting, I have to say that I found it mildly intriguing at first (following an unintentionally funny opening scene in which leading lady Olinka Berova is nearly raped by a loutish trucker who ends up trampled by his own vehicle!); however, once the scene shifts to the mythical city of Kuma, the film grinds to a halt - and, being one of Hammer's longest efforts at 101 minutes, this does it no favors at all! Though Mario Nascimbene is best-known for his scores of epic films and was probably assigned to this one for just that reason, the lounge music (including a title tune which is not half bad) he composed for the modern early scenes is actually the most effective part of his soundtrack!

The cast is, again, worth discussing: Berova, who's involved in some very mild nudity throughout, is undeniably gorgeous and yet rather petite to act as a stand-in for the statuesque Ursula Andress (trivia note - reportedly, she was deported from the U.K. on suspicions of espionage!); John Richardson, repeating his role from the original film but who has turned villainous in the interim, gives a wooden performance; rugged Edward Judd always makes for a compelling lead in this type of film (I especially loved the way he put-down an exotic dance number secretly organized for his entertainment while a prisoner in Kuma!); Colin Blakely and Jill Melford as a wealthy vacationing couple (on whose yacht a distraught Berova finds herself) make a fine impression, but they unfortunately exit the proceedings very early on; Noel Willman is virtually unrecognizable as a wizened learned man of Kuma; Andre' Morell, appearing in a different role from the one he played in the original, is an embarrassment as a sort of shaman spouting mumbo-jumbo.

As was the case with THE VIKING QUEEN (1967), there's some confusion with respect to the culture and the geography depicted in the film: the city of Kuma is supposed to be situated somewhere in North Africa, yet the natives - whom Judd meets during his journey to locate the kidnapped Berova - speak in Arabic. Similarly, both Morell and the high priests of Kuma are seen to be well-versed in the occult arts: I can't recall if this was as prominent a feature in the original Hammer film but, somehow, it all feels incongruous to the material!

First the good part of the film. The beginning of the movie was beautifully and sharply filmed with an excellent view of the French countryside going towards Monaco with a highway cutting through. The opening theme song was haunting, especially with the supernaturally lovely Czech star Olinka Berova. When you see this miniskirted vision with the flowing blonde hair and long legs walking down the highway with her suitcase, you can't help but be hooked, especially with the aforementioned cinematography and theme music. Unless you saw the predecessor-film, SHE, with Ursula Andress(also called Undress) you wouldn't know what the film was about. The makers assumed that everyone who saw the film also saw SHE. Well, the vast majority of viewers did not and thought the movie's plot was unintelligible. QED Only Olinka Berova's ethereal beauty kept the film from being a total failure and is worth seeing for that alone. Judging by the pre-release publicity, the movie was expected to make Olinka into a major star. Unfortunately for all of us, it did not. Most of the films she made later were behind the Iron Curtain. She later married and divorced an American movieman. Today, she reportedly lives in New York under the name Olga Calley. Her retirement from film is a loss for us all. Update: Olga Calley has moved back to Prague.

*POSSIBLE SPOILER*

A beautiful young Scandanavian girl called Carol (Olinka Berova) is lured to the city of Kuma by the immortal Killikrates (John Richardson) and Men-Hari (Derek Godfrey) who convinces Killikrates that she is the reincarnation of his lost love, Queen Ayesha, who died years ago. Killikrates intends to give Carol the secret of immortality so that he can live with her forever and restore her power over the city. Meanwhile, he has also promised Men-Hari the secret for bringing him back his old lover.

The basic premise provides a fairly adequate sequel to Hammer's successful adaptation of H. Rider Haggard's 'She' (1965), which was something of a curates egg in itself (see separate review). The main problem here is that the Peter O' Donnell script is unconvincing in that one ludicrous situation hardly runs smoothly into another. There is also some unbelievably inept dialogue like when the heroes are chasing after a desert peasant who is on horseback in a Land Rover but they still have difficulty keeping up with him. I bet the British Motor Corporation would have been horrified because that wouldn't have been good publicity for their versatile off road vehicles! With the exception of Edward Judd's performance as the English doctor who is in love with Carol, a good cast is working well below it's capabilities, even though it includes Andre Morell who was superb as Dr Watson in Hammer's 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' (1959). The film is made watchable by the direction of Cliff Owen who displays his skill at narrative pacing (his work partly redeemed the otherwise unfunny Morecombe & Wise vehicle 'That Riviera Touch'). In summary this film failed to repeat the success of it's predecessor.