''She'' is a 1965 British
adventure film
An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...
made by
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve clas ...
in
CinemaScope
CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...
, based on
the 1887 novel by
H. Rider Haggard. It was directed by
Robert Day and stars
Ursula Andress
Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962 ...
,
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage, and radio roles. He achieved recognition ...
,
Bernard Cribbins
Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over seven decades.
During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Groun ...
,
John Richardson,
Rosenda Monteros
Rosa Méndez Leza (31 August 1935 – 29 December 2018), known professionally as Rosenda Monteros, was a Mexican actress. She studied drama under Seki Sano. To American audiences, she is best known for her role as Petra in ''The Magnificent Seven' ...
, and
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...
. The film was an international success and led to a 1968 sequel, ''
The Vengeance of She
''The Vengeance of She'' is a 1968 British fantasy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring John Richardson (actor), John Richardson, Olga Schoberová, Olinka Berova, Edward Judd, André Morell and Colin Blakely. It bears little in common with th ...
'', with
Olinka Berova in the title role.
Plot
After receiving honorable discharges from the British Army in
Palestine
__NOTOC__
Palestine may refer to:
* State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia
* Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia
* Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
in 1918, Professor Holly, young Leo Vincey and their orderly Job embark on an expedition into a previously unexplored region of central-east Africa. They discover the lost city of Kuma after Leo receives a mysterious map revealing the city's whereabouts.
This lost realm is ruled by Ayesha, who is also known as "She-Who-Waits" and "She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed." Ayesha is a beautiful, immortal queen, who believes Leo is the reincarnation of her former lover, the priest Kallikrates, whom she had killed two thousand years before when she found him in the intimate embrace of another woman. It was she, who met with Leo in Palestine, giving him the map to Kuma, and urging him to travel there. Leo is filled with a dogged determination to do so as he sees visions of Ayesha beckoning to him with outstretched arms.
After Leo has recovered from the journey to Kuma, Ayesha persuades him to bathe in the ceremonial fire that she had bathed in 2,000 years before by which she gained her immortality. One can bathe in the flame only when it has turned blue, which it does rarely for short periods of time when astronomical events coincide. Leo would then himself become immortal.
Meanwhile, Ayesha's army is attacked by her enslaved tribesmen, the Amahagger, who live outside Kuma. Ready to rebel against the queen's cruel tyranny they are incited to revolt by their leader, Haumeid, a citizen of Kuma, whose daughter Ustane dared to fall in love with Leo while nursing him back to health after his perilous journey to the city. The queen in jealousy has her cremated alive in the open molten lava pit before her throne. Her ashes are poured out in front of her outraged father, who cries out to the Amahagger for revenge. Although poorly equipped the Amahagger overcome Ayesha's army.
Leo himself is about to enter the blue ceremonial fire when Billali, Ayesha's high priest, demands to be allowed to enter it to gain immortality as well since he has served the queen unselfishly for many years. He is refused, so he pushes Leo aside in a scuffle that leaves Leo knocked out, opening his way to enter the blue flames. Ayesha kills him with a javelin to prevent this.
To overcome Leo's reluctance Ayesha takes him by the hand and leads him into the blue fire. Upon entering, Leo becomes immortal, but Ayesha's immortality is taken away, and she ages 2,000 years in minutes, dies, and crumbles into dust. Holly and Job have managed to get to Leo through the uprising, and Holly urges him to go once again into the fire to remove his immortality since a second time into the flames would do this as it had done to Ayesha. Unfortunately, the flame turns yellow again barring entry. The film ends with a despondent Leo vowing to wait for the fire to turn blue again that he might end the prospect of spending an eternity alone.
Cast
*
Ursula Andress
Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962 ...
as Ayesha
*
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage, and radio roles. He achieved recognition ...
as Holly
*
Bernard Cribbins
Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over seven decades.
During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Groun ...
as Job
*
John Richardson as Leo Vincey
*
Rosenda Monteros
Rosa Méndez Leza (31 August 1935 – 29 December 2018), known professionally as Rosenda Monteros, was a Mexican actress. She studied drama under Seki Sano. To American audiences, she is best known for her role as Petra in ''The Magnificent Seven' ...
as Ustane
*
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...
as Billali
*
André Morell
Cecil André Mesritz (20 August 1909 – 28 November 1978), known professionally as André Morell, was an English actor. He appeared frequently in theatre, film and on television from the 1930s to the 1970s. His best known screen roles were as ...
as Haumeid
*
Princess Soraya as Soraya
As of 2022, Ursula Andress is the last surviving leading cast member.
Production
The re-filming of the
H. Rider Haggard novel – which had been filmed previously in 1908, 1911, 1916, 1917, 1925 and 1935 – was the idea of
Kenneth Hyman
Kenneth Hyman (born December 11, 1928) is an American film producer, best known for ''The Dirty Dozen'' (1967). The son of Eliot Hyman, he was head of UK operations for Seven Arts Productions and head of production for Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. W ...
of
Seven Arts Productions
Seven Arts Productions was a production company which made films for release by other studios. It was founded in 1957 by Eliot Hyman, Ray Stark, and Norman Katz.
History
Seven Arts' first film was '' The Gun Runners'', released by United ...
, who had a long-running relationship with
Hammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve clas ...
.
Anthony Hinds commissioned a script from John Temple-Smith, and the lead role was assigned to
Ursula Andress
Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962 ...
, known at that time for her role in the
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
film ''
Dr. No''.
''She'' would thus become the first Hammer film to be built around a female star.
Hammer pitched the project to Disney, who turned it down. Hinds then arranged for Berkley Mather to write a script, but the project was turned down again by Universal, and then by
Joseph E. Levine
Joseph Edward Levine (September 9, 1905 – July 31, 1987) was an American film distributor, financier and producer. At the time of his death, it was said he was involved in one or another capacity with 497 films. Levine was responsible for the ...
and
American International Pictures
American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...
. Hinds passed it over to
Michael Carreras
Michael Henry Carreras (21 December 1927 – 19 April 1994) was a British film producer and director. He was known for his association with Hammer Films, being the son of founder James Carreras, and taking an executive role in the compan ...
who got David T. Chantler to rewrite the script. Carreras succeeded in getting the film financed through
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
,
with triple the usual budget for a Hammer film.
[Doll, Susan]
"She (1965)"
on TCM.com
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...
The film was announced in May 1964. Although Seven Arts had helped finance several Hammer films, this was the first one they had produced together.
John Richardson was cast after being spotted by
Ray Stark
Raymond Otto Stark (October 3, 1915 – January 17, 2004) was one of the most successful and prolific independent film producers in postwar Hollywood. Stark's background as a literary and theatrical agent prepared him to produce some of the most ...
of Seven Arts.
Principal photography commenced in southern
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
's
Negev Desert on 24 August 1964, with scenes also shot at
MGM's Elstree Studios near London when Hammer's
Bray Studios
Bray Productions was a pioneering American animation studio that produced several popular cartoons during the years of World War I and the early interwar era, becoming a springboard for several key animators of the 20th century, including the ...
proved to be too small for the project.
It was the most expensive film Hammer had made up until that time,
but on release, it was a hit both in North America and in Europe.
Although the studio was pleased with the look of Ursula Andress in the film – as lit by Harry Waxman and costumed by Carl Toms and
Roy Ashton
Howard Roy Ashton (17 April 1909 – 10 January 1995) was an Australian tenor, associated for a while with Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group, and make-up artist who became particularly associated with his work on the Hammer Horror films.
...
– they found her Swiss-German accent to be offputting, and had her entire part re-dubbed by an actress
Nikki van der Zyl
Monica "Nikki" van der Zyl (27 April 1935 – 6 March 2021) was a German actress based in the United Kingdom, known for her dubbing work on the ''James Bond'' film franchise.
Early life
Nikki van der Zyl was born on 27 April 1935 in Berlin, t ...
, who had dubbed her in ''Dr. No.''
Critical reception
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' critic
Bosley Crowther
Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...
wrote of the film: "It lacks style, sophistication, humour, sense, and above all, a reason for being, since it isn't even as good (excepting that it is in colour) as the
last remake of ''She'' done with
Helen Gahagan
Helen Gahagan Douglas (born Helen Mary Gahagan; November 25, 1900 – June 28, 1980) was an American actress and politician. Her career included success on Broadway, as a touring opera singer, and in Hollywood films. Her portrayal of the villain ...
in 1935". The British listings magazine, the ''
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'', gave the film three out of a possible five stars, observing that Ursula Andress "acquits herself better than you might expect", and concluding that "The African backdrops are easily matched by Swiss-born Andress's own brand of exotic beauty and, while there's plenty to criticise, there's also much to enjoy."
See also
*
''She'' (1984 film)
* ''
The Vengeance of She
''The Vengeance of She'' is a 1968 British fantasy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring John Richardson (actor), John Richardson, Olga Schoberová, Olinka Berova, Edward Judd, André Morell and Colin Blakely. It bears little in common with th ...
''
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
1965 films
1960s fantasy adventure films
British fantasy adventure films
Films directed by Robert Day
Films based on She
Films based on fantasy novels
Films scored by James Bernard
Films set in Africa
Films shot in Israel
Hammer Film Productions films
Films set in 1918
Films set in deserts
Films produced by Aida Young
Films shot at MGM-British Studios
Films shot at Associated British Studios
1960s English-language films
1960s British films