La Source de feu

If the 1935 SHE reminds you vaguely of the 1933 KING KONG do not be too surprised: both films were produced by Meriam C. Cooper, who endowed them with similar visual styles--and who tweaked the 1887 novel by H. Rider Haggard to create a similar story line as well. Starring Broadway actress (and later two term Democratic congresswoman from California) Helen Gahagan in her only film role as The Eternal One, SHE did not, however, meet with the same financial success. It lost a tremendous amount of money for RKO, was withdrawn, and for many years was thought to be completely lost.

Although the film alters the Haggard novel in a great many ways, it retains the basic elements. Lured by a family legend, Leo Vincey (Randolph Scott) braves the frozen European north with family friend Horace Holly (Nigel Bruce, best known for his appearances in the Sherlock Holmes series) and innocent Tanya Dugmore (Helen Mack, popular 1930s ingenue.) When an avalanche exposes a cavern, the three find that the Vincey family legend is not quite so fanciful after all.

Most particularly, they find themselves at the mercy of She Who Must Be Obeyed, a woman who recalls talk of Jesus Christ in the Jerusalem market place, a woman two thousand years old who preserves her life by bathing in a radioactive flame that vents from the volcanic floor of her hidden kingdom. She (known here as Queen Hash-A-Mo-Tep) has been waiting for the reincarnation of her long-dead love, and Leo is his spitting image.

The acting styles are stiff even by 1935 standards and although Miss Gahagan is attractive in a 1930s way she lacks the stunning beauty attributed to She by the Haggard novel--but the great draw of the film was never intended to be great acting: like KING KONG, it is an action-adventure film with knockout sets (a few of them actually lifted from KING KONG), memorable special effects, and remarkable cinematographic set pieces. Even as it borrowed from earlier films such as the 1932 Boris Karloff THE MUMMY, it would also influence later films in turn; it is hard, for example, to imagine the 1937 Ronald Coleman LOST HORIZON without it, and even the look of the evil queen in Disney's 1938 SNOW WHITE is said to have been inspired by Gahagan's look and performance.

The film has been released in several editions to the home market, and fans may be tempted by less expensive editions. A word to the wise: Don't. The film shows its age and there is no significant bonus material, but the Kino Video release (be it on VHS or DVD) offers what is probably the best print short of a digital restoration. Recommended for fans of 1930s fantasy cinema.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Merian C. Cooper, co-creator of KING KONG (1935), turned his eyes to another long-lost civilization for this epic fantasy whose driving force, however, is not amazing special effects but rather the theme of reincarnation and love spanning several centuries (hence its affinity with THE MUMMY [1932]: screenwriter John L. Balderston had been assigned to adapt the H. Rider Haggard novel around this same time, before the property was sold to RKO). Still, despite every effort on the part of writers Ruth Rose and Dudley Nichols and an interesting cast - Randolph Scott, Helen Gahagan (wife of Melvyn Douglas and whose sole film this was!), Helen Mack, Nigel Bruce (thankfully playing his part straight) and Gustav von Seyffertitz - to wring every ounce of romance and adventure out of its plot, the film's single most impressive contribution is the awe-inspiring production design (courtesy of RKO's in-house genius of art direction during this time, Van Nest Polglase). Max Steiner's score is also notable, evoking both the mystery of an unknown land as well as the dangers and passions lurking within.

A word needs to be said about the DVD: I'm not sure how the film ended up at Kino since RKO titles are currently the property of Warner Bros., but picture quality is quite acceptable under the circumstances. However, the audio is a different matter entirely: it was so low that even when pushed to the limit, one can hardly discern what's being said (particularly during the climax)! I've had some discs whose audio was no more than discreet but never anything like this; it was a very frustrating experience, to be sure, and I wonder whether others who might have SHE on DVD feel the same way...

Leo Vincey (Randolph Scott) and Horace Holly (Nigel Bruce) search the Arctic for a hidden land where a mystical blue flame is kept. Along the way they pick up lovely and innocent Tanya (Helen Mack), who falls in love with handsome Leo. Eventually they arrive at the place they were seeking and discover it ruled by a merciless and immortal woman (Helen Gahagan) known as "She who must be obeyed." She believes Leo to be her long-lost love returned to her at last and She is none too pleased with cutie Tanya's affections towards her man.

Fun lost world escapist fare made at a time when there were still unexplored regions of the world and imaginations ran wild at the thought of discovering lost civilizations or hidden treasures. We still get movies like this every once in awhile today, particularly about lost treasure. But back then it was a common staple of fiction, print and film. There was a sense of wonder and excitement about exploring the unknown. Not to get on my soapbox but this type of storytelling does seem to be lost to us in the cynical age we live in today.

Future Congresswoman Helen Gahagan (she coined Nixon's nickname "Tricky Dick") gives a melodramatically memorable performance as She. Randolph Scott, years away from his western stardom, is very good as the heroic leading man. I especially liked that he was tempted at the prospect of immortality. It makes him seem a little more human than this type of character often was allowed to be back then. Helen Mack is pretty but can't say the name Leo to save her life. She keeps pronouncing it as Lay-o throughout the movie. Still, she's better here than she was in Son of Kong. Nigel Bruce is solid as ever. Samuel S. Hinds has a brief but good part at the beginning as Leo Vincey's dying uncle.

Striking sets, costumes, and special effects. Adapted from H. Rider Haggard's novel, "She" was produced by King Kong's Merian C. Cooper, written by Ruth Rose, and scored by Max Steiner. So, in a way, it's like a cousin to that great film. "She" has been released in colorized form. While I am NOT a fan of colorizing black & white films at all, I will say that the colorization for this particular film is probably the best I've ever seen. It resembles the kind of color that would have been available at the time and not the more lavish Technicolor from years later, so the muted colors that usually come with the colorization process seems to work in its favor. But still, I prefer the original black & white film and would recommend it more.

This is an uneven movie, with an uneven script and uneven acting (Randolph Scott is particularly unconvincing too much of the time), but its strengths are remarkable.

She's music and sets are astonishingly good. Steiner's score is aptly suited to the twists and turns of the action, and at times it even sounds as though there's a theremin playing, although it's probably just a violin at the high end of its range. (Note/wuestion: why doesn't the spellchecker for a film website not recognize the word "theremin"? Surely that instrument has been used to notable effect in many movies.)

The "natural" sets (ice cliffs, snowy plains, and spooky caverns) are dramatic and artful, and the architectural sets, influenced by cubism, expressionism, and art deco, are among the finest pieces of design in the history of film. The abstract costumes of the inhabitants of She's kingdom (desighed by Aline Bernstein) are also breathtaking in their stylishness and imaginativeness. The lighting and cinematography is also noteworthy, and the special effects are very good for their time.

This may sound like I'm dwelling on peripheral issues, but when the score, art direction, and camera-work are this inventive, they turn an OK film into a wonderful one. Few movies have ever been such delights to the eye and ear.

"She," adapted from H. Rider Haggard's timeless tale, has been produced multiple times, although never as entertainingly as the 1935 version, starring the imposing Helen Gahagan as She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, the eternally beautiful ruler of the lost kingdom of Kor. This would be the only film appearance of Gahagan, a noted stage and opera star who later entered the political arena as Helen Gahagan Douglas. Reportedly, Gahagan was embarrassed by the movie and vowed never to heed Hollywood's call again. But perhaps she was her own severest critic, since "She" represents Depression Era escapism at its very peak.

The movie was produced by Merian C. Cooper, who'd struck it rich two years earlier with "King Kong." Those with sharp eyes will note that the enormous gate cutting Kor off from the outside world is the same one which served -- for awhile -- to hold Kong in his natural habitat on Skull Island. This outrageously opulent adventure tale stars the stoic Randolph Scott as American explorer John Vincey, who ventures into the Arctic to find the story behind a cryptic, 500-year-old letter. Accompanying him are the jolly Holly (Nigel Bruce, later to become a familiar face as Dr. Watson in the Nigel Rathbone "Sherlock Holmes" movies) and the feisty Tanya (Helen Mack), who's secretly attracted to John.

After surviving an avalanche and battling cave-dwelling cannibals, the intrepid trio comes face to face with a much greater danger, the imperious She, who has been bathing in a flame of eternal life and biding her time for centuries, looking for true love. "I am yesterday and today and tomorrow," She muses, shortly before deciding John is the man worth waiting half a millennium for. Tanya, however, has other ideas. Thrillingly scored by Max Steiner and featuring backdrops you won't believe (check out the patio of Holly and Tanya's apartment), the movie climaxes with a dazzling ceremony in the Hall of Kings, featuring hundreds of extras performing some of the most bizarre choreography ever filmed. That sequence alone would make the movie worthwhile, but it turns out to be only one of the many treasures of "She."