She - In COLOR! Also Includes the Original Black-and-White Version which has been Beautifully Restored and Enhanced!

"I am yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I am sorrow and longing and hope unfulfilled. I am She Who Must Be Obeyed!"There's never been an entirely successful sound version of H. Rider Haggard's She, but on re-viewing, the 1935 version comes far closer than any of its rivals. After five silent versions of varying degrees of popularity, a lavish version reuniting many of the team behind King Kong must have seemed a box-office slamdunk (though not enough of one for RKO to approve the cost of filming in Three-Strip Technicolor), yet proved a flop on its original release. Subsequently cut for reissues, it was only because Buster Keaton had a print of the film in his own collection that it initially survived being lost altogether.At first sight there are a lot of changes from Haggard's novel. Leo Vincey is no longer the reincarnation of She's lost love of centuries earlier Kalikrites but a descendent of a 15th century explorer She fell in love with. Thematically the novel's repressed homosexual undercurrent is (understandably for 1935) lost, as are its early reflections on people's assumptions that those blessed with beauty are also exceptionally gifted, intelligent and innately decent (in the novel Leo is distinctly dim and ultimately lacking in moral stature despite his looks, while the slightly deformed but good-hearted and extremely intelligent Holly is regularly taken for a sinister dullard). Even the nature of Leo's quest has been changed - no longer a search to find She and his own destiny but a search for the Flame of Life and the lost kingdom of Kor, now relocated from Africa to the mountain ranges of Muscovy. Yet even with the reinvention of much of the first third of the book (borrowing heavily from the Tibetan mountain setting of the first of Haggard's three follow-up novels, Ayesha: The Return of She), Ruth Rose's adaptation cuts to the heart of the book: this is about the desperate desire for what we cannot have and how that longing can erode what makes us human.Just as Leo's uncle has destroyed himself with his experiments to artificially create the Flame of Life with radioactivity, She's all-consuming obsession with a love that never really was has burnt out her very heart and soul, her passion, like her empire, one of the imagination: it's the possibility of immortality that Leo's fascinated by, not her, and he'll play her toyboy and cut out his companions without a second thought to attain it. Gifted with one of the great screen entrances of all time, silhouetted behind a wall of smoke at the top of a flight of palatial steps, Helen Gahagan is a very different interpretation of the role from the usual babe you'd crawl over broken glass to get to, more a matron weighed down by time and loneliness and freed from the moral code of mere mortals. Her scream of pain on seeing Vincey for the first time in several lifetimes is a genuinely shocking moment.Broadway star Gahagan would take the lion's share of the blame for the film's failure, never making another movie and going into politics where she later become smeared as `the Pink Lady' by Nixon during the McCarthy era, though not before popularising his nickname `Tricky Dicky.' In truth the film's failure might be more down to its lack of action (though it does throw in a terrific avalanche and a vivid escape sequence at the end) and its lack of obviously sympathetic characters. Randolph Scott is suitably bland as Leo while Nigel Bruce, still four years away from his bumbling Dr Watson, is a convincingly determined and grounded figure here to act as counterpoint to the hero's growing loss of self, but it's left to Helen Mack's romantic interest to carry the torch for basic human decency. The greatest impact is made by former silent film director Gustav Von Seyffertitz, a combination of the figure of Friederich Von Leidebur and the voice of Bela Lugosi, as a wonderfully imposing high priest Bilali: when he says "There are marvels to be seen here today," you believe him. (The eagle-eyed may also spot Native American Olympic medal winning athlete Jim Thorpe, later played onscreen by Burt Lancaster, also in there as the captain of the palace guards.)Although more than ably directed by Irving Pichel and Lansing C. Holden with some superb and ambitious camera work courtesy of J. Roy Hunt, it's clearly producer Merian C. Cooper who's the driving force here. The model for King Kong's showman Carl Denham, he goes all-out to best his previous pictures here and nearly manages it despite the odd bit of studio penny-pinching. He certainly got his money's worth from Van Nest Polglase's truly magnificent design which shows real vision in details great and small, from the massive ceremonial halls to the mausoleum steps worn away over the years by She, although criminally the film's sole Oscar nomination went instead to Benjamin Zemach in the "They had an Oscar for THAT?" category of Best Dance Direction for the film's most relentless sequence of prolonged camp prior to a human sacrifice.For a long-forgotten flop, it certainly left its mark on many who saw it. Just as the novel was clearly an influence on James Hilton's later Lost Horizon, the film is very obviously a big influence on Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with She Who Must Be Obeyed rendering judgment in a costume the wicked queen would borrow for her little chats with her mirror. Ray Harryhausen took much from the film for his last Sinbad adventure, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, as well, not least the frozen sabre-toothed tiger that comes memorably to life, a sequence that at one time been mooted for Cooper's film before budget cuts meant dropping Willis O. Brien's planned stop-motion animation setpiece and leaving the beast encased in ice.Harryhausen, along with Cooper biographer Mark Cotta Caz, provides the audio commentary on Kino's new 2-disc Region 1 NTSC DVD, but sadly much of the commentary is about the colorization process (the film is included in both black and white and colorized versions), which is considerably less than state-of-the-art. While Cooper had intended the film to be shot in color, it's doubtful he'd be impressed with the results. The ice sequences and avalanche look impressive, but flesh tones are still unconvincing and much of the colorized version has the look of an old magic coloring book. On the plus side, for the first time the film has been fully restored with the deleted scenes sourced by James D'Arc at the Brigham Young University (where Cooper and composer Max Steiner's collections are held) put back into the original black and white version as well as the colorized one. There's also a good interview with composer John Morgan about Max Steiner's acclaimed score.

The Deluxe Two-Disc Edition of the 1935 version of She is an excellent product. It restores the film to its full length, and presents it in the original glorious black and white, plus a new colorized version supervised by Ray Harryhausen. It also contains a full commentary on the color version by Harryhausen, and has a second disk filled with special features, on everything from the film score and the colorizing process to zoomable advertising materials and still photos. Fragments of two previous silent versions of She are included, and some oddball features, such as trailers for horror films unrelated to She, and ten minutes of fascinating advertisements for science-oriented children's toys of the late 1950s.I first saw the 1935 She on late night TV a couple of decades ago, and thought it was a really lousy movie. I thought it didn't follow the book closely enough, and worse, it was slow-paced, with what struck me at the time as mediocre acting, script, and special effects. What I didn't know was that parts of the film were at the time lost, and of course TV frequently cuts out parts to make room for commercials, so I was watching a mutilated version of the film, which of course will make the script seem bad. Also, I was watching on a small TV screen and the print was a bad, murky one.This edition of the movie completely changed my opinion. Both the black and white and the colorized versions are restored to full length, and cleaned up. The black and white, which I recommend watching first, is gorgeous for a 1935 film. The colorized version is wonderful, not like the awful colorized versions of movies of 15-20 years ago. The colors are rich, but subtle -- never loud. And as this film is a fantasy, an adventure, and even a costumer, with some tribal and ritual dancing, and spectacular music, color is what one wants. With the color, this movie can stand up against much of the fantasy stuff that is churned out today.The plot departures from the book don't stop the story from being effective on its own terms. Once one accepts that the movie is almost always going to be different from the book, one can enjoy film versions with a clear conscience. Helen Gahagan, though in some ways less youthful-looking than a goddess ought to be, has a stern and commanding beauty of her own, and plays She wonderfully, catching both the cruelty and selfishness, and the tenderness and loneliness of the character. Randolph Scott's performance is adequate, and to the extent that it is a little stiff I would blame the director and scriptwriter as much as Scott. Helen Mack is excellent as the third part of the love triangle. The other supporting characters are all adequate, though She's henchmen lean toward film stereotypes, and the script and acting sometimes have a B-movie flavor. The sets and atmosphere, on the other hand, especially in the colorized version, are truly beautiful and stirring, of A-movie quality. For sets, music, and Gahagan's performance alone, this film is a must-see of the adventure and the fantasy genres.The box is handsome, with each disc in its own secure compartment. The only complaint here is that the tabs, which have an unusual design, are so tight it is hard to get the DVDs out, and once you do get them out, the tabs are loosened and don't seem to have a full grip any longer. But I think they will hold, and as each DVD is in its own compartment, they can't slide against each other.It's hard to imagine a better edition of this film. I could nitpick about the commentary, saying that it spends too much time talking about colorization and not enough time identifying the lesser actors and so on, and that the co-commentator with Harryhausen makes a blunder about how old She is supposed to be. But this is trivial. This is likely the best DVD edition this film will ever have. I can't comment on any Blu-ray version.4 stars for the film, 5 stars for the DVD edition. I round it up to 5 stars, because for fantasy/adventure fans it is a must-have.

I cannot believe that this was a 1935 film, because the remastering and colouring were so clear. Years ago I watched the later version at the cinema, but having bought both DVD versions recently I shall not be able to compare them until I have refreshed my memory from years ago. I do not think that the main characters were particularly dynamic, but Nigel Bruce was excellent. The story varied slightly from the 1960's version, but as I have never read the book I cannot comment on its similarities or differences. The special effects for the era were very good, and I would recommend this version as it used the talents of the famous Ray Harryhausen. His interview afterwards was very interesting, but I did not watch the rest of the extras. Maybe next time.

First of all throw the book by Rider Haggard out of the window - All his subtleties,; his musings on Good and Evil, on Reincarnation and the power of Love to redeem,the futility of human thought and our helplessness in the face of devouring Time. They have no place in this truncated and simplified version of his classic.Instead watch it for itself, ignore the appalling standard of the acting [Groan - how did Tanya,Helen Mack,ever get cast!] I loved it all:- the wild improbability of the wild west bearded bloke in the midst of Mongolia, the artificial snow, the papier mache rocks, - I loved it because of its vision. SHE herself had all the beauty and mystery that Haggard gives her in his book - her first scene, speaking behind a veil of mist, sent shivers up my spine! The sets were awesome, and the fire of eternal life was truly powerful - eclipsing the awful dialogue and the theatrical direction. So many flaws, and yet it touched me, it made me feel something of the wonder that I feel when I read the book - but we are still waiting for a film by someone who understands Haggard's ideas!If you want a comparison then watch 'Lost Horizon' - a film where nothing fails - where sets and acting and direction combine to create a masterpiece. In SHE, eternal life brings cruelty and cynism. In Shangri-La, long life and love bring Wisdom and gentleness, and power well-used is seen as the antidote to War. Good to watch the two in sequence!

It was certainly spectacular on many levels, especially the huge set pieces. The dance routines tended to be dragged out for too long here, but the costumes made up for it. One of the other 'expert' reviewers on acting ability, criticised Helen Mack's performance as Tanya, but I loved her sensitive approach to the role and I have to say too that for me, she was the only member of the cast who really made me feel anything significant.

This is great both in B/W and colour. The colour has added more detail to the sets. This film is a great story and the sets are better than any CGI junk.

This DVD is the best version of the movie SHE and is in colour, a must buy from this market place seller.