She (1935 film)
6.8 /10 1 Votes
Duration | 6.6/10 Genre Adventure, Fantasy, Romance | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Director Lansing C. HoldenIrving Pichel Release date July 12, 1935 (1935-07-12) (United States) Based on She by H. Rider Haggard Writer Ruth Rose (adaptation), Dudley Nichols (additional dialogue), H. Rider Haggard (from the novel by) Cast (Leo Vincey), (She), (Tanya Dugmore), (Horace Holly) Similar movies The Age of Adaline , The Man from Earth , The Twilight Saga: Eclipse , Twilight , Self/less , Highlander Tagline From H. Rider Haggard's weird, wondrous story of the beautiful woman who bathed in flame and lived 500 years .. at last to find her first love at this very hour! |
She 1935
She is a 1935 American film produced by Merian C. Cooper. Based on H. Rider Haggard's novel of the same name, the screenplay combines elements from all the books in the series: She: A History of Adventure, She and Allan, Ayesha: The Return of She and Wisdom's Daughter. The film reached a new generation of moviegoers with a 1949 re-release.
Contents
- She 1935
- She 1935 trailer
- Characters and story
- Differences from the novel
- Cast
- Reception
- Home media
- References

The ancient civilization of Kor is depicted in an Art Deco style with imaginative special effects. The setting is Arctic Siberia, rather than in Africa, as in the first book. The third book is set in the Himalayas. With music by Max Steiner, the film stars Helen Gahagan, Randolph Scott and Nigel Bruce.

It was hoped that She would follow Cooper's previous success, King Kong. Cooper had originally intended to shoot the film in color, but budget cuts by RKO forced him to shoot the film in black and white at the last minute. However, the black and white film had disappointing results at the box office. It initially lost $180,000, although it later had a successful re-release. The film is listed in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book The Official Razzie Movie Guide as one of the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made.

In 2006, Legend Films and Ray Harryhausen colorized the film as a tribute to Cooper. The colorized trailer for She premiered at the 2006 Comic-Con.

She was considered a lost film for many years until an original print, stored in silent film star Buster Keaton's garage, was turned over to film distributor Raymond Rohauer for preservation.
She originally had a running time of 102 minutes, but on its 1949 re-release, was edited down to 94 minutes, to better fit on a double bill with Cooper's The Last Days of Pompeii.
The 8 minutes of missing scenes, taken from a slightly lower quality 16mm print, were finally reinstated in 2007 by Kino Video.
She 1935 trailer
Characters and story
Leo Vincey (Randolph Scott) is called from America to the family's ancestral estate in England where his dying uncle John Vincey (Samuel S. Hinds) and Horace Holly (Nigel Bruce) convince him that their ancestor, also named John Vincey (also played by Scott) found the fountain of youth 500 years ago.
Following the route outlined in an old journal, Leo and Holly travel through frozen wastes, as a guide named Tugmore and his daughter, Tanya (Helen Mack) join them on their quest. They stumble upon the ancient city of Kor, where they are attacked by cannibals but are saved by She Who Must Be Obeyed (Helen Gahagan) and her Minister Billali (Gustav von Seyffertitz).
She believes that Leo is the reincarnation of her lover, John Vincey and vows to make him immortal like herself to rule this shangri-la in eternal youth. Tanya warns Leo that nothing human can live forever. At the end, She asks Leo to step into the Flame of Life with her, so that they can become immortal. When Leo hesitates, She offers to step in first. Rather than renewing her youth, She ages hundreds of years, becomes a withered mummy-like creature and dies. Leo, Holly and Tanya then safely make their escape.
The "ageless ice goddess" served as inspiration for the Evil Queen in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Differences from the novel
The film version conflates characters, events and locations from all three books:
Cast
Reception
Writing for The Spectator in 1935, Graham Greene reviewed the film positively, but gave a disclaimer that as "an unrepentant Haggard fan" he could not write reasonably about it. Describing the film as showcasing "earnestly manly Boy Scout virtues", Greene did acknowledge that it "bore its symbolism a little heavily", and ultimately characterized it as both thrilling and childish.
Home media
Legend Films release
References
She (1935 film) WikipediaShe (1935 film) IMDb She (1935 film) themoviedb.org