She (1935)
Producers and directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack scored a huge box office hit with the 1933 classic “King Kong.” RKO awarded Cooper a two-film deal to produce two new features, “She” and “The Last Days of Pompeii.” The initial budgets were for a combined $2 million, but RKO cut this in half just before filming began so both productions were scaled back, (although additional funding was eventually provided for the second film). “She” was based on the classic 1887 novel by H. Rider Haggard which had already been adapted several times during the silent era. There had been several recent popular films set in the African jungle, so Cooper decided to move the setting to the frozen Arctic wastes of Siberia, thus giving this picture a distinctive visual style.
This week’s movie was “She” from RKO in 1935, directed by Lansing C. Holden and Irving Pichel from a script by Ruth Rose and Dudley Nichols. Western star Randolph Scott stars as “Leo Vincey.” He is summoned by his dying uncle “John,” (Samuel S. Hinds), and his associate “Horace Holly,” (Nigel Bruce, Hollywood’s best-known “Dr. Watson”). The younger Vincey and Holly are sent to Siberia to find a radioactive element that can give immortality. The adventurers are joined by a disreputable guide named “Dugmore,” (Lumsden Hare), and his adorable daughter “Tanya,” (Helen Mack). They soon discover a hidden cave system that contains the ancient city of “Kor,” which is ruled by the immortal Queen “She,” (Helen Gahagan). She believes that Vincey is the reincarnation of her former lover, and she wants to make him immortal so that they can rule together forever.
In spite of the budget cuts this is a sumptuous and visually spectacular offering. There are several amazing sequences, including an avalanche and a grand ritual with hundreds of performers in a chamber dominated by forty-foot-tall statues. All of this imagery is brought to life by special effects that still hold up decades later.
Unfortunately the human drama is not nearly so well presented. The script is adequate, but not exactly inspiring. The performances are somewhat bland. Gahagan lacks the theatrical presence that the starring role requires. The result is an uneven film, with awesome set pieces punctuated by flat character scenes. It is still a movie well worth seeing, but it does have its faults.
“She” performed badly at the box office on its initial release, and failed to earn back the cost of production. Gahagan never made another film, and turned to a career in politics. A re-release in 1949 proved profitable. After the prints were returned to RKO they were all destroyed in a fire, and the movie was thought to be lost. Then silent film star Buster Keaton announced that he had a copy in his own personal collection. He turned it over to film historian Raymond Rohauer, who preserved and distributed the picture.
In 2006 special effects artist Ray Harryhausen supervised a colorized version for Legend Films, carefully researching Merian C. Cooper’s original plans to release the film in three-strip Technicolor. Although this version has many of the flaws common to colorized motion pictures, it does bring the film closer to Cooper’s vision and adds to the overall spectacle.
This was the only feature to be directed by WWI flying ace Lansing C. Holden, who died in a plane crash in 1938. Co-director Irving Pichel directed several other films, most notably the classic 1950 science fiction classic “Destination Moon.”