She (1965) has all the elements of a very bad movie. The plot is easy to predict. Three explorers Leo Vincy (John Richardson), Holly (Peter Cushing), and Job (Cribbens) mount an expedition to find the fabled city of Kuma. Why? Because Leo had a strange encounter with Ayesha who kisses him and then implies that there is more sexual pleasure to come if he braves the desert to find her. The three explorers then venture deep into the desert where they experience adventures which come straight out of the assembly line of all formula adventure films. Thieves steal their possessions. A raiding party attacks them and shoots Leo in the arm. Heat and thirst almost kill Leo.
Then they arrive at Kuma which, if you put any thought into it, is a truly preposterous creation. How do the people in Kuma support themselves when they are no where near to any river? How does the population find and mine the materials necessary for the new buildings when there is no trade with other peoples? Also, if the people are unhappy living under Ayesha, why don't they just leave? Also we are told that Leo is in fact the ancient Kallikrates who was Ayesha's lover until she killed him for romancing another woman. While it is possible for ancient emblems to accurately depict Leo's youthful face, is it possible for the ancients to capture his modern day hairstyle as well? These are questions that never get answered in the movie. There are also no laughs in the movie either, because the preposterous subject matter is taken so seriously. While we watch this plot unfold, we are treated to some absurd dialog which is unlikely to be spoken by anyone even if they are Ancient Egyptian. It sounds a bit like a cross between William Shakespeare and an oracle from Greek mythology. If all these deficiencies are not bad enough, She suffers from indifferent acting and also a number of crude racist stereotypes. If you study the movie closely, everyone with darker skin is depicted as primitive while the white people are all "civilized."
But She (1965) does have one surprise that held my interest. I slowly realized that the protagonist Leo Vincy is not only a womanizer, but also a narcissist. In one scene, Ustane (Rosenda Monteros) saves Leo from almost certain death by nurturing him back to life -- and we spend the rest of the movie wondering why. Leo not only refuses to go back to civilization with Ustane, but he later gets her into trouble by kissing her on the mouth in front of Ayesha. Ustane is then executed and, far from feeling any guilt and remorse for his part in her demise, Vincy forgets about Ustane altogether and resumes his romancing of Ayesha. If his treatment of Ustane is not selfish enough, Vincy also has delusions of grandeur about becoming an all-powerful Pharaoh. While all these events, Leo's motivations are never made clear -- though one could speculate that fate or narcissism or a combination of both factors had something to do with it.
Then they arrive at Kuma which, if you put any thought into it, is a truly preposterous creation. How do the people in Kuma support themselves when they are no where near to any river? How does the population find and mine the materials necessary for the new buildings when there is no trade with other peoples? Also, if the people are unhappy living under Ayesha, why don't they just leave? Also we are told that Leo is in fact the ancient Kallikrates who was Ayesha's lover until she killed him for romancing another woman. While it is possible for ancient emblems to accurately depict Leo's youthful face, is it possible for the ancients to capture his modern day hairstyle as well? These are questions that never get answered in the movie. There are also no laughs in the movie either, because the preposterous subject matter is taken so seriously. While we watch this plot unfold, we are treated to some absurd dialog which is unlikely to be spoken by anyone even if they are Ancient Egyptian. It sounds a bit like a cross between William Shakespeare and an oracle from Greek mythology. If all these deficiencies are not bad enough, She suffers from indifferent acting and also a number of crude racist stereotypes. If you study the movie closely, everyone with darker skin is depicted as primitive while the white people are all "civilized."
But She (1965) does have one surprise that held my interest. I slowly realized that the protagonist Leo Vincy is not only a womanizer, but also a narcissist. In one scene, Ustane (Rosenda Monteros) saves Leo from almost certain death by nurturing him back to life -- and we spend the rest of the movie wondering why. Leo not only refuses to go back to civilization with Ustane, but he later gets her into trouble by kissing her on the mouth in front of Ayesha. Ustane is then executed and, far from feeling any guilt and remorse for his part in her demise, Vincy forgets about Ustane altogether and resumes his romancing of Ayesha. If his treatment of Ustane is not selfish enough, Vincy also has delusions of grandeur about becoming an all-powerful Pharaoh. While all these events, Leo's motivations are never made clear -- though one could speculate that fate or narcissism or a combination of both factors had something to do with it.