''She'' (1965)

By Crusader1307

 ''She'' was a very popular 19th Century Novel of ''Adventure'', written by H. Rider Haggard in 1887. at the time, ''all things Egyptian'' was a very lucrative venture in writing. With the many then recent discoveries of artifacts in Ancient Egypt – which would continue for generations, Haggard wrote an interesting tale of both Ancient Egypt and one of Man's most coveted ''needs'' – the quest for immortality. His book dealt with the tale of an Egyptian Princess, who falsely accuse and then murder Her Royal Lover. Her ''punishment'' was immortality gained via a strange alignment of Planets and the passing of a Comet – thru such a celestial event.

The resulting ''transformation'' can only occur every 1,000 years. Now immortal, ''She Who Must Be Obeyed'' – as The Princess is called by Her Slaves (who are not immortal but a generational Tribe who have served Her for centuries). Living in the ruins of a ''lost'' Egyptian City in Northern Africa, ''She'' searches for the reincarnated soul of Her former Lover. Her goal is to bath Him in The Immortal Light, when it comes again – which by the Novel is set soon. After much 19th Century adventure and action, ''She'' is able to convince a hapless Man into believing He is in fact her reincarnated Lover and promises Him great riches if He join Her. The Man however tricks The Princess into walking into the light a second time with Him. Apparently, The Light works in reverse for those already immortal – turning ''She'' into a quick aging pile of bones and dust! The Man got His reward of great riches, but is now too immortal and doomed to ''wait'' for The Light to return in 1,000 years, so he too can finally ''die''.

Worked into film very early in The Medium (1911 being the first attempt at making ''She'' a movie), it was not until 1965 that Britain's Hammer Studios crafted a technicolor version. Unfortunately plodding, but having most of Haggard's 1887 ''adventure flavor'' crafted with supernatural Horror, ''She'' was not a huge Hit with Movie goers, but did make money. A 1968 sequel ''The Vengeance of She'' was made, which had very little if anything to do with the original premise as such. Not a bad film, not a good film, but somewhat well filmed on location in Egypt and Africa – ''She'' is a Sunday afternoon bag of popcorn, for sure!