She Reviews

Hammer Films, Seven Arts, and Associated British-Pathe got together to do this fourth version of Haggard's classic story. It's a mammoth spectacle and, in some ways, even larger than the 1935 version which starred Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas in her only movie role. WW I is ending, and Richardson is hoisting a drink in a Jerusalem night spot when he meets Monteros, a female slave who has a mission to bring Richardson to meet her mistress, Andress, a mysterious woman of indeterminate age who longs for the man that she murdered centuries before. When Richardson meets Andress, she offers him riches and power beyond his wildest dreams if he will accompany her to a mountain city. She gives Richardson a ring and a map. Richardson's friend, Cushing, recognizes the ring as a relic of Egypt from more than 2,000 years before. Further, Cushing knows about this lost city, and when he sees the map, he realizes that it is the way to that city, a fabulous place filled with untold riches, if one is to believe the legends. Monteros and the two men, accompanied by their aide, Cribbins, go off to find the city. Miles and miles of desert pass. By this time, Monteros wants Richardson for her own, so she takes them to a village where Andress' slaves are ruled by Monteros' father, Morell. Richardson, Cushing, and Cribbins are captured and about to be sacrificed when Lee, the high priest, steps in and takes Richardson to meet Andress. It turns out that Richardson is the spitting image of her old beau. Andress stays young because she has been bathed in the Flame of Life, and when Richardson follows her into the Flame so he can stay young, she disintegrates into a pile of ashes (she forgot that it can only be used once for immortality). Cushing and Cribbins leave, saddened by the fact that this flame only flares every couple of thousand years and that Richardson is now doomed to immortality until the next time it appears. Shot in Israel, this epic suffers from too much grandeur and not enough adventure. Andress was better than she'd ever been. The picture looks much bigger than the actual budget because the pound was strong against the Israeli currency and they were able to afford some tremendous production values. The sequel was THE VENGEANCE OF SHE, which suffered from the loss of Andress. Looking at the sets and some of the costumes, it's not hard to see where Steven Spielberg and some of the other younger directors of the 1970's and 1980's got their inspiration.