She – 1965 | 106 mins | Adventure | Colour

Plot Synopsis

This big budget adaptation of H. Rider Haggard’s She was previously filmed in 1935 Merian C. Cooper, the claustrophobic Hammer remake has neither the style nor sense of mystery of its predecessor. The Vengeance of She followed it in 1968.

A Cambridge professor and his friends explore Africa to search for a lost city, the leader of the expedition is Major Holly (Peter Cushing), but it is his young explorer compatriot Leo Vincey (John Richardson) who is lured into the secret world of Ayesha (Ursula Andress). Ayesha is the 2,000-year old queen of a secret tribe who sees in Leo the reincarnation of the lover she long ago murdered in a fit of jealousy. Cruel, arrogant, irresistible, Ayesha cannot die unless she falls in love and retains her beauty in the meantime by bathing in the flame of eternal youth, she persuades Leo to bathe in the flame but the results are unfortunate results for both.