She

Impressive production design can only distract from the terrible dialog, bad performances and antiquated (even then) story involved in She. What’s so shocking is that many of the filmmakers of King Kong, one of my most beloved films, were on-hand in the production of this bloated mess of a film. Kong’s got a propulsive plot that joins together one action set piece after another with a sense of wonder, awe, danger, sexuality and adventure depending on the scene in question. It’s a grand fantasy, one that remains delightful to this day. But that magic didn't translate to She.

Of more interest is the big-budget film that was almost made. Merian C. Cooper was originally promised a lavish budget and Technicolor film to make this serial adventure story come to life. He wanted Joel McCrea as the main hero and either Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich as the titular character. That would have been a grand film to behold, but RKO was in financial trouble and slashed the budget. So out went those grand ambitions and in its place is a film that’s a B-budget struggling to make itself over as an A-list production.

The fact that every single role is played by a troupe of terrible actors is a major stumbling block. The worst of which is Helen Gahagan as “She” who plays the role blankly and generates no mystery or eroticism in a role which screams for these attributes. Gahagan is also prone to hammy and overly theatrical outbursts, so it’s no great wonder to learn that this was her first, last and only film role.

Worse yet is the lack of innovation. A serial adventure like this calls for grand special effects work, part of what this production team’s Kong so immortal. Who can forget as indelible an image as Kong fighting with a group of Tyrannosaurs before killing one by breaking its jaw and playing with it like a human toddler with a broken toy? She gives us sabre-tooth tigers frozen in ice and wave after wave after wave of spear throwing natives, and not much else. Clunky dialog could be forgiven if the overall atmosphere of the film was more propulsive, lord knows Kong has its fair share of purple prose. But there’s nothing much besides very creative production design in an underground temple in She.

This sequence, very late in the film, shows us the film that She was always trying to become. The temple looks equal parts Aztec, Egyptian, futuristic and Art Deco. It’s an amazing and wholly original and complete vision, unlike anything else that I can recall seeing in a film before. Max Steiner’s score thunders down (another highlight in this film), a group of dancers writhe around performing modern dance moves, and the pageantry of the costumes are delightful. Suspension-of-disbelief is necessary for any successful fantasy/adventure film, and what normal achieves this – engaging characters, fun special effects and strange creatures, exciting story, creative images – are in short supply here. It’s a pity that the rest of this film couldn't match this late in the game moment.