She

H. Rider Haggard's fantasy-adventure novel—about the queen of a hidden land who possesses the flame of eternal youth and the adventurer she seeks to make her latest lover—has often been filmed, most notably in 1965 with Ursula Andress. This release is the 1935 version directed by Irving Pichel and Lansing C. Holden and produced by Merian C. Cooper (producer and co-director of the original King Kong), starring Randolph Scott as the explorer and Helen Gahagan, in her sole film role, as the cruel monarch. It's not a particularly good movie, coming across as stilted, juvenile, and—in an “exotic” dance sequence that makes Busby Berkeley look tame—somewhat ludicrous. Still, She boasts impressive art deco sets, a marvelous Max Steiner score, a fine supporting turn by Nigel Bruce, and Gahagan herself—a dull actress, but interesting woman (she married Melvyn Douglas, became a Congresswoman, and was defeated by Richard Nixon). Boasting a fine transfer of the original black-and-white print (with restored footage), as well as a colorized version prepared by legendary effects man Ray Harryhausen (who also contributes a gushy audio commentary with Cooper biographer Mark Cotta Vaz), DVD extras on this double-disc set include interviews with Harryhausen, composer John Morgan (about Steiner), and the curator of the Cooper archive; scenes from the 1911 and 1925 silent versions of She; and stills galleries. Genre buffs will love this, so consider it a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)