She (1925 film)

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She (1925)
SHE (1925), Movie Poster.jpg
Movie Poster
Directed by Leander de Cordova
G. B. Samuelson
Written by Walter Summers (scenario)
H. Rider Haggard (intertitles)
Based onShe: A History of Adventure
by H. Rider Haggard
Produced by G. B. Samuelson
Arthur A. Lee
Starring Betty Blythe
Carlyle Blackwell
Cinematography Sydney Blythe
Music by Louis Levy
Distributed by Lee-Bradford Corporation
Release dates
1925 (United Kingdom) [1]
  • 1926 (1926)(US edited version)
Running time
9 reels
(8,250 feet)
CountriesGermany
United Kingdom
Language Silent (English intertitles)

She is a 1925 British-German fantasy adventure film made by Reciprocity Films, co-directed by Leander de Cordova and G. B. Samuelson, and starring Betty Blythe, Carlyle Blackwell, and Mary Odette. It was filmed in Berlin by a British film company as a co-production, and based on H. Rider Haggard's 1887 novel of the same name. According to the opening credits, the intertitles were specially written for the film by Haggard himself; he died in 1925, the year the film was made, and never got to see the finished film. [2] The film still exists in its complete form today. [1]

Contents

The book has been a popular subject for filmmakers in the silent and sound eras, with at least five short silent film adaptations produced in 1908, 1911, 1916, 1917, and 1919 respectively. [1] The 1925 version was the first feature-length adaptation, although it was trimmed from its original 95-minute running time down to 69 minutes for US release (it was only released in the US by the Lee-Bradford Corporation in 1926). [3] (A sound version was made in 1935 by RKO Pictures, and again in 1965 by Hammer Films of England.) [1] [4]

The 1925 film is the most faithful of the three feature-length adaptations to date and follows the action, characters and locations of the original novel closely. Heinrich Richter handled the sumptuous set designs and impressive landscape shots. Hollywood actress Blythe traveled to Europe to appear in the film, as the producers hoped to cash in on her "vamp" appeal, placing her in a see-through negligee for the part. She later was quoted as saying "A director is the only man beside your husband who can tell you how much of your clothes to take off". [3]

Critic Christopher Workman opined "Lead actor Carlyle Blackwell (who played a dual role in the film) was much too old for the part of the youthful Leo Vincey, and the pasty-faced makeup and ludicrous blond wig he is forced to sport only make his age more obvious....He walks through the part without showing the least bit of interest in any of it." (He later appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger (1927) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1929).) [5] Alexander Butler, who plays Mahomet in the film, was actually a director who had made some earlier silent horror films, including The Sorrows of Satan (1917) and The Beetle (1919). [3]

Plot

At Cambridge University, the ape-like Horace Holly, nicknamed "Baboon", is visited by the dying Vincey who asks Holly to raise his only child Leo, and that he give Leo a chest on the latter's twenty fifth birthday. Holly agrees. [6] It leads Leo, Horace and Job on an expedition to Ethiopia to find the lost "Pillars of Fire", said to grant immortality to whoever bathes in their light, and to be guarded by an immortal queen named Ayesha, called by her mistreated subjects "She Who Must Be Obeyed". They travel down into a lost city hidden in the underground volcanic caves of Ethiopia, where Leo learns he is the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian king named Kallikrates. He discovers that thousands of years ago, Queen Ayesha murdered him when she discovered he was in love with a woman named Amenartes. Ayesha convinces Leo to bath in the Pillars of Fire so that he can become an immortal like her and share her throne. However, when they enter the mystical flames, Ayesha rapidly ages and dies, not realizing that to enter the flames twice is a fatal mistake.

Cast

Related Research Articles

1917 in film was a particularly fruitful year for the art form, and is often cited as one of the years in the decade which contributed to the medium the most, along with 1913. Secondarily the year saw a limited global embrace of narrative film-making and featured innovative techniques such as continuity cutting. Primarily, the year is an American landmark, as 1917 is the first year where the narrative and visual style is typified as "Classical Hollywood".

The year 1916 in film involved some significant events.

The year 1915 in film involved some significant events.

1913 was a particularly fruitful year for film as an art form, and is often cited one of the years in the decade which contributed to the medium the most, along with 1917. The year was one where filmmakers of several countries made great artistic advancements, producing notable pioneering masterpieces such as The Student of Prague, Suspense, Atlantis, Raja Harischandra, Juve contre Fantomas, Quo Vadis?, Ingeborg Holm, The Mothering Heart, Ma l’amor mio non muore!, L’enfant de Paris and Twilight of a Woman's Soul.

The year 1912 in film involved some significant events.

The year 1911 in film involved some significant events.

The year 1910 in film involved some significant events.

<i>She: A History of Adventure</i> 1887 novel by H. Rider Haggard

She, subtitled A History of Adventure, is a novel by the English writer H. Rider Haggard, published in book form in 1887 following serialisation in The Graphic magazine between October 1886 and January 1887. She was extraordinarily popular upon its release and has never been out of print.

<i>Ayesha</i> (novel) 1905 novel by H. Rider Haggard

Ayesha, the Return of She is a gothic-fantasy novel by the English Victorian author H. Rider Haggard, published in 1905 as a sequel to his 1887 novel She. Chronologically, it is the final novel of the Ayesha and Allan Quatermain series. It was serialised in issues 120 to 130 of the Windsor Magazine, where it was illustrated by Maurice Greiffenhagen.

L'Homme qui vendit son âme au diable is a 1921 French silent film comedy directed by Pierre Caron. The plot was similar to Faust and The Student of Prague, about a man who makes a diabolical deal with the Devil.

<i>The Hunchback and the Dancer</i> 1920 film

The Hunchback and the Dancer is a 1920 silent German horror film directed by F. W. Murnau and photographed by Karl Freund. This is now considered to be a lost film. The film was written by Carl Mayer, who also wrote The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). Karl Freund later emigrated to Hollywood where he directed such classic horror films as The Mummy (1932) and Mad Love (1935). It premiered at the Marmorhaus in Berlin.

Esmeralda is a 1922 British silent film and an adaptation of the 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo, with more emphasis on the character on Esmeralda rather than Quasimodo. It was directed by Edwin J. Collins and starred Sybil Thorndike as Esmeralda and Booth Conway as the hunchback. The film is considered lost, but extant still photos show a 40-year-old Thorndike who appears to be too old for the role of the young and virginal Esmeralda. This version emphasized romance and melodrama over horror.

Maria Marten is a 1928 British silent drama film directed by Walter West starring Trilby Clark, Warwick Ward and Dora Barton. It is based on the real story of the Red Barn Murder in the 1820s, and is one of five film versions of the events. The film shifted the action to fifty years earlier to the height of the Georgian era. This was the last of the silent film adaptations of the Maria Marten story, and its success paved the way for the much better 1935 sound film remake starring Tod Slaughter. A 35mm print of the 1928 silent film exists in the British Film Institute's archives.

Lord Arthur Saville's Crime is a 1920 Hungarian silent crime film directed by Pál Fejös and starring Ödön Bárdi, Lajos Gellért and Margit Lux. It was also released as both Mark of the Phantom and Lidercnyomas. The film was based on the 1891 short story Lord Arthur Savile's Crime by Oscar Wilde. It was one of Pal Fejos' earliest films and is now considered lost. It was photographed by Jozsef Karban.

<i>Orphan of Lowood</i> 1926 film

Orphan of Lowood is a 1926 German silent drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt and starring Evelyn Holt, Olaf Fønss and Dina Diercks. It is based on the 1847 British novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, and is the last of at least eight silent film adaptations of the novel. It was shot at the Terra Studios in Marienfelde. Director Bernhardt, a Jew wanted by the Gestapo, escaped from Nazi Germany and immigrated to Hollywood where he directed films for MGM, RKO, Columbia Pictures and Warner Brothers.

The Grinning Face, aka The Man Who Laughs, is a 1921 Austrian-German silent horror film directed by Julius Herska and starring Franz Höbling, Nora Gregor and Lucienne Delacroix. It is an adaptation of the 1869 novel The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo.

The Marriage of the Bear is a 1925 Soviet silent horror-fantasy drama film directed by Konstantin Eggert and Vladimir Gardin. It is based on the play with the same name by Anatoli Lunacharsky, which in turn was based on Prosper Mérimée's novella Lokis.

She is a 1916 British silent adventure film directed by Will Barker and Horace Lisle Lucoque and starring Alice Delysia, Henry Victor and Sydney Bland. It is an adaptation of H. Rider Haggard's 1887 novel She.

<i>Go and Get It</i> 1920 film

Go and Get It is a 1920 American silent comedy-drama mystery film directed by Marshall Neilan and Henry Roberts Symonds and written by Marion Fairfax. The film stars Pat O'Malley, Wesley Barry, Noah Beery Sr. and Agnes Ayres. The cinematographer was David Kesson. The film was released on July 18, 1920 by First National Exhibitors' Circuit.

<i>She</i> (1911 film) 1911 film by George Nichols

She is a 1911 American fantasy silent film and is the first film to attempt to portray the story in the 1887 novel of the same name by H. Rider Haggard. Made by the Thanhouser Company, the film was directed by George Nichols and featured his wife Viola Alberti as Amenartes. It starred Marguerite Snow in the title role and James Cruze in the joint role of Kallikrates and Leo Vincey and was based on a scenario by Theodore Marston.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Progressive Silent Film List: She at silentera.com
  2. ↑ "A Famous Novel Filmed". The Advertiser . South Australia. 8 April 1926. p. 10. Retrieved 6 January 2018– via National Library of Australia.
  3. 1 2 3 Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 292. ISBN   978-1936168-68-2.
  4. ↑ Bruce G. Hallenbeck, British Cult Cinema: Hammer Fantasy and Sci-Fi, Hemlock Books 2011 pp. 146–157. ISBN   978-0-9557-7744-8
  5. ↑ Workman, Christopher; Howarth, Troy (2016). Tome of Terror: Horror Films of the Silent Era. Midnight Marquee Press. p. 293. ISBN   978-1936168-68-2.
  6. ↑ "SHE!". Call. No. 708. Western Australia. 28 May 1926. p. 7. Retrieved 6 January 2018– via National Library of Australia.
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