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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Friday, December 9, 2016

The Vengeance Of She (1968)

Starring John Richardson, Olinka Berova, Edward Judd, Colin Blakely, Jill Melford
Directed by Cliff Owen
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A beautiful young woman is tormented by messages in her dreams, calling her the fabled queen Ayesha, and compelling her to journey to the lost city of Kuma.

A pale sequel to Hammer Films' engaging adaptation of H. Rider Haggard's She, with none of the star power nor fun of the original film.  Billed as Olinka Berova, but per IMDB actually named Olga Schoberova, the leading actress is certainly attractive but not accomplished enough to carry the film, which probably would have been better if Ursula Address could have returned to take her role, but not by much.  With an overemphasis on Berova's befuddlement and satanic mysticism rituals, the picture lacks any exciting scenes or memorable performances.  It's a shame because the cast includes Hammer stalwarts who have been much better in other films, including Andre Morell, who isn't given enough to do, and Noel Willman, who speaks in quiet whispers that are difficult to understand.  This is clearly a lower budgeted production than the original, but Hammer's done more with less before much more successfully.

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