She

King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain, and She, are the lesser-known works of turn-of-the-20th-century adventure novelist Henry Rider Haggard. "She: A History of Adventure," published in 1887, also had the following sequels "Ayesha: The Return of She" (1905), "She and Allan" (1921), and "Wisdom's Daughter: The Life and Love Story of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed" (1923). She made her film debut with Georges Méliès in 1899 and appeared on screen a total of eleven times by 2001. So how does the first audio version, the 7th one, which followed the excellent version with Betty Blythe, stand up? Wonderfully, as a matter of fact. The framework of Ayesha's adventures is suitably updated to the 1930s, the sets are riveting, and the theme of immortality is eternal. Many of the partial details, from the spanking to the moving stone to the alter ego of the evil queen from Snow White, have great guilty pleasure potential. So who is more divine? The goddess Helen Gahagan or Helen Mack? That's easy. Gahagan hasn't acted in a film more than once, so there's an apparent mystique to this fact. Unfortunately, nothing good can be said about the other adaptations... (2010.06.23)