THE VENGEANCE OF SHE is a lacklustre follow-up to the lacklustre original; I'm afraid that I can't really think of any truly successful H. Rider Haggard adaptations for the screen, something seems to always go wrong in the process. This one has a new story with a different cast, with another voluptuous blonde taking the place of the original's Ursula Andress. The story is plodding and overlong, mildly interesting in the early yachting section (perhaps reminiscent of THE LOST CONTINENT) but really stalling once the action reaches North Africa. The cast features various well-known stars hamming it up, from Noel Willman's unusual grey face makeup to John Richardson (turned baddie), Andre Morell as a shaman, Edward Judd as square-jawed hero and George Sewell and Colin Blakely as more dependable British chaps. There's a dearth of action and only mild suspense on occasion, while all of the mystical mumbo jumbo was handled much better in the likes of THE DEVIL RIDES OUT.
Review of The Vengeance of She
