African Queen, The
African Queen, The
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Synopsis

John Huston's adaptation of C.S. Forester''s novel focuses on the spirited conflict of two resolute individualists, a drunken captain (Humphrey Bogart) and a repressed missionary (Katharine Hepburn), who undertake a dangerous river odyssey in East Africa against the elite German Navy during World War I. Cinematography by Jack Cardiff. Screenplay by James Agee and John Huston (and an uncredited Peter Viertel). With Robert Morley, Peter Bull, and Theodore Bikel.

John Huston---USA---1951---105 mins.

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   | Lewis#4

This adored classic, the last of the extraordinary collaborations between John Huston and Humphrey Bogart--“Beat the Devil,” made two years later, was decidedly not extraordinary--this sole coming together of the great Bogart and the great Hepburn, is beyond criticism. Do I like it? Do I hate it? Who cares? In fact I like it very much, and, like most of its admirers, I gladly overlook the small problems--the stiff opening, the wildly improbable ending, the perfunctory staging of a nautical calamity--in order to savor its charm and rejoice in the art of its two great thespians. Hepburn perfectly embodies the role of Rose Sayer, the prim spinster, and brings off Rose’s transition from censorious superiority to affectionate charm perfectly. (She comes to understand that, with a man, professions of admiration and love work better than pouring his gin into the river.) Bogart immerses himself in the character of the grizzled Charlie Allnut, the captain of a rusting and temperamental steamer. Watching him, it’s hard to imagine that three years later, cleaned up and well-spoken, he would capture the heart of that other Hepburn, Audrey, in “Sabrina.” Incredibly, this marvelous actor received his only Oscar for his “African Queen” role. (Did you think that life was fair?) Essentially this is a road move, the road being the Ulanga River in what was then German East Africa. It’s a great adventure tale (adapted from a C. S. Forester novel by Huston and James Agee), and Jack Cardiff’s Technicolor cinematography, much of it shot on location, is outstanding.

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