{"id":30113,"date":"2013-03-06T12:22:20","date_gmt":"2013-03-06T19:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=30113"},"modified":"2020-12-31T12:21:09","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T19:21:09","slug":"african-queen-the-1951","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=30113","title":{"rendered":"African Queen, The (1951)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Could you make a torpedo? Well, do so, Mr. Allnut.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Poster-215x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"215\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-30127\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Poster-215x300.jpg 215w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Poster-92x128.jpg 92w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Poster-736x1024.jpg 736w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Poster.jpg 944w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 215px) 100vw, 215px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAs World War I reaches the heart of German-controlled Africa, a boozy boat captain (Humphrey Bogart) and a religious spinster (Katharine Hepburn) whose minister-brother (Robert Morley) has just died make their way down a treacherous river in hopes of torpedoing a German battleship; along the way, they unexpectedly fall in love.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Africa<\/li>\n<li>At Sea<\/li>\n<li>Character Arc<\/li>\n<li>Humphrey Bogart Films<\/li>\n<li>John Huston<\/li>\n<li>Katharine Hepburn Films<\/li>\n<li>Missionaries and Revivalists<\/li>\n<li>Romance<\/li>\n<li>World War I<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary writes that &#8220;[director John] Huston and his stars injected humor and playfulness&#8221; into this &#8220;sure-fire &#8216;feel-good&#8217; movie&#8221;, which remains &#8220;perhaps the cinema&#8217;s greatest romantic adventure&#8230; set in the 20th century&#8221;. Adapted from <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_African_Queen_%28novel%29\">C.S. Forester&#8217;s novel<\/a>, it relates the tale of a mismatched pair of middle-aged individuals who &#8220;at first&#8230; can&#8217;t stand each other&#8221; but are drawn together during their &#8220;perilous journey&#8221;, and &#8220;become one of the cinema&#8217;s truly wonderful romantic couples&#8221;. Although the entire scenario defies belief on nearly every count (with the ending in particular most inconceivable), it&#8217;s impossible not to be swayed by the magic of Hepburn and Bogart&#8217;s unlikely romance, as neither individual is &#8220;reticent about expressing love for the other, even when in the midst of tragedy&#8221;. As Peary writes, &#8220;their endearing gestures have a cheering effect on the viewer&#8221;, and &#8220;fifty-three-year old Bogart and 45-year-old Hepburn get sexier by the minute&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>Peary&#8217;s rather short review of this enduring classic fails to mention much about its fabled production history (recounted by Hepburn in her creatively titled memoir <em>The Making of the African Queen: Or, How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind<\/em>). As noted in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tcm.com\/this-month\/article\/158027|0\/Behind-the-Camera.html\">TCM&#8217;s &#8220;Behind the Camera&#8221; overview<\/a>, while Hepburn and Huston adored shooting on-location in Africa, Bogart was miserable and couldn&#8217;t wait to return back home to &#8220;civilization&#8221;; fortunately, his wife (Lauren Bacall) was on hand to help make things more tolerable for everyone. Throughout filming &#8212; while Huston was tangentially obsessed with hunting an elephant &#8212; the cast and crew were bedeviled by all kinds of challenges (torrential rains, wild animals, contaminated water, and much more), thus adding to the authenticity of the final product. <\/p>\n<p>Indeed, it&#8217;s remarkably refreshing to see how <em>truly<\/em> filthy both Bogart and Hepburn get during their onscreen adventures &#8212; and it&#8217;s equally satisfying to witness how &#8220;there is a division of labor&#8221; throughout, with Hepburn&#8217;s seemingly prim and proper spinster immediately proving herself to be unexpectedly savvy, brave, and thrill-seeking, thereby slowly seducing Bogart&#8217;s crusty captain. Though you&#8217;d never know it from watching her pumping organ pedals in the film&#8217;s opening sequence (a wonderfully droll snapshot of her life as a missionary), Hepburn&#8217;s Rose Sayer turns out to be one of cinema&#8217;s strongest female protagonists; her character arc is truly a joy to behold. My favorite scene is probably the one in which the couple team together to fix The African Queen, utilizing the &#8220;primitive&#8221; tools and materials they have at hand (suggested by Hepburn herself), and doing the bulk of their work underwater. <\/p>\n<p>Bogart won an Academy Award for his humorous performance as Charlie Allnut (a great last name!), though as Peary notes, &#8220;for some reason the equally fine Hepburn (who based her character [in part] on Eleanor Roosevelt) didn&#8217;t even get nominated&#8221;; both actors &#8212; who literally carry the entire movie &#8212; are at the peak of their game. The location shooting (with cinematography by Jack Cardiff) is equally noteworthy &#8212; and again, reading about the film&#8217;s production history gives one added appreciation for what it took to achieve such authenticity. With that said, I&#8217;ll admit to finding the obvious use of rear-screen projection at times to be somewhat distracting; however, one must simply accept this as an artifact of the times. <\/p>\n<p>Finally, the screenplay &#8212; co-written by James Agee and Huston, with assistance from Peter Viertel\tand John Collier &#8212; is consistently suspenseful, never dumbing down the material, and allowing for plenty of humorous interplay between the leads. As noted in <a href=\"http:\/\/movies.nytimes.com\/movie\/review?res=980DEFDF123BE23BBC4951DFB4668389649EDE\">Bosley Crowther&#8217;s review for the New York Times<\/a> (where he refers to it as &#8220;a well-disguised spoof&#8221;), the tale &#8220;is so personally preposterous and socially bizarre that it would take a lot of doing to be made convincing in the cold, clear light of day&#8221; &#8212; and &#8220;so Mr. Huston merits credit for putting this fantastic tale on a level of sly, polite kidding and generally keeping it there, while going about the happy business of engineering excitement and visual thrills.&#8221; Well put, Mr. Crowther. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Humphrey Bogart as Charlie Allnut (nominated by Peary as one of the Best Actors of the Year)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Bogart.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Bogart-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-30123\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Bogart-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Bogart-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Bogart-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Bogart.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Katharine Hepburn as Rose Sayer (nominated by Peary as one of the Best Actresses of the Year)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Hepburn.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Hepburn-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-30125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Hepburn-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Hepburn-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Hepburn-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Hepburn.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Jack Cardiff&#8217;s cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Cinematography-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-30124\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Cinematography-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Cinematography-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Cinematography-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Cinematography.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Fine location shooting in the Belgian Congo<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Location.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Location-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-30126\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Location-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Location-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Location-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/African-Queen-Location.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>James Agee and John Huston&#8217;s script<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as a most enjoyable romantic-adventure. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Genuine Classic<\/li>\n<li>Oscar Winner or Nominee<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0043265\/?ref_=sr_1\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.nytimes.com\/movie\/review?res=980DEFDF123BE23BBC4951DFB4668389649EDE\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmsite.org\/afri.html\">FilmSite Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/reviews\/41645\/african-queen-the\/\">DVD Talk Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/24323\/the-african-queen#articles-reviews\">TCM Articles<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.tvguide.com\/the-african-queen\/review\/123380\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/london\/film\/the-african-queen\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Could you make a torpedo? Well, do so, Mr. Allnut.&#8221; Synopsis: As World War I reaches the heart of German-controlled Africa, a boozy boat captain (Humphrey Bogart) and a religious spinster (Katharine Hepburn) whose minister-brother (Robert Morley) has just died make their way down a treacherous river in hopes of torpedoing a German battleship; along the way, they unexpectedly fall in love. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Africa At Sea Character Arc Humphrey Bogart Films John Huston Katharine Hepburn Films&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=30113\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30113"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60690,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30113\/revisions\/60690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}