The African Queen

The African Queen (1951) – Movie Review

Director: John Huston

Screenwriters: James Agee, John Huston

Producers: S.P. Eagle

Studios: United Artists 

Production Companies: Romulus Films, Horizon Pictures

Top Billed Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull

LOGLINE: A rough working class man and a lady take a long journey through Africa aboard the African Queen, a small steam boat, on a mission to destroy a Nazi warship.

VIEWING CIRCUMSTANCES:  At home over two nights, minimal facebooking in the background.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Not bad. Not what I'd call a true classic, though, despite the Bogart/Hepburn pairing. 

STORY: much of the film is spent with the cast of two (three if you include the boat, which at times is almost personified), which makes it kind of like a play on film - any film with few characters and locations, i.e. a film that could be or has been staged as a play.

PRODUCTION: dated, but not too bad, some of the rapid scenes use repeat shots which is annoying, cause if you're going to go to all the trouble to film rapids you think you could make it look like rapids change as the boat moves. Other than that not bad over all, it even an explosion of two.

PERFORMANCE: Believe it or not, the performances were not the strongest aspect of the film. Although they are both two of the great all time actors, there were moments in which their performances felt like... well performances in other words you feel like you're watching Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart put on a show versus watching Charlie and Rose out on the water. Again, I think part of this is due to the age of the film, though I've seen both these actors in other things do a more subtle job.

OVERALL: a pretty good picture, worth a look, just don't expect Casablanca.

MEETSLINE: A road movie on the water.

FAVOURITE QUOTE: none

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RECOMMENDED ACCOMPANIMENT: Fish and chips and Bourbon.


AN ASIDE: It was interesting to note that one of the scenes was pretty much lifted directly by Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl. See if you can spot it.

RATING:

3 1/2 out of 5 reels of film.

Movie Review by A.B. McBlogsmith the Backwards Cap Film Reviewer

(C) Review Flix 2011