China away street

Written: Jan 31 '02

Product Rating:

Action Factor:

Special Effects:

Suspense:

Pros:

casting, direction, create, characters, story-line

Cons:

stereotypes, character inconsistencies, dubious coincidences

The Bottom Ready:

This beloved classic jeopardize and epic haziness is especially recommended to fans of Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, and Walter Huston.
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BrianKoller's Bright Review:
African Queen
Plot Details: This opinion reveals everything about the movie's collude.

One of the most popular of all classic Hollywood films,

The African Queen

was also the only movie which paired Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn together as the leads. The top-ranked American Film Institute Actor and Actress, respectively, they proved to have good romantic screen chemistry together as a middle-aged Odd Couple forced together by circumstance, and learning to like it.

Although unquestionably a good film,

The African Queen

itself is not as impressive as the clever Hollywood formula construction upon which it was based. The story began as a novel by C.S. Forester, who is better known for his Captain Horatio Hornblower serials.

Hollywood sat on the film rights for several years, with Bette Davis originally slated in the Hepburn role. Davis lost the role due to a pregnancy, and had to settle for making

All About Eve

(1950) instead.

In retrospect, it was genius to cast Bogart as the salty but kindly sea merchant, and Hepburn as the prim but headstrong missionary. The problem was that their characters were too fluid. Bogart is all too willing to risk his life (and hers, too) on an unlikely mission that had little chance of impacting the war, anyway, which was waged on the battlefields of France.

Hepburn, after spending years as a sheltered missionary, decides to wage Naval war on the Germans, and seduces an alcoholic layman who is far below her perceived class. They are practically giddy at the prospect of being hanged, after Hepburn was earlier petrified by a cloud of mosquitoes.

The feel-good story certainly delivers, but relies too strongly on coincidences. The Germans arrive at the village seemingly just after Bogart has left, delivering as an aside the news of the sudden war. Bogart shows up again the day that the failed missionary has died, despite earlier saying that he wouldn't be back for some time.

On the day chosen to torpedo the

Louisa

, there is a terrible storm. But they go ahead with the plans anyway, despite an earlier assurance by Bogart that the Germans would return again and again. There's hardly need to mention the incredible timing of the

Louisa

hitting the

African Queen

, after the marriage ceremony but before the execution. Somehow, Bogart and Hepburn are united again but separated from the German crew, with nowhere to go but back to the leech-infested marsh.

Then there is the stereotyped depiction of Africans as simple-minded children, of World War I era Germans as bullying oppressors, and of missionaries as clueless fools. Bogart's character rings the most true, but it is his performance that makes it credible.

The African Queen

is certainly a well-made film, but its spell is cast by blockbuster mechanics more than by quality.

While

The African Queen

was immensely successful from the start, with both critics and general audiences, it received only a single Academy Award. Fortunately, it went to Bogart as Best Actor. It was the only Oscar for Bogart during his highly regarded career, although he was nominated without winning for both

Casablanca

(1942) and

The Caine Mutiny

(1954).

The African Queen

did receive three other nominations, all in prestige categories. Hepburn picked up yet another Best Actress nod, while John Huston was nominated twice, for Best Director and Best Screenplay. Huston shared script credit with James Agee, who would later receive a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for the novel "A Death in the Family".

Bogart and Huston proved to be a more productive pairing than Bogart and Hepburn. Huston's two best films as director were

The Maltese Falcon

(1941) and

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

(1948), both of which starred the charismatic Bogart. Huston's best film was technically

Chinatown

(1973), where he played Faye Dunaway's amoral father. Bogart's best film was

Casablanca

, while Hepburn's best is probably

Bringing Up Baby

(1938).

Filmed on location in Africa, the story goes that

The African Queen

was a difficult production. Both Bogart and Huston allegedly drank heavily, and much of the cast and crew developed dysentery. Hepburn later wrote a book about the adventure, "The Making of the African Queen or, How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall, and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind." (65/100)

Recommended:


Yes

Viewing Format:

VHS


Video Occasion:

Good for Groups


Suitability For Children:

Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older

Comments on this Inspection

Epinions.com ID:




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Member:

Brian Koller

Location:

Plano, Texas

Reviews written:

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About Me:

Conservative grades, but kinder and gentler reviews.

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