
by Judy Geater
There’s no mistaking the fact that ‘The African Queen’ was made on location – with all its breathtaking scenery, shot by Jack Cardiff in the most vivid Technicolor. I was lucky enough to see John Huston’s great film on the big screen when it was rereleased a few years ago, which was a memorable experience. And yet, how merciless the baking sun and bright colours are to the faces of the ageing Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.
According to the featurette included on the UK Blu-ray, Bogart asked Cardiff not to do anything to make him look good, saying he had “worked to get this face”. Hepburn never looks remotely glamorous either, and is so painfully thin that you flinch when at one point Bogart sneers: “You skinny old maid”.
They’re not at all the sort of couple who would normally take centre stage in a major Hollywood romance, and you can see why studios were nervous. Or can you? Looking at it now, the sheer pace of the adventure seems as if it would always have guaranteed the film’s success. One threat and action sequence segues into another, as they shoot down the rapids or battle a plague of insects or leeches, showing the way forward to the non-stop blockbuster films of subsequent decades.
However, where some later action films lose sight of the people in the middle of all the stunts and techno-trickery, this pre-CGI example never does so. The audience ends up rooting for the central couple all the more just because they are older, physically flawed and vulnerable, and they do have those weathered faces – together with the memory of how they looked in their earlier movies. (Bogart admittedly lost his boyish looks early on, but black and white is far more forgiving to his weary features than this dazzling colour cinematography.)
Based on C S Forester’s 1930s bestseller, the film is set in German Central Africa during the First World War. It follows an unlikely couple – missionary Rose Sayer and working-class engineer Charlie Allnut – as they take a small, elderly boat, the African Queen, on a daring journey along the river, hoping to destroy a German warship with their homemade torpedoes. Huston captures the spirit of Forester’s novel, and the script he wrote together with James Agee and Peter Viertel sticks fairly close to the original plot, except towards the end. But it heightens the romance element and the characterisation, via a lot of sharp, witty dialogue.

Hepburn had often starred in romantic comedies about strangely assorted couples, such as ‘Bringing Up Baby’, where – as Pat described in her great piece for the countdown earlier this week – she is the free spirit who changes Cary Grant’s world. In ‘Holiday’ and ‘The Philadelphia Story’, it’s the other way round and Grant is the one invading the household and blowing away the cobwebs.
However, in The African Queen, both halves of the couple alter each other. Really it’s impossible to say whether Rose – rechristened Rosie – or Charlie, who has to give his name as “Charles” at the wedding, changes more. He gets her to loosen up, let go of the Bible and start to enjoy living, while she pours away his bottles of gin and persuades him to leave his comfortable life and become a hero.
The class divide looms large in the book because of the constant use of a Cockney dialect for Charlie, even though it’s stated that Rose is from fairly humble origins too. In the film, if anything the social distance is even more noticeable, because it is Hepburn playing Rose and she always seems so upper-crust. Even so, Huston persuaded her to soften her portrayal in order to make the couple’s growing affection more believable. Bogart of course is not Cockney – the character has been made Canadian so that he doesn’t have to do an accent – but Charlie, though a skilled engineer, seems to be from a lower-class background than Rose.
However, as in the book, it is made clear that Rose comes from a background with little money. This is shown early in the film through the scene of her brother Samuel’s deathbed. Morley initially seems as plummy-voiced as always, but on his deathbed the mask slips and his origins are revealed. He wanders in his mind, talks about the family’s small shop, and remembers how hard he had to work to get taken on as a missionary in the first place.
Morley’s acting style is very different from that of Hepburn or Bogart, and more stagy. But he is an actor prepared to take risks, as in his first film role as Louis XVI in ‘Marie Antoinette’, where he sits and weeps because he is afraid of sex. Here he has another poignant scene, which gives an impetus to the hatred of the German army spurring the couple on, as he dies from the shock of seeing the village around him destroyed by fire. This opening is just about the only section where the African people are actually seen, since most of the film is a two-hander. But, even though the local population are largely invisible, that scene of the village being burnt down does bring across the message that Charlie and Rosie aren’t the only ones suffering here.
The ending is more upbeat than the one in the novel, where the couple fail in their quest and David can’t topple Goliath after all. That sort of ending was never going to fly in a film like this one, but at least the final twist and the destruction of the Louisa are cleverly achieved, even if it’s not quite believable. In any case, by this point the relationship between Rose and Charlie is utterly convincing, and the main thing which the audience is going to take away.
Just to add that, if you have only seen an old copy of this film, I’d definitely recommend seeing it in the restored version, which is of fantastic quality. There are also some interesting extras on the Blu-ray, like the featurette I mentioned earlier, which has a lot of detail about how the film was made. I was surprised to learn that a lot of it was made on a backlot in the UK – apparently it is possible to see the joins at times, but who’s looking?
A brilliant screenplay and two of the most beloved performances in the movies converge to produce an American classic. The class divide banter is a constant delight. Such a terrific review , concise and authoritative.
Thanks so much, Peter, very kind of you. I definitely agree that the screenplay is brilliant and the two stars play off one another perfectly.
Lovely review, Judy – you obviously cherish this film and have brought to light some interesting nuances in the story. I have never seen in it a good print, so have never noticed how unkind the cinematography is to Bogart’s and Hepburn’s aging faces. Also, thanks for the shout out.
It’s a pleasure to mention your review, Pat – I’d actually read your piece a couple of times before managing to think what to say in response! I hope you do get a chance to see the lovely restored print of ‘The African Queen’, weathered features and all. Thank you!
Great piece! It’s far too long since I’ve watched the movie. I must see if I can get hold of a copy of that restored version.
Thanks, John, hope you get a chance to see it!
It’s on order . . . Of course, if I’m not impressed I’ll be making bitter complaints here and saying bad things about you . . .
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Don’t think I’m in much danger there, given the quality of the print… but I do hope you enjoy it!
This is one of those movies I fell in love with as a child watching it many times on the family’s little black and white TV. When VCRs came out, I finally got to see it in color, though looking rather faded as I recall. Your lovely review deftly evokes the charm and uniqueness that make this film so special. You have made it necessary for me to see again on Blu-ray.
I never saw this in black and white, Duane, but am now wondering what it would be like – b&w always seems to be Bogart’s natural habitat and it’s something of a shock to see him in colour! I’m sure you will enjoy seeing it on the Blu-ray, and thanks for the kind words.
A very fine review of a classic adventure film that never loses its charm after many viewings. The old adage of ‘opposites attract’ is on delightful display. Hepburn and Bogie make for one of the screen’s most captivating pairings. I did figure the ending was more upbeat than the novel.
Frank, I think you are right that this is a film which can be watched multiple times and still keeps its freshness. Yes, the novel ending is slightly bleak by comparison – according to the featurette on the Blu-ray, Forester liked portraying losers. Thank you!
However, in The African Queen, both halves of the couple alter each other. Really itās impossible to say whether Rose ā rechristened Rosie ā or Charlie, who has to give his name as āCharlesā at the wedding, changes more. He gets her to loosen up, let go of the Bible and start to enjoy living, while she pours away his bottles of gin and persuades him to leave his comfortable life and become a hero.
Judy—- It is always a joy to read your breezy prose, which brings together pertinent and engaging aspects of the film making, the actors, the director and various stories that surround the production. There is never convolution in your writing, and there’s always a comprehensive examination of the subject. In this case the subject is one of the most beloved films of all-time, one that features two of the American cinema’s most venerated stars at the top of their game, and a legendary director who was no stranger to the “adventure” film. Bogart finally won the Academy Award for his portrayal of the hard-bitten and slovely (alcoholic) boat captain over Marlon Brando’s electrifying Stanley Kowalski of STREETCAR. Conversely, Katherine Hepburn lost out to Vivien Leigh for STREETCAR in the Best Actress race. Hepburn of course would go on to become the most awarded thespian in film history with four Best Actress trophies. That entire class thing you talk about is fascinating. Hepburn ‘airs’ did indeed need to be toned down if audiences were to believe she was only marginally over Charlie. And yes nothing is so heartening as seeing how each helps the other to overcome their own pre-occupations as you so splendidly relate above in the copies paragraph. Just a wonderful review Judy!
Sam, you are too kind as ever, but many thanks for your typically generous comments! Much as I love ‘The African Queen’, I have a feeling Brando should have won for ‘Streetcar’ – but then, Bogart definitely deserved to have an Oscar somewhere in his career. I haven’t really gone into the stories surrounding the production, but, of course, they are a whole subject in themselves. Thanks again!
Great job Judy on this classic film. I voted for it on my countdown as its such a charming joy. I admit I haven’t seen it in the restored version and only recall the more beat up and weathered version. Thanks for remaining us about Cardiff as well. He worked really well with actors and actresses from what I hear to get the right looks for them.
Thanks, Jon! Cardiff is endearingly modest about his work in the featurette on the Blu-ray of ‘The African Queen’, claiming that he didn’t really deserve the awards and recognition because it was such an easy job! I’ve just remembered that I recorded a documentary about his work a while back but haven’t got round to watching it yet.
I consider this film to be near the very top of great films of all time. Sam is correct, Judy, about your breezy prose. It’s a seemingly effortless, enjoyable and authoritative piece. I agree with the above comment about the high quality of the screenplay.
Regarding class difference between the lead characters, I suspect that the real dividing line involves not so much income but how their respective families lived. It would seem that religion and “good living” was more highly valued in Rosie’s family, while good living probably meant quite something else to Charlie’s crowd.
Pierre, thanks very much for the kind comment, much appreciated. Must agree with you about the lifestyles being the real dividing line – I like your point about the two meanings of good living.
And just to clarify, I meant good living not to be about high times (though that could be part of it for Charlie) but a different, more earthy interpretation of morality.
Wonderful piece of a film I saw just recently! Here’s what I had to say:
“Simply adorable. An adventure of two characters that are traumatized by their lives that they’ve gone through and for some reason they suddenly fall for each other, the emotion and the adventure makes them excited and closer to each other. Obviously there are some dated things, like the mosquitoes, or the whole subjected way in which the African citizens are treated, even though it is accurate when it comes to the era in which this movie took place, it was really just 40 years after, and the condition here is more akin to what really was going on than to a dated treatment. The film transpires that sense of profound knowledge of the soul and heart that John Huston so well managed to get in every one of his movies, this is a classic with all the considerations.”
Jaime, thanks for sharing your thoughts on this – you make an interesting point here about the treatment of the African citizens and it would be good to see a film treating what ordinary people’s lives were like at that time. That’s a great comment about Huston getting to the heart of his characters.