The African Queen (film)
| The African Queen | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | John Huston |
| Produced by | Sam Spiegel John Woolf (uncredited) |
| Written by | C. S. Forester (novel) John Huston James Agee |
| Starring | Humphrey Bogart Katharine Hepburn Robert Morley |
| Music by | Allan Gray |
| Cinematography | Jack Cardiff |
| Editing by | Ralph Kemplen |
| Studio | Horizon Pictures |
| Distributed by | United Artists (US) Independent Film Distributors (UK) |
| Release date(s) | 20 February 1952 |
| Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The African Queen is a 1951 American drama film adapted from the 1935 novel of the same name by C. S. Forester. The film was directed by John Huston and produced by Sam Spiegel[1] and John Woolf. The screenplay was adapted by James Agee, John Huston, John Collier and Peter Viertel. It was photographed in Technicolor by Jack Cardiff and had a music score by Allan Gray. The film stars Humphrey Bogart (who won the Academy Award for Best Actor – his only Oscar), and Katharine Hepburn with Robert Morley, Peter Bull, Walter Gotell, Richard Marner and Theodore Bikel.
The African Queen has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Contents |
Plot
Robert Morley and Katharine Hepburn play Samuel and Rose Sayer, brother and sister British Methodist missionaries in a village in German East Africa in 1914 during World War I. Their mail and supplies are delivered by the rough-and-ready Canadian boat captain Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) of the African Queen, whose coarse behavior they tolerate in a rather stiff manner.
When Charlie warns them that war has broken out between Germany and Britain, the Sayers choose to stay on, only to witness the Germans burning down the mission village and herd the villagers away. When Samuel protests, he is beaten by a German soldier. After the Germans leave, Samuel becomes delirious with fever and soon dies. Charlie returns shortly afterward. He helps Rose bury her brother, and they set off in the African Queen.
In discussing their situation, Charlie mentions to Rose that the Germans have a gunboat, the Louisa (actually Königin Luise in German), which patrols a large lake downriver, effectively blocking any British counter-attacks. Rose comes up with a plan to convert the Queen into a torpedo boat, and sink the Louisa. Charlie points out that navigating the river would be suicidal: to reach the lake they would have to pass a German fort and negotiate several dangerous rapids. But Rose is insistent and eventually persuades him to go along with the plan.
Charlie hoped after passing the first obstacle that Rose would be discouraged, but she is confident they can handle what is yet to come, and argues that Charlie promised to go all the way.
During their journey down the river, Charlie, Rose and the African Queen encounter many obstacles, including the German fort and three sets of rapids. The first set of rapids is rather easy; they get through with minimal flooding in the boat. But Rose and Charlie have to duck down when they pass the fortress and the soldiers begin shooting at them, blowing two bullet holes in the top of the boiler and causing one of the steam pressure hoses to disconnect from the boiler, which in turn, causes the boat's engine to stop running. Luckily, Charlie manages to reattach the hose to the boiler just as they are about to enter the second set of rapids. The boat rolls and pitches crazily as it goes down the rapids, leading to more severe flooding in the boat and also collapsing the stern canopy.
While celebrating their success, the two find themselves in an embrace. Embarrassed, they break off, but eventually succumb and strike a relationship.
Later on, the couple decide to take a pit stop to gather more fuel and drain the boat. Back on the river, Charlie and Rose watch crocodiles frolic on the nearby river bank when the third set of rapids comes up. This time, there is a loud metallic clattering noise as the boat goes over the falls. Once again, the couple dock on the river bank to check for damage. When Charlie dives under the boat, he finds the propeller shaft bent sideways and a blade missing from the propeller. Luckily, with some expert skills and using suggestions from Rose, Charlie manages to straighten the shaft and weld a new blade on to the propeller, and they are off again.
All appears lost when Charlie and Rose "lose the channel" and the boat becomes mired in the mud amid dense reeds near the mouth of the river. First, they try to tow the boat through the muck, only to have Charlie come out of the water covered with leeches. All their efforts to free the African Queen fail. With no supplies left and short of potable water, Rose and a feverish Charlie turn in, convinced they have no hope of survival. Before going to sleep Rose prays that she and Charlie be admitted into Heaven. As they sleep, exhausted and beaten, heavy rains raise the river's level and float the Queen off of the mud and into the lake which, it turns out, is just a short distance from their location. Once on the lake, they narrowly avoid being spotted by the Louisa.
That night, they set about converting some oxygen cylinders into torpedoes using gelatin explosives and improvised detonators that use nails as the firing pins for rifle cartridges. They then attach the torpedoes through the bow of the Queen.
At the height of a storm, they push the Queen out onto the lake, intending to set it on a collision course with the Louisa. Unfortunately, the holes in the bow in which the torpedoes were pushed through are not sealed, allowing water to pour into the boat, causing it to sink lower and eventually the Queen tips over.
Charlie is captured and taken aboard the Louisa, where he is questioned by a military court. Believing Rose to have drowned, he makes no attempt to defend himself against accusations of spying and is sentenced to death by hanging. However, Rose is captured too and Charlie hollers her name, then pretends not to know her. The captain questions her, and Rose confesses the whole plot proudly, deciding they have nothing to lose anyway. The captain sentences her too to be executed as a spy. Charlie asks the German captain to marry them before executing them. After a brief marriage ceremony, the Germans prepare to hang them, when there is a sudden explosion and the Louisa starts to sink. The Louisa has struck the overturned hull of the African Queen and detonated the torpedoes. Rose's plan has worked, if a little belatedly, and the newly-married couple swim to safety in Belgian Congo.
Production
Production censors objected to several aspects of the original script, which included the two characters cohabiting without the formality of marriage. Some changes were made before the film was completed.[2]
The film was partially financed by John Woolf and James Woolf of Romulus Films, a British company, which was so pleased with the results that they talked John Huston into directing their next picture, Moulin Rouge (1952).
Much of the film was shot on location in Uganda and the Congo in Africa. This was rather novel for the time, especially for a technicolor picture which utilized large unwieldy cameras. The cast and crew endured sickness, and spartan living conditions during their time on location. In one scene, Hepburn was playing a piano but had a bucket nearby as she was often sick between takes. Bogart later bragged that he was the only one to escape illness, which he credited to not drinking any water on location, but instead fortifying himself from the large supply of whiskey he had brought along with him.
Perhaps half of the film was shot in England. For instance, the scenes in which Bogart and Hepburn are seen in the water were all shot in studio tanks at Isleworth Studios, Middlesex. These scenes were considered too dangerous to shoot in Africa. All of the foreground plates for the process shots were also done in studio.[3]
Most of the action takes place aboard a boat – the African Queen of the title – and scenes on board the boat were filmed using a large raft with a mockup of the boat on top. Sections of the boat set could be removed to make room for the large Technicolor camera. This proved hazardous on one occasion when the boat's boiler – a heavy copper replica – almost fell over onto Hepburn. It was not bolted down since it also had to be moved to accommodate the camera. The small steam-boat used in the film to depict the African Queen was built in 1912, in Lytham St Annes, England, for service in Africa, and is now on display at Key Largo in Florida, USA. At one time it was owned by actor Fess Parker.[4]
Because of the dangers involved with shooting the rapid scenes, a model was created at the studio tank in London.
The film also features a German gunboat, the Königin Luise, which is based on the former World War I vessel MV Liemba (known until 1924 as the Graf von Götzen), which sank in 1916 during the Battle for Lake Tanganyika, but was subsequently refloated by the British and continues to operate as a passenger ferry to this day.
Premiere
The African Queen opened on December 23, 1951 in Los Angeles, in order to qualify for the 1951 Oscars, and on February 20, 1952 at the Capitol Theatre in New York City.
Awards and honors
Academy Awards
| Award | Person | |
| Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role | Humphrey Bogart | |
| Nominated: | ||
| Best Actress in a Leading Role | Katharine Hepburn | |
| Best Adapted Screenplay | James Agee John Huston |
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| Best Director | John Huston | |
Others
American Film Institute recognition
- 1998 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - #17
- 2002 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions - #14
- 2006 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers - #48
- 2007 - AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - #65
AFI has also honored both Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn as the greatest American screen legends.
Script changes
Although Bogart won an Academy Award for the performance, his entire part had to be rewritten after casting. The original screenplay depicted his character in thick Cockney dialect but Bogart was incapable of the accent.
Subsequent releases and rights issues
The film has been released on Region 2 DVD in the United Kingdom, Germany and Scandinavia.
The British DVD includes a theatrical trailer and an audio commentary by cinematographer Cardiff in which he details many of the hardships and challenges involved in filming a movie in Africa. The picture quality is somewhat grainy and suffers from colour shifts; the sound lacks bass response and suffers from clicks and pops.
Prior to 2010, the film had been released in the United States on VHS video, laserdisc and as a region 1 DVD. A region 1 DVD is available and distributed by The Castaways Pictures and has English and Chinese subtitles available with no other features. It is not clear if this is authorized or not. While Granada International holds international rights, the U.S. rights are held by Paramount Pictures, who inherited the rights to the film when Viacom (who had acquired the rights from copyright holder Horizon Film Management in the 1970s) purchased the studio in 1994. For many years, 20th Century Fox had U.S. video rights (through CBS/Fox Video) until they reverted to Paramount (along with several Viacom-owned Elvis Presley films originally by Paramount) in 1997.
US TV rights have changed hands several times over the years - from Viacom Enterprises, to Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Television Distribution and finally to Trifecta Entertainment & Media, which currently distributes the film under license from Paramount. It can often be found on either Turner Classic Movies or pay-per-view.
2009 digital restoration
In 2009, Paramount completed restoration work for region 1 and a 4K digitally restored version was issued on DVD and Blu-Ray March 23, 2010. The film was restored in its original mono soundtrack from original UK film elements under the sole supervision of Paramount. Romulus Films and international rights holder ITV Global Entertainment were acknowledged in the restoration credits.
Adaptations to other media
The African Queen was adapted as a one-hour radio play on the December 15, 1952 broadcast of Lux Radio Theater with Humphrey Bogart reprising his film role and joined by Greer Garson. This broadcast is included as a bonus CD in the Commemorative Box Set version of the Paramount DVD.
Miscellany
The boat used in the picture, "The African Queen", is on public display behind the glass bottom boat on an ocean access canal adjoining the Key Largo Holiday Inn in Key Largo, Florida.
The film White Hunter, Black Heart starring and directed by Clint Eastwood is loosely based on the film's production.
References
Notes
- ↑ Spiegel was billed as "S.P. Eagle".
- ↑ Censored Films and Television at University of Virginia online
- ↑ Embracing Chaos: Making ‘The African Queen' a documentary film
- ↑ http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Interviews/Parker/interview_fess_parker.htm
Bibliography
- Farwell, Byron. The Great War in Africa, 1914-1918. 2nd ed. New York City: W. W. Norton & Company, 1989.
- Foden, Giles (2005). "Mimi and Toutou Go Forth: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika". Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN 0-14-100984-5
- Hagberg Wright, C.T. "German Methods of Development in Africa." Journal of the Royal African Society 1.1 (1901): 23-38. Historical. J-Stor. Golden Library, ENMU. 18 April. 2005 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0368-4016%28190110%291%3A1%3C23%3AGMODIA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L
- Henderson, William Otto. The German Colonial Empire. Portland: International Specialized Book Services, Inc, 1993.
- Hepburn, Katharine (1987). The Making of the African Queen, or: How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind (Knopf)
- Werner, A, and R Dilthey. "German and British Colonisation in Africa." Journal of the Royal African Society 4.14 (1905): 238-41. Historical. J-Stor. Golden Library, ENMU. 18 April. 2005.
External links
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