Release Year: 1951
Director: John Huston
*****
There is nothing I enjoy more, film wise, than watching two fantastic actors duke it out in a confined space. Films with that idea are few and far between these days since audiences tend to go for action spectacles. 12 Angry Men and The African Queen would never be made today. Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart take up the majority of the screen time here (well over 90% of this nearly 2 hour movie) with bookends involving other characters. The African Queen works based on the strength of both these actors and characters.
Some people might think this story about a boat "captain" and the sole survivor of a German attack on an African village is cliched, that their falling in love is a given, that their "mission" (to destroy a German heavy cruiser) is all-but-certain to be successful. Know what? Those critics would be absolutely right. However, it's in the execution the story flourishes. The way Charlie (Bogart) calls Rosie (Hepburn) "miss" through half the film; the way Rosie's veneer of a proper English woman is stripped away little by little; the way these two people formerly at each other's throats pull together. Not to mention the exquisite location shooting in Africa. This is one of the rare gems not yet available on DVD in any form. Why? This print, from TCM, looks decent enough and, with a little restoration, could make a lot of people very very happy. Rumor is Paramount (the current rights holder) isn't going to release it for fear it won't sell well. Hogwash. How can it not?
If there is one thing to nit pick over, it is the ending. (Yes, a spoiler...but this movie is 56 years old. If you don't know how it ends, it's not my fault.) After the Queen sinks before torpedoing the German cruiser, Charlie and Rosie find themselves captive and about to be hanged. For some reason, the person steering the German vessel doesn't see the miraculously half-afloat Queen, both torpedoes still locked in place. My only assumption is that someone was asleep at the wheel. But that is a nitpick.
Some of the rear projection work isn't the best ever seen, though it is light years ahead of other work from a comparable period. Hepburn cements herself as the Helen Mirren of her day: regal, proper, respectful. What would a remake be like with Kate Mulgrew in the female lead role? It's hard not to think of the Captain Janeway actress throughout The African Queen. Perfect? No. But a fine piece of filmmaking with two very capable leads who carry the vast majority of the production.