“I never dreamed any physical experience could be so stimulating,” says Rose Sayer in “The African Queen” as she’s just gone down a first set of white-water rapids. I’d paraphrase it and say I never dreamed that re-watching this rip-roaring romance comedy adventure classic could be so stimulating. Hip hip hurray, it is! Traveling on a boat down a river in Tanzania with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn – in this two-hander (mind you, with these acting giants you don’t need anybody else) is a sublime journey. Two Hollywood stars bringing the best out of each other – master director John Huston as your skipper – and an inspiring tale of perseverance, faith – and the ultimately blessed empowering nature of unexpected late-blooming love is just what I needed to get me through any muck I may have been stuck in.
The story takes place in German East Africa in 1914. Samuel and Rose Sayer – British missionaries — live in a small village with the Maasai. The German military arrives and sets the whole place on fire – herding the villagers away. Samuel is beaten, develops a fever and dies in his sleep. Allnutt – the captain and mechanic of the steam-powered launch “The African Queen” which delivers mail and supplies – stops by – buries Samuel and offers to take Rose with him. The boat is small but well-stocked with tinned food, cases of gin, and carries a cargo of blasting gelatin and two large tanks of oxygen and hydrogen. The coarse Allnutt explains to her that the main German defense against a British attack by water is the gunboat Luisa, which guards the lake into which the Ulanga river feeds. She asks Allnutt if he would know how to turn the gelatin and tanks into a makeshift torpedo – place them at the front of “The African Queen” and destroy the German gunboat. He laughs it off, but gives in to Rose’s greater strength of will and thus the spinster and the drunkard set off on the quixotic mission. The descent to the lake poses three main problems: passing the German-held town of Shona full of artillery; passing several heavy rapids and cataracts along the way; and getting through the river delta with its crocodiles, mosquitoes, heat, leeches and malaria. “Nature is what we’re put in this world to rise above,” Rose exclaims.
The film was directed by the bigger than life adventurer as well as great character actor John Huston whose filmography as a helmer includes 37 films and 34 of those were adaptations from literature – either novels, short stories or plays. In most of his projects, he was very much involved in the writing of the screenplay as is the case with “The African Queen.” Huston could have been a protagonist in an Ernest Hemingway novel – loving the outdoors life and being an iconoclast. “The African Queen” is my favorite film of his – and one that I feel exemplifies him personally as well. A recurring theme in his movies is characters on a pursuit that feels doomed from the start. There’s an existential quality to the quest. But unlike his other works that end fatalistically (think his Academy Award for best director and screenplay for “The Treasure of Sierra Madre”) – at the pleading of the film’s producer, Huston agreed to change the ending of “The African Queen.”
It’s suggestively erotic – and how refreshing to leave things to the imagination. The river journey becomes an allegory for sexual awakening and love. Huston allows the camera to tell the story without adornment – it feels as though it’s unfolding leisurely, naturally – until the action sequences arrive with great momentum. The film was shot in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo by famed cinematographer Jack Cardiff who was instrumental in the usage of color in movies – and known as a “master of light.” From the opening sequence – with the lens moving in a sinewy – seductive way – he emphasizes certain colors – the green of the foliage – and it all starts creating the rich atmosphere. Bogart and Hepburn are a great pair. It’s amazing to see both of their characters come alive – inspired by each other. They both give stirring performances. He won the Oscar for Best Actor. It all stacks up to great entertainment.
I definitely encourage you to drift down the river with “The African Queen.” I found quite motivating the scene in which the boat cannot move any further because it’s caught in the mud and weeds. They get off the boat and start dragging it. They just keep moving forward.
Allnutt: “I’ll never forget the way you looked going over the falls. Head up, chin out, hair blowing in the wind. The living picture of a heroine.”
Love,
Roger
Available to stream on Amazon Prime, FlixFling, Pluto TV and CBS All Access. Available to rent on YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, Microsoft, iTunes and Redbox.
Adapted for the screen by James Agee & John Huston
Based on the novel C.S. Forester
Directed by John Huston
Starring Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley and Peter Bull
105 minutes
Filming “The African Queen”
“For the temporary production headquarters, John Huston set up shop in Kindu (then called Ponthierville) which was little more than a collection of tin roof huts at the end of a small railway line that carried river cargo to and from the nearest town, Stanleyville. Huston hired locals to clear an area and build a camp for the production within 8 days. There were makeshift dorms, bungalows, offices, a storage hut, makeup hut, a dining area and, of course, a bar. With added cots, chairs and mosquito netting, the camp was ready for habitation just prior to the arrival of the rest of the cast and crew. It would prove to be an adventure of a lifetime for all involved…In Africa at that time, moving heavy film equipment and supplies was a tricky undertaking. The roads in the area were at best just narrow paths cut out between jungles. For shooting on the river, they built the steam powered African Queen; another boat for towing the Queen with a generator, lights and reflector platforms; followed by a raft with heavy camera equipment and a small crew from Britain…Often the cumbersome raft carrying equipment behind the African Queen refused to follow the curve in the river while being transported, and the heavy scorching boiler would come close to tipping over. Cameras and lamps would get caught on overhanging shrubbery, boats would get caught on submerged logs, the boat engine would stop abruptly, or hornets would attack the cast and crew while shooting…Since she was the only one not directly involved in the filming, Lauren Bacall helped out by preparing lunches for the cast and crew…Bacall also played nursemaid to the cast and crew whenever anyone got sick, which was often. There was dysentery, malaria, and bites from all sorts of bugs to deal with. One night a crew member even came down with appendicitis. Bacall saved the day by being the only one who had thought to bring antibiotics, which were given to the man before he was rushed to the closest hospital in Stanleyville for emergency surgery. Even the stoic Katharine Hepburn finally succumbed to illness towards the end of shooting, though she had taken every precaution imaginable. Even though bottled water was brought in, boiled and treated with halazone tablets, people still got sick. The only two people who seemed to be immune were John Huston and Humphrey Bogart. “Bogie and I never got sick,” wrote Huston in his autobiography, “possibly because we always drank scotch with our water.” (tcm.com)
About Cinematographer Jack Cardiff
“Born on 18 September 1914 in Great Yarmouth, Jack Cardiff worked both in front of and behind the camera from the age of four. In the 30s he quickly acquired a reputation as a proficient camera operator and worked with Ray Rennahan on the first British Technicolor film, “Wings of the Morning” (d. Harold Schuster, 1937). As director of photography he worked almost exclusively in colour, using the cumbersome Technicolor camera with extraordinary dexterity in Pat Jackson’s dramatised documentary, “Western Approaches” (1944), and winning an Oscar for his beautifully atmospheric cinematography on Powell and Pressburger’s “Black Narcissus” (1947). He made his directorial debut with “William Tell” (1953), an independently financed vehicle for Errol Flynn which ran out of money before completion. 20th Century-Fox then gave him a five-year contract to direct, beginning with “Intent to Kill” (1958). It was followed by two independent productions: “Beyond This Place” (1959)…adapted from an A.J. Cronin novel; and “Scent of Mystery” (US, 1960)…Cardiff’s projects were “Sons and Lovers” (1960), which won an Oscar for Freddie Francis’ monochrome CinemaScope photography and nominations for Best Director and Best Picture; and “Young Cassidy” (1965), based on Sean O’Casey’s autobiography, which Cardiff took over from John Ford when Ford fell ill after three weeks’ shooting. The former…regarded by Cardiff as his best film…Notable among his more exotic assignments are “The Long Ships” (UK/Yugoslavia, 1964), an engagingly tongue-in-cheek Norse epic, and “The Mercenaries” (1968), a Wilbur Smith African adventure whose gloating brutality impressed Martin Scorsese. “The Girl on a Motorcycle” (UK/France, 1968), which Cardiff also photographed, has acquired a cult reputation…After directing two low-budget genre pot-boilers – “Penny Gold” (1973), an old-fashioned policier, and “The Mutations” (1974)…and H.G. Wells’ “The Island of Dr. Moreau” – Cardiff resumed his former role of director of photography, albeit on a string of considerably less distinguished films than he had been responsible for in the 40s and 50s. He was made an OBE, and given an honorary Oscar for his contributions to cinematography, in 2000.” (screenonline.org.uk)
About Director and Co-Writer John Huston
“Born on Aug. 5, 1906 in Nevada, MO, Huston was raised the only child of noted stage and screen star, Walter Huston, and sports journalist and editor Rhea Gore. His parents divorced when he was six years old, forcing Huston to split time between both while receiving his education at various boarding schools. Though his father quit acting to become a civil engineer when his son was born, he soon returned to his craft, allowing the young Huston to spend his summers traveling with his father on the vaudeville circuit. Naturally, he became attracted to the idea of becoming an actor. But Huston developed a number of childhood maladies like an enlarged heart and kidney problems that forced extended bed rest in Arizona before moving to Los Angeles with his mother. He later attended Lincoln Heights High School, where he took up boxing and won the Amateur Lightweight Boxing Championship in California, leading to a semi-professional stint after dropping out of school at 15 years old. He fought in various clubs for five dollars a night until discovering a love for painting, which led to enrollment at the Smith School of Art. By this time, Huston resumed his boxing career, only to have his nose smashed into his face, forcing an end to that particular ambition. He moved to New York City, where he began performing on stage in 1924 with the Provincetown Players in Greenwich Village. An avid horseback rider, he soon made his way to Mexico in search of a famous trainer and colonel in the army, who gave him an honorary commission, allowing him to ride with the officers. This led to a confrontation with a South African count over a woman that escalated to challenges of a duel that fortunately never materialized. Encouraged to become a writer after receiving an illicit copy of James Joyce’s then-banned Ulysses, Huston began writing short stories, having “Fool” accepted by legendary editor H.L. Mencken for his magazine American Mercury in 1929. He followed in his mother’s footsteps and became a journalist, writing for the New York Daily Graphic, only to realize he lacked the requisite skills to be a good reporter – proven when he mixed up his notes while writing a murder story and accused the wrong man of the crime.
By this time, Huston had married his first wife and high school sweetheart, Dorothy Harvey, while his stories appeared in the likes of Esquire and The New York Times. Having found some success as a playwright, he was convinced by friend and Broadway director Herman Shumlin to try his hand at Hollywood, leading Huston to move back to Los Angeles, where he became a contract writer for Samuel Goldwyn. His initial Hollywood stint was marred by dissatisfaction, starting with his departure from Goldwyn Studios to Universal Studios after months of landing no assignments. For Universal, he worked on the scripts for “Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1932), an adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe short story; “Law and Order” (1932), a retelling of the famed shootout at the OK Corral; and “A House Divided” (1932), directed by William Wyler and starring his father, Walter Huston…He eventually moved back to the United States…Determined to become a serious writer, Huston achieved great renown as a contract writer for Warner Bros. It was there that he co-wrote major films like “Jezebel” (1938) with Bette Davis; “The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse” (1938), starring Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart; and “Juarez” (1939)…Huston earned the first of many Academy Award nominations with his co-writing efforts on “Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet” (1940)…He earned another Academy Award nod for “Sergeant York” (1941) …he wrote the script for “High Sierra” (1941)…Because the movie was a big hit, Huston – who had it in his contract to be able to direct his next picture – was given the opportunity to step into the director’s chair with his choice of material. Huston picked an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s “The Maltese Falcon,”…Huston went on to direct two more hits, the melodramatic “In This Our Life” (1942)…and the spy thriller “Across the Pacific” (1942), with Bogart again in the lead…Huston put aside career ambitions to become involved in the war effort, earning the rank of captain with the Army Signal Corps and producing groundbreaking documentary work like “Report from the Aleutians” (1943), “The Battle of San Pietro” (1944) and “Let There Be Light” (1945)…Returning to Hollywood once the war was over, Huston embarked on the most fruitful and significant portion of his career. From 1948-1952, he produced a succession of important films that went on to become cinematic classics long admired by later generations. First was “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948)…”The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” became an instant classic, earning Huston Academy Awards for writing and directing, and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his father. With his next film, “Key Largo” (1948), Huston further defined the film noir…Huston directed “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950)…earning him more Academy Award nominations as writer and director…Huston followed with “The Red Badge of Courage” (1951)…Arguably his most accomplished and mature work came next with “The African Queen” (1952)…”The African Queen” earned four Academy Award nominations, including two for Huston…The director garnered yet another Oscar nomination for Best Director with “Moulin Rouge” (1952)…his offbeat comic thriller “Beat the Devil” (1953), again starring Bogart, Huston’s reputation suffered a series of setbacks over the next 20 years. By this time, he had endured personal frustration with the ugly politics of the McCarthy Era, particularly when his involvement in a group called the Committee for the First Amendment was charged with being a Communist front…he found peace on an estate in Galway…Also at this time, Huston married his fourth wife, Enrica Soma, who gave birth to his first two children, Tony and Anjelica. In 1962, the couple separated, in which time Enrica had another daughter, Allegra…In the meantime, he directed and co-wrote with Ray Bradbury an adaption of “Moby Dick” (1956)…his next picture, “Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison” (1957)…Huston received his 11th Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Making his feature debut as an actor… in Otto Preminger’s religious-themed drama “The Cardinal” (1963), which led to his only acting Academy Award nomination – Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Back in the director’s chair, he helmed…”The List of Adrian Messenger” (1963)…Huston returned to artistic form with his adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ drama “The Night of the Iguana” (1964)…Huston spent a great deal of time making his next picture, “The Bible: In the Beginning” (1966)…Huston next joined four other directors to helm… “Casino Royale” (1967)…He moved on to direct “Reflections in a Golden Eye” (1967)…Huston directed…”Sinful Davey” (1969) and the spy thriller “The Kremlin Letter” (1970), while appearing more frequently onscreen with roles in the satirical “Myra Breckinridge” (1970) and the Spaghetti Western “The Deserter” (1971). After directing “The Last Run” (1971) with George C. Scott, Huston returned to form with… “Fat City” (1972)…Also that year, he directed “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean” (1972)…After helming the misfire spy thriller “The Mackintosh Man” (1973)…he directed the epic adventure “The Man Who Would Be King” (1975), adapted from the Rudyard Kipling short story of the same name…”The Man Who Would Be King” earned Huston an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. He accepted roles in a variety of pictures, including the historical epic “The Wind and the Lion” (1975)…”I Tentacoli” (1977), and…”The Bermuda Triangle” (1978). Despite his advanced age and increasingly poor health…Huston continued to make a movie almost every year. He next directed “Wise Blood” (1979)…Huston directed the compelling World War II thriller “Victory” (1981)…He helmed the musical “Annie” (1982), which went on to become a box office hit…After directing the long strange trip “Under the Volcano” (1984)…Huston returned…with “Prizzi’s Honor” (1985)…Daughter Anjelica Huston delivered a dynamic performance as the hit man’s spurned lover, earning her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her triumph made the Hustons – Walter, John and Anjelica – the only family to win Oscars in three successive generations. At this point in his life…His health was also rapidly failing him. He suffered from a long bout with emphysema while also undergoing major heart surgery. But none of this stopped the ever-energetic director who went on to helm another long-held project, “The Dead” (1987), an adaptation of the famous James Joyce short story which he co-wrote with son, Tony. Both elegiac and reflective, “The Dead” starred Anjelica Huston…At the time of his death, Huston was preparing for his next film, “Mr. North” (1988), which he wrote and was also going to produce. But when his illnesses finally got the better of him, son Danny Huston…took over the helm.” (tcm.com)