Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 13-June-04
Spoiler Rating: High

The African Queen (1951)

"The African Queen" is all about pairings: romance + comedy; buddy film + road trip movie; Katharine Hepburn + Humphrey Bogart. One could also add Old World + New World, since it represents the adaptation of a distinctly British story (by C. S. Forester of Horatio Hornblower fame) for a large-scale American production (written for the screen by James Agee and director John Huston). Not surprisingly, the results are a little mixed. But from start to finish, through moments near-great and near-middling (and despite a horrible soundtrack), "The African Queen" offers a unique experience that never falls short of interesting.

Hepburn plays Rose Sayer, a British spinster who is assisting her missionary brother in Africa when World War I breaks out. After the Germans arrive and forcibly evacuate the natives, Rose throws her cards in with Charlie Allnut (Bogart), a boozy, Canadian jack-of-all-trades with only one obvious asset: a 30-foot riverboat named The African Queen. Charlie is rough around the edges but soft around the heart, so he offers to share his floating home with Rose until the war ends and they can make their way into the world again. Thus begins one of the most unlikely matches in movie history.

The selling point of the film is the casting of two Hollywood legends as middle-aged losers adrift on the river of life, and it certainly pays off. Hepburn doesn't tread any new ground, but her gaunt beauty and regal air perfectly capture Rose's steely primness and barely controlled desperation. Bogart, on the other hand, is a revelation. Leaving his characteristically suave persona behind, he calls up the endearing, semi-comic performance that won him his only Oscar. Together, they make a good case for loving the one you're with; their union makes every bit of sense and no sense at all. ("Dear," she asks him demurely after their first sexual encounter, "what is your first name?") Unlike the principals of many movie romances, they get (and merit) all the attention, so that even when the action becomes silly or melodramatic, you don't want to look away lest you miss something good.

Unexpectedly (and perhaps unbelievably), the particulars of the plot derive from Rose's patriotic and reckless determination to contribute in some way to the bigger picture. With unshakable faith and a killer silent treatment, she convinces Charlie to make an impossible trip down the Ulonga-Bora and attack the Germans with nothing but makeshift weapons and a whole lot of hutzpah. It's a strange notion that stretches credulity and veers towards the wacky, but it works because it sets up a delicious excuse for two such disparate characters, and two such marvelous old pros, to share the screen. By the time they have reached journey's end, "The African Queen" has delivered familiar themes and faces in an uncommon and entertaining way, placing it squarely in the category of a pleasure trip.

Copyright © 2004 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.