The African Queen (1951)

 

The African Queen is a film full of contradictions, at least for me. It's chock-a-block with action...yet it's not exactly heart-stopping. There's the (at the time) scandalous romance between Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn...but it's not the steamiest stuff (she plays a missionary, after all). The film stars actors who are widely considered America's greatest screen legends (it even won Bogart his only Academy Award)...yet I don't know that I would say this movie is the peak performance from either of them.

The story follows Methodist Rose Sayer, working her missionary magic with her brother in German East Africa at the beginning (like, only a few weeks after the start) of World War I. Their supplies are brought to them via a steamboat, the African Queen, helmed by the brusque and brutish Charlie Allnut.

When Britain declares war on Germany, Charlie advises them to get out of Dodge, advice which they decline to follow. In a skirmish with German colonial troops in their village, Rose's brother is injured, comes over all befevered, and dies.

Charlie mentions that the British won't move in because of the Königin Luise, a gun boat farther along the river. Rose, apparently deciding she's MacGyver, decides to equip the African Queen to torpedo the Königin  Luise. Even more amazingly, she gets Allnut to go along with her scheme.

Their adventures in transforming the boat and battling river rapids that set their work back are accompanied by a burgeoning romance between Rose and Allnut. But when the African Queen keels over in a storm, the lovers are separated, and Allnut fears that Rose has drowned.

Allnut is taken prisoner aboard the Königin Luise and sentenced to death as a spy, just as Rose is brought onto the ship, also as a prisoner. Allnut (in a completely unbelievable move, IMO) asks the captain to marry him and Rose before hanging them. They are married quickly, just in time for the Königin Luise to run over the hull of the African Queen, activating the torpedoes.

Rose and Allnut escape, declaring their intentions to swim to Kenya, which, honestly, feels like a bit of a stretch. I mean, at the time, Kenya shared a border with German East Africa (at least according to the map I looked at), but still. One does not simply swim to Kenya.

My favorite moments in The African Queen

My favorite moment, hands down, is one line, delivered by Rose as Allnut is drinking aboard the boat. She finds his behavior distasteful, and he defends his drinking as human nature.

"Nature, Mr. Allnut," she replies tartly, "is what we are put in this world to rise above."

Everything, from the construction of the line to the inflection in Hepburn's voice and the expression on her face as she delivers it, is perfection.

What makes The African Queen significant?

This is a hard question for me to answer. For one thing, like I said, I find it to be full of contradictions. It's not a favorite of mine, if only because so many of the turns of plot are just a shade too unrealistic. Not so unrealistic as to make me hate it, not goofy enough to make me enjoy it as a guilty pleasure, just too hard to buy.

On the other hand, despite its somewhat mixed contemporary reviews, The African Queen has some pretty impressive accolades. It was nominated for four Oscars (Best Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenplay), and as noted above it won the award for Bogart's performance. It's also listed in a handful of AFI rankings (100 Passions, Cheers, and Movies). It was inducted to the National Film Registry in 1994.

So many people love this movie as a vintage treasure, and I would certainly not say that I dislike this film. I guess, like with Titanic and Frozen, I just don't get the hype (although, if we're being honest, I really detest Frozen...but that's another story entirely).

In conclusion

I guess I don't have much emotion to spare for The African Queen either way. I don't love it, I don't hate it. I can't say I'd seek it out again, but I also can't say I'd protest if someone I was with really wanted to watch it. When it comes to Hepburn, I far prefer pictures like Adam's Rib and Bringing Up Baby. For Bogart, for me, nothing beats The Maltese Falcon or Casablanca. As far as The African Queen goes, I can understand its popularity and accolades, but it's just not a favorite.