Review of African Queen, The

Introduction

Wash away the dreary British Summer with the humid, sun-scorched photography of Jack Cardiff in this romantic adventure directed by John Huston in 1951 (director of classics like ‘The Maltese Falcon’, ‘The Asphalt Jungle’ and ‘Prizzi’s Honor’.) Katharine Hepburn is the repressed missionary who calls upon the services of skipper Humphrey Bogart to take her downstream after her camp is invaded by those nasty Germans. No points for guessing what happens.

Video

A pretty good full-screen transfer. Colours on old-timers like these have a habit of ending up rather disastrous once the digital transfer is finished with it, but the image in ‘The African Queen’ is sharp and the colours, for the most part, are stable and have reasonable contrast. Not exactly reference quality but quite impressive all the same.

Audio

A rather crackly mono track that clearly hasn’t received the same remastering as the video.

Features

The centrepiece is obviously the involving commentary from the film’s cinematographer, Jack Cardiff. However, there are also some surprisingly good biographies for Cardiff, Huston, Hepburn and Bogart. Topping off the package is the original theatrical trailer and poster and image galleries. It’s missing a retrospective documentary to really round the disc off, but otherwise this is a triumph of quality over quantity.

Conclusion

Bogart (Oscar gong aside) seems miscast as he tries to juggle the drunken salty ol’ sea-dog routine with a lovelorn romantic lead; but scrawny old Hepburn manages to keep the story afloat in a movie that is basically the two of them stuck on a s***ty old boat. If there’s a general lack of danger in the narrative’s conventional progression of the love story (Hepburn blunting her conservative edges, Bogart learning to love again, etc.) The sequence where Bogart and Hepburn drag the African Queen through swamp infested reeds is genuinely harrowing and the special effects have an old-fashioned charm.

The big selling point however, is the stunning location photography, which gives the sensation of both realism and spectacle to an otherwise rather prosaic and predictable adventure. However, this is quintessential rainy Sunday stuff, with an enthusiastic spirit and earnest script, complete with Hepburn spewing lines like: “Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.” It’s just a pity that Huston, Hepburn and Bogart have all made so much better.