The African Queen (1951, NR)

Rating: ***1/2

No doubt, the African Queen is easily one of the most likeable American cinematic films ever made, and almost one of the most memorable.  It's a sure classic, a timeless adventurous movie what will never be forgotten.  Is that why it's been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry?  How would I know?

This is based off of the best-selling book of the same name, by C.S Forester.

The African Queen is set in the jungles of East Africa, at the beginning of World War I (about 1914).  It tells the romantic adventure story between Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart, who won an Academy Award for his performance) and Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn), as they journey downstream on Charlie's boat, the African Queen, to reach the ocean and escape from enemy German troops.  Along the way, the vastly different Charlie and Rose gradually start to fall in love, amidst the dangers and adventures of the African jungle.

John Huston directed this pic in the jungles of Uganda, Africa.  It became famous that he, Bogart and a few other cast and crew members drank only alcoholic beverages, whereas Hepburn decided to set an example against this and drank only water, becoming dangerously sick with dysentery.  This, coupled with flies, mosquitoes, maggots, and the heat, made production on the movie troubled.  But the cast and crew pulled through to make their unforgettable movie.

Alas though, I wasn't too fond of the African Queen in my first (and so far only) viewing.  I discarded the film almost immediately.  Why should I care about Charlie and Rose?  I felt hardly any sympathy for them.  The plot itself seemed almost unbelievable.  In essence, I was feeling that the film had paddled it's way downstream through too many wrong routes.

Then I allowed the movie to dwell itself upon me.  I only thought about it then that Bogart and Hepburn actually had great chemistry together, and I also realized then that their sharply different characters were willing to do anything to survive the jungle.  Together, Hepburn and Bogart pulled off instances of some nice comedy, while keeping the adventure theme of the movie intact.  At it's heart, the African Queen is an entertaining mix of a survival-adventure-romantic-comedy story.  I actually started liking the movie better then, and at least enough to not discard it.

Here is a movie that could not be remade in the fashion as it was originally made.  I can think of a lot of movies like that.  Here's a great example of those kinds of movies.  But for a classic movie, for such a likeable and unforgettable motion picture, this is not a great movie.  It's not one what deserves to be found on any list of great movies, and so don't expect to ever find the African Queen on my own 'Significant Films' list.

Nevertheless, the African Queen is not a great movie; it's simply a good one.  And that alone should makes it perfectly acceptable to call this as a pic that's worth watching, even if it's not one that I will be watching again and again anytime soon.