Review of The African Queen (1952) by Doug O — 28 Mar 2010

The African Queen has finally made its debut on DVD! When the format arrived in 1997 the film had already seen at least one VHS release by Fox as well as a notable release on laserdisc, also by Fox, in 1995. The laserdisc release was notable because it included collectable packaging swag like the shooting script; a full-sized set of lobby card reproductions and a copy of Katherine Hepburnâ??s 1987 memoir, The Making of The African Queen or How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind.

The laserdisc was followed by no other home video release for 15 years. Hollywood is an industry that likes to double and triple-dip movie releases on DVD and someone has lost a fortune on this classic which should have been released over 10 years ago. I think even a bare bones release on DVD using the laserdisc transfer would have been acceptable while the film was being restored and remastered.

One of the reasons for this delay is the unique history of the way The African Queen was financed. The film was an independent production released in 1951 at a time when the studio system was teetering over the cliff and in its final years. John Huston had the clout to finance an independent production, especially with Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn as co-stars. Based on the 1935 novel by C.S. Forester, the property was once owned by Columbia and later Warner Bros. and thatâ??s probably were Huston first became interested. Sam Spiegel purchased the film rights and financed the movie. He would later work with David Lean on Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia. The film would eventually be distributed by United Artists and go on to win a well deserved Oscar for Humphrey Bogart.

The production is well documented in the Hepburn memoir and the 1953 novel by Peter Viertel, White Hunter, Black Heart. The book is a thinly veiled retelling of the making of The African Queen while filming in Africa. This book was made into a terrific 1990 movie directed by and starring Clint Eastwood and makes a great companion to The African Queen. Viertel, a friend of Huston, went on location in Africa to work on the screenplay after original writer James Agee had a heart attack. Viertelâ??s biggest contribution was the climax of the story.

The new DVD and Blu-Ray comes with an excellent one-hour documentary, Embracing the Chaos: Making the African Queen. The commemorative box set includes a CD of the 1952 Lux Radio Theater broadcast with Bogart reprising his part from the movie, a set of mini lobby cards, a mini copy of the Hepburn memoir and a Senitype card with four 35mm frames of the restored Technicolor film used to remaster the DVD and Blu-ray. No trailer and I would have enjoyed an audio commentary, but at least the movie is finally out for home viewing. The African Queen looks better than Iâ??ve ever seen it in the theater on TV or previous home video incarnations.