Review of The African Queen (1952) by Joseph M — 15 Feb 2010

From July 27, 2008:

The African Queen is cute in a makes-you-chuckle sort of way. Truthfully, it is engaging as it is because Bogey and Kate were consummate performers. Some of the scenes between them are a hoot, and they have a genuine chemistry. They were friends in real life, so their comfort with one another made the initial oil-and-water motif funnier than it could have been. There was some definite pit-a-pat moments when their feelings of dislike turned to love. Bogey was simply the best romantic leading actor ever: a man's man who could efface a passionate, sensitive side. And Kate's sheer acting prowess made her coy moments endearing.

As to story and dialogue, though, this film has some weaknesses. There were, it seemed, many actions and deeds undertaken by the characters that had no explainable motivations, and there were some contrived moments too. The beginning of the film is actually the weakest part: Mr. Allnut stops by to bring mail, have tea, and tell Rose and her brother that a war in Europe has begun, and then two seconds after he pushes off down the river, a regiment of German troops comes in and burns the village to the ground. The brother is driven to insanity (not the best performance), and the viewer is given no sense of the passage of time before Mr. Allnut swoops in, on the very day Rose's brother passes away, and takes her aboard his boat. Rose becomes extremely patriotic and clever about their plan, devising the scheme to ram the Louisa with homemade torpedoes, but then asks Charlie an inordinate number of questions about everything to follow. Some points simply felt contrived and convenient.

Also, the score was annoyingly melodramatic. The music was noticeable in a distracting way that did not always fit the scene it was meant to augment.

Technically, the film had nothing special or groundbreaking to it, other than the on-location African settings. The African Queen is simply a very good adventure movie, the precursor of the summer blockbuster, and the heart of the movie is the relationship between Charlie and Rose. Thanks to Bogey's and Kate's performances, the film retains an iconic status and gives it a sweetness; Bogey won the only Oscar of his career for playing boozehound Charlie. Actors can make a picture, though, and Bogey and Kate made this one; the film's greatness is owing to the greatness of these great stars.