The African Queen


1h 45m 1951
The African Queen

Brief Synopsis

A grizzled skipper and a spirited missionary take on the Germans in Africa during World War I.

Film Details

Genre
Adventure
Adaptation
Classic Hollywood
Drama
Romance
War
Release Date
Mar 21, 1951
Premiere Information
World premiere in Los Angeles: 26 Dec 1951; New York opening: 20 Feb 1952
Production Company
Horizon Enterprises, Inc.; Romulus Films, Ltd.
Distribution Company
Romulus Films, Ltd.; United Artists Corp.
Country
Great Britain and United States
Location
Belgian Congo; Uganda; London, England, Great Britain; London--Worton Hall, England, Great Britain; Murchison Falls, Lake Albert, Africa; Uganda, Africa; Belgian Congo, Africa
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The African Queen by C. S. Forester (London, 1935).

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 45m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Color (Technicolor)

Synopsis

In September 1914 in the German East African village of Kungdu, British Reverend Samuel Sayer and his spinster sister Rose lead prayers at the makeshift First Methodist Church. The natives struggle to follow the English psalm, but race outside when they hear Canadian Charlie Allnut's ancient launch the African Queen chug into the village, laden with mail and goods. Though conscious of his lower social standing, Charlie lunches with the Sayers, who delicately ignore his rumbling stomach. Before leaving, he informs them about the encroaching war in Europe, and although the Sayers are frightened, they refuse to desert the village. Only hours later, however, German troops invade Kungdu, imprison the natives and burn down the huts. By the time the smoke clears, Samuel has begun to lose his mind from shock and grief. He soon collapses, unintentionally wounding Rose by raving that their attraction to missionary work grew out of a lack of more attractive social options. When Charlie returns to the destroyed village the next day, he finds Samuel dead, and helps Rose bury him. She then accepts Charlie's offer to hide from the Germans on his boat. Once they are on the river, Charlie explains that the Germans have positioned a heavily armed steamer, the Louisa , at the mouth of Lake Tanganyika to block British troops. Rose immediately forms a plan to attack the Louisa by crafting torpedoes out of explosives and an oxygen tank, strapping them to the African Queen and ramming into the steamer. Charlie tries desperately to dissuade her, describing the German fort and impassable rapids they will have to face along the way, but Rose's determination eventually shames him into agreeing to the plan. After they set sail, he teaches Rose how to read the river, and they negotiate how to bathe in private. That night, a pouring rain forces Charlie to seek shelter under Rose's tarpaulin, and after at first banishing him, Rose softens and allows him to sleep near her. They reach the first set of rapids the next afternoon, and Charlie's hopes that the death-defying experience will frighten Rose are dashed after she proclaims it the most stimulating physical experience she has ever had. At night, a frustrated Charlie taps into his gin reserves and later rants drunkenly that he will not sail any farther, calling Rose a "skinny old maid." He awakes the next morning to find her pouring each of his gin bottles into the ocean. Hours later, he begs her to speak to him, and she finally reveals that it is his refusal to sail which has infuriated her. Charlie yells but then quickly backs down, agreeing to accompany her while doubting their chances for success. Their first obstacle is the German fort, where the soldiers open fire on the African Queen . The engine is hit, but Charlie repairs it and they sail on. Immediately afterward, they reach another set of rapids. Rose struggles to steer while Charlie races to keep the engine stoked, and although they are badly pummeled, they miraculously reach calm waters. Thrilled, Charlie and Rose fall into an embrace which quickly becomes romantic. Later, as they declare their love, they finally learn each other's first name. They then sail peacefully past exotic flora and fauna until they hit a waterfall, which damages the rudder. Although Charlie despairs, Rose devises a plan to weld a new rudder, and days later, the boat is fixed. Just miles down the river, however, they are attacked by a horde of mosquitoes, which terrifies Rose and forces them to stay in open water. Within days, they become lost in the stagnant shallows. Thick reeds bog down the boat, forcing Charlie to pull it through the water. When he finally boards again, exhausted, he finds leeches covering his body, and even though he is shaking with revulsion, he must return to the water to keep the boat moving. Hours later, they reach land, where Charlie feverishly tells Rose they may not make it but that he loves her. They both collapse into sleep, and during the night, a fresh rain sweeps the launch downstream onto Lake Tanganyika. They awaken to find the Louisa only miles away, and retreat into the reeds to hide. By the next day, they have discerned the ship's sailing pattern and Charlie makes the torpedoes. They set out on their attack that night, but a sudden storm capsizes the launch and Rose and Charlie are separated in the dark. Charlie is imprisoned by the Germans and, not wanting to live without Rose, accepts his sentence of hanging. Just then, however, Rose is brought in, and when she hears that Charlie is to be killed, proudly admits their whole scheme to the soldiers. Before they are hanged, Charlie requests that the captain marry them, and just as the service ends, the African Queen surfaces, hits the Louisa and explodes. Floating together in the water, the newlyweds see the boat's nameplate, realize that their plan has succeeded after all, and happily swim toward the shore.

Photo Collections

The African Queen - Movie Poster
Here is the American one-sheet movie poster for The African Queen (1951). One-sheets measured 27x41 inches, and were the poster style most commonly used in theaters.

Videos

Movie Clip

African Queen, The (1951) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, German East Africa Opening titles and introduction of key characters Rose (Katharine Hepburn), "Brother" (Robert Morley), Alnut (Humphrey Bogart) and the boat called The African Queen, 1951, directed by John Huston.
African Queen, The (1951) -- (Movie Clip) On Account Of The War Captain Charlie Alnut (Humphrey Bogart) has tea with missionaries Brother (Robert Morley) and Sister (Katharine Hepburn) where they discuss gastric noise and war, in John Huston's The African Queen, 1951.
African Queen, The (1951) -- (Movie Clip) Skinny Old Maid! Rose (Katharine Hepburn) gets familiar with the phenomenon of Charlie (Humphrey Bogart) drinking, as he makes clear his disgust with her determination to sail on, in John Huston's The African Queen, 1951.
African Queen, The (1951) -- (Movie Clip) Clean Habits A soliloquy for Charlie (Humphrey Bogart) after Rose (Katharine Hepburn) has dumped all his gin into the river, in John Huston's The African Queen, 1951.
African Queen, The (1951) -- (Movie Clip) Any Mere Physical Experience... Grizzled launch captain Charlie Alnut (Humphrey Bogart) is disappointed when bereaved missionary Rose (Katharine Hepburn) enjoys her first run on the rapids, and is determined to press on with her plan to attack the Germans, in John Huston's The African Queen, 1951.
African Queen, The (1951) -- (Movie Clip) We Showed 'Em! Having just evaded the German fort, Rose (Katharine Hepburn) and Charlie (Humphrey Bogart) hit another stretch of rapids, which they pass to their mutual surprise, in John Huston's The African Queen, 1951.

Trailer

Film Details

Genre
Adventure
Adaptation
Classic Hollywood
Drama
Romance
War
Release Date
Mar 21, 1951
Premiere Information
World premiere in Los Angeles: 26 Dec 1951; New York opening: 20 Feb 1952
Production Company
Horizon Enterprises, Inc.; Romulus Films, Ltd.
Distribution Company
Romulus Films, Ltd.; United Artists Corp.
Country
Great Britain and United States
Location
Belgian Congo; Uganda; London, England, Great Britain; London--Worton Hall, England, Great Britain; Murchison Falls, Lake Albert, Africa; Uganda, Africa; Belgian Congo, Africa
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The African Queen by C. S. Forester (London, 1935).

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 45m
Sound
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Color
Color (Technicolor)

Award Wins

Best Actor

1951
Humphrey Bogart

Award Nominations

Best Screenplay

1951

Best Actress

1951
Katharine Hepburn

Best Director

1951

Articles

The African Queen - The Essentials


SYNOPSIS

Charlie Allnut is the slovenly, drunkard captain of a steamer called The African Queen, which ships supplies to East African villages during World War I. Rose Sayer is the prim sister of a British missionary. When invading Germans kill Rose's brother and destroy the village, Allnut offers to transport Rose back to civilization. She can't tolerate his drinking or gruff manner, and he can't stand her pious, judgmental attitude. Inevitably, this mismatched relationship turns to one of affection as they traverse the treacherous waters and devise an ingenious way to destroy a German gunboat.

Director: John Huston
Producer: Sam Spiegel
Screenplay: James Agee and John Huston, based on the novel The African Queen by C.S. Forester
Cinematography: Jack Cardiff
Editing: Ralph Kemplen
Art Direction: Wilfred Shingleton
Music: Allan Gray
Cast: Humphrey Bogart (Charlie Allnut), Katharine Hepburn (Rose Sayer), Robert Morley (Reverend Samuel Sayer), Peter Bull (German Captain), Theodore Bikel (German First Officer), Walter Gotell (German Officer), Peter Swanwick (German Officer), Richard Marner (German Officer), Gerald Onn (German Officer), John von Kotze (German Officer), Harry Arbour (German Sergeant Major).
C-106m.

Why THE AFRICAN QUEEN is Essential

Shot on location in the Belgian Congo in deepest Africa, The African Queen was a true original and had everything one could want in a movie: romance, adventure, humor, drama, spectacular locations and two Hollywood icons in the leads.

To shoot a film on location in such a remote area was extremely rare for 1951. Movies with exotic locations were usually shot in the studios with painted backdrops and Huston's achievement was a pioneering step in motion picture making.

The African Queen marked one of the few times acclaimed novelist and film critic James Agee collaborated with a director on a screenplay. When he became too ill to travel to the African locations to complete the screenplay, screenwriter Peter Viertel was brought in to complete it and help John Huston devise a satisfactory climax to the film. The movie was a uniquely personal project for Huston, who indulged in one of his favorite pastimes - hunting - during down time on location; it later served as the inspiration for Peter Viertel's novel White Hunter Black Heart which Clint Eastwood directed and cast himself as the surrogate John Huston protagonist.

The African Queen was a big box office and critical success, honored with four Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay. It also provided a major career boost for the director and his two stars. In fact, Humphrey Bogart scored his biggest triumph with his role as Charlie Allnut, and he won his only Academy Award as Best Actor for it.

by Andrea Passafiume
The African Queen - The Essentials

The African Queen - The Essentials

SYNOPSIS Charlie Allnut is the slovenly, drunkard captain of a steamer called The African Queen, which ships supplies to East African villages during World War I. Rose Sayer is the prim sister of a British missionary. When invading Germans kill Rose's brother and destroy the village, Allnut offers to transport Rose back to civilization. She can't tolerate his drinking or gruff manner, and he can't stand her pious, judgmental attitude. Inevitably, this mismatched relationship turns to one of affection as they traverse the treacherous waters and devise an ingenious way to destroy a German gunboat. Director: John Huston Producer: Sam Spiegel Screenplay: James Agee and John Huston, based on the novel The African Queen by C.S. Forester Cinematography: Jack Cardiff Editing: Ralph Kemplen Art Direction: Wilfred Shingleton Music: Allan Gray Cast: Humphrey Bogart (Charlie Allnut), Katharine Hepburn (Rose Sayer), Robert Morley (Reverend Samuel Sayer), Peter Bull (German Captain), Theodore Bikel (German First Officer), Walter Gotell (German Officer), Peter Swanwick (German Officer), Richard Marner (German Officer), Gerald Onn (German Officer), John von Kotze (German Officer), Harry Arbour (German Sergeant Major). C-106m. Why THE AFRICAN QUEEN is Essential Shot on location in the Belgian Congo in deepest Africa, The African Queen was a true original and had everything one could want in a movie: romance, adventure, humor, drama, spectacular locations and two Hollywood icons in the leads. To shoot a film on location in such a remote area was extremely rare for 1951. Movies with exotic locations were usually shot in the studios with painted backdrops and Huston's achievement was a pioneering step in motion picture making. The African Queen marked one of the few times acclaimed novelist and film critic James Agee collaborated with a director on a screenplay. When he became too ill to travel to the African locations to complete the screenplay, screenwriter Peter Viertel was brought in to complete it and help John Huston devise a satisfactory climax to the film. The movie was a uniquely personal project for Huston, who indulged in one of his favorite pastimes - hunting - during down time on location; it later served as the inspiration for Peter Viertel's novel White Hunter Black Heart which Clint Eastwood directed and cast himself as the surrogate John Huston protagonist. The African Queen was a big box office and critical success, honored with four Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay. It also provided a major career boost for the director and his two stars. In fact, Humphrey Bogart scored his biggest triumph with his role as Charlie Allnut, and he won his only Academy Award as Best Actor for it. by Andrea Passafiume

Trivia & Fun Facts About THE AFRICAN QUEEN


Trivia and Fun Facts for THE AFRICAN QUEEN

Real leeches were used on Bogart for the scene where gets covered in them while towing the boat in chest-high water.

Producer S.P. Eagle is really Sam Spiegel - that was his alias.

The ants were so severe in the sleeping quarters that the legs of the beds had to be placed in pools of kerosene.

Future Academy Award-winning actress Anjelica Huston was born to John Huston's wife Ricki during the making of The African Queen.

According to the web site "The Greatest Films" (http://www.filmsite.org/afri.html) "There were three other endings that were considered, but dropped:
-the rescue of Charlie and Rose by a British warship after their battle against the Louisa
-Rose proposes marriage before the first available British consul
-Charlie remembers a wife left behind over 20 years ago in England"

Buzz started early that Bogart would win a much overdue Academy Award for his performance in The African Queen, which Bogie shrugged off. He publicly expressed his distaste for actors competing against each other, but deep down, according to Lauren Bacall, he did want to win.

When the Academy Awards ceremony was held, Bogart was certain that Marlon Brando would win for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Bogart, however, was a sentimental favorite on top of being a fine actor. At first it looked like Streetcar would win everything: Vivien Leigh had already beaten Katharine Hepburn, and Karl Malden had taken the award as Best Supporting Actor. Then Greer Garson announced Bogart as Best Actor. "A scream went up in the audience," said Lauren Bacall, who was then four months pregnant with their second child. "I leaped into the air-thought I'd have the baby then and there." Bogart was touched, and made a gracious acceptance speech for this career milestone.

As a present to Humphrey Bogart on Oscar® Night, Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall had a model replica made of The African Queen with the inscription: "Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above." It was one of Hepburn's lines in the film.

Humphrey Bogart's third wife, Mayo Methot, died during the filming of The African Queen. When he heard the news, Bogart said, "Too bad. Such a waste."

The African Queen was originally thought of as a vehicle for Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester at RKO.

Famous Quotes from THE AFRICAN QUEEN

"Well I ain't sorry for you no more, ya crazy, psalm-singing, skinny old maid!" – Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) to Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn).

"How do you know? You never tried it."

"Well, yeah, but I never tried shooting myself in the head neither." – Rose and Charlie.

"God has not forsaken this place, Mr. Allnut, as my brother's presence here bears witness." – Rose to Charlie.

"I never dreamed that any mere physical experience could be so stimulating!" – Rose to Charlie.

"Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above." – Rose to Charlie.

"By the authority vested in me by Kaiser William II, I pronounce you man and wife. Proceed with the execution." – Captain of the Louisa (Peter Bull) while presiding over Charlie and Rose's wedding.

"What an absurd idea! What an absurd idea! Lady, I may be a born fool, but you got ten absurd ideas to my one, and don't you forget it!" – Charlie to Rose.

"One thing in the world I hate: leeches. Filthy little devils." – Charlie Allnut.

"Dear Lord, we've come to the end of our journey, and in a little while we'll stand before you. I pray for you to be merciful. Judge us not for our weaknesses, but for our love and open the doors of heaven for Charlie and me." – Rose, praying.

Compiled by Andrea Passafiume

Trivia & Fun Facts About THE AFRICAN QUEEN

Trivia and Fun Facts for THE AFRICAN QUEEN Real leeches were used on Bogart for the scene where gets covered in them while towing the boat in chest-high water. Producer S.P. Eagle is really Sam Spiegel - that was his alias. The ants were so severe in the sleeping quarters that the legs of the beds had to be placed in pools of kerosene. Future Academy Award-winning actress Anjelica Huston was born to John Huston's wife Ricki during the making of The African Queen. According to the web site "The Greatest Films" (http://www.filmsite.org/afri.html) "There were three other endings that were considered, but dropped: -the rescue of Charlie and Rose by a British warship after their battle against the Louisa -Rose proposes marriage before the first available British consul -Charlie remembers a wife left behind over 20 years ago in England" Buzz started early that Bogart would win a much overdue Academy Award for his performance in The African Queen, which Bogie shrugged off. He publicly expressed his distaste for actors competing against each other, but deep down, according to Lauren Bacall, he did want to win. When the Academy Awards ceremony was held, Bogart was certain that Marlon Brando would win for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Bogart, however, was a sentimental favorite on top of being a fine actor. At first it looked like Streetcar would win everything: Vivien Leigh had already beaten Katharine Hepburn, and Karl Malden had taken the award as Best Supporting Actor. Then Greer Garson announced Bogart as Best Actor. "A scream went up in the audience," said Lauren Bacall, who was then four months pregnant with their second child. "I leaped into the air-thought I'd have the baby then and there." Bogart was touched, and made a gracious acceptance speech for this career milestone. As a present to Humphrey Bogart on Oscar® Night, Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall had a model replica made of The African Queen with the inscription: "Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above." It was one of Hepburn's lines in the film. Humphrey Bogart's third wife, Mayo Methot, died during the filming of The African Queen. When he heard the news, Bogart said, "Too bad. Such a waste." The African Queen was originally thought of as a vehicle for Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester at RKO. Famous Quotes from THE AFRICAN QUEEN "Well I ain't sorry for you no more, ya crazy, psalm-singing, skinny old maid!" – Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) to Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn). "How do you know? You never tried it." "Well, yeah, but I never tried shooting myself in the head neither." – Rose and Charlie. "God has not forsaken this place, Mr. Allnut, as my brother's presence here bears witness." – Rose to Charlie. "I never dreamed that any mere physical experience could be so stimulating!" – Rose to Charlie. "Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above." – Rose to Charlie. "By the authority vested in me by Kaiser William II, I pronounce you man and wife. Proceed with the execution." – Captain of the Louisa (Peter Bull) while presiding over Charlie and Rose's wedding. "What an absurd idea! What an absurd idea! Lady, I may be a born fool, but you got ten absurd ideas to my one, and don't you forget it!" – Charlie to Rose. "One thing in the world I hate: leeches. Filthy little devils." – Charlie Allnut. "Dear Lord, we've come to the end of our journey, and in a little while we'll stand before you. I pray for you to be merciful. Judge us not for our weaknesses, but for our love and open the doors of heaven for Charlie and me." – Rose, praying. Compiled by Andrea Passafiume

The Big Idea


The African Queen began as a novel written by English author C.S. Forester and published in 1935. This unique adventure story about the relationship between a prim spinster and the scruffy boat captain who takes her down the river was kicked around as a potential movie idea for years in Hollywood. RKO thought about making it with Charles Laughton and his actress wife Elsa Lanchester, but ultimately the project was scrapped. The thinking was that audiences would not want to see a romance between two middle-aged people. One script reader's notes at RKO reads, "It is dated, incredible, quite outside acceptable dramatic screen material...Its two characters are neither appealing nor sympathetic enough to sustain interest for an entire picture...Both are physically unattractive and their love scenes are distasteful and not a little disgusting. It's no bargain at any price. No amount of rewriting can possibly salvage this dated yarn."

Still, others saw potential in The African Queen. In 1946 Warner Bros. bought it as a possible vehicle for Bette Davis. That never came to fruition, however, and by 1947 they were trying to unload the property.

Director John Huston, who had always been a fan of the book, wanted desperately to purchase the rights to the property with his producing partner Sam Spiegel as a project for their independent film company, Horizon Pictures. Warner Bros. was willing to sell it to them for $50,000, but even between the two men they couldn't come up with the cash. They racked their brains to come up with a way to get the money. Finally, Sam Spiegel decided to approach Sound Services, Inc., a company that specialized in supplying sound equipment to studios, and see if they would give them the full amount to finance the project. Sound Services, Inc. wasn't in the business of loaning money to purchase film properties, but Spiegel promised the company that not only would Horizon pay back every cent, but they would also use Sound Services equipment to make The African Queen, giving them full credit in the finished film. Sound Services agreed, and the project became theirs.

Huston was adamant that writer James Agee would be the one to help him write the screenplay. Agee was a poet, novelist and film critic whose work Huston had always admired. The two men had become friendly years before when Huston sent Agee a note of appreciation for a review he had written for The Battle of San Pietro (1945) in Time Magazine, which Huston found "sensitive and perceptive." It was the first and only time Huston ever corresponded with a critic. Huston and Agee didn't meet in person until later when Agee did a profile on Huston for Life magazine. As the two became friends, Agee confessed to Huston his secret desire to write screenplays.

When The African Queen project came around, Huston thought immediately of his friend Agee and offered him the job. Agee agreed and flew out to California, where he and Huston holed up in a resort hotel outside of Santa Barbara to work on the screenplay. They set a strict regimen for themselves of work and exercise. Though they got a tremendous amount done, Agee was not taking care of himself-he was drinking, smoking and eating too much and not getting enough sleep. Before they could finish the script, Agee had a heart attack and was out of commission for a lengthy recuperation.

Meanwhile, Huston was searching for the ideal leads. Katharine Hepburn was the first one contacted. In 1950 she was touring with the stage production of Shakespeare's As You Like It, which was currently playing in Los Angeles. Sam Spiegel sent her a copy of the original novel The African Queen to read while she was staying at the home of her good friend Irene Selznick. She read it and loved it, knowing that the part of Rose would be perfect for her.

Sam Spiegel came out to visit Hepburn, and the two discussed the project and potential actors to play opposite her. Charlie Allnut was supposed to have a Cockney accent, which limited their choices until Spiegel suggested Humphrey Bogart. They both thought him perfect for the part and simply decided to make his character Canadian, which would solve the problem of the Cockney accent. As Katharine Hepburn later wrote in her 1987 book The Making of the African Queen; or How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind, "Now, looking back at that conversation-can you imagine anyone but Bogie playing that part? He was really it-hook, line and sinker".

John Huston and Humphrey Bogart had worked well together previously on The Maltese Falcon (1941), Across the Pacific (1942), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and Key Largo (1948) so Huston called up his old pal and said, "Hey, old son, I have a great property. The hero's a low-life, and since you're the biggest low-life in town the part is therefore ideal for you!" Though Bogart wasn't keen on shooting in Africa, he trusted his friend Huston. "He's brilliant and unpredictable," said Bogart of Huston. "Never dull. When I work with John, I think about acting. I don't worry about business." Huston, in turn, called Bogart "an ideal collaborator and companion...He's a joy to work with...his figure seemed to find its way into whatever I did."

Bogie had never worked with Katharine Hepburn, and neither had John Huston for that matter. The actor was somewhat leery of working with her, having heard she could be difficult. However, when Bogie and Huston met with Hepburn, she won them over. In her 1979 autobiography By Myself, Lauren Bacall (Humphrey Bogart's wife) said that Bogie had never wanted to travel out of the country, but she herself was longing to go and see the world. "Bogie," she said, "liked his life as it was; going to New York was all the traveling he wanted to do. Finally Sam Spiegel told Katharine Hepburn that he had Bogie and John - told John that he had Bogie and Katie - told Bogie that he had John and Katie - and The African Queen was put together."

John Huston was excited about going on location to Africa and was adamant about shooting it in color, even though it meant more hassles and expense. He felt that color would bring an element of vivid richness to the exotic locale that would bring people into the theater. "I had to do this film on location," explained Huston in an interview. "I wanted these characters to sweat when the script called for it. On a sound stage you fake it, but in Africa you don't have to imagine that it's hot, that it's so hot, that it's so humid and wet that cigarettes turn green with mold; it really is hot and clothes do mildew overnight-and when people sweat it isn't with the help of a make-up man. Africa was the only place to get what I was after."

Securing financing for the ambitious project was complicated. Most banks were uneasy about putting up money for a film that would be shot in such a remote location. There was unpredictable weather to consider along with a host of logistical problems. A new London based company called Romulus Productions, however, was eager to lure Hollywood talent overseas, so they took a chance and provided most of the film's financial backing.

As preparations began, Katharine Hepburn was still waiting to see a finished script. She was growing increasingly irritated with Huston's vagueness about the details, and she often sensed that Huston was avoiding her altogether. It was the first time she had worked with the eccentric director, and she didn't know what to make of him. Bogart tried to reassure her that this was the way Huston always worked.

Pressured to complete the screenplay, Huston dashed off a rather hasty ending just to get something on the page before rushing off to England with Sam Spiegel to begin location scouting. James Agee, they hoped, would eventually join them in Africa to finish the script.

Once in Africa, Huston and Spiegel began scouting the dense jungle areas by air. They were looking for a dark, winding body of water like the one described in the original novel. They logged 25,000 flying miles over the areas, and finally, there it was - the Ruiki, a tributary to the Lualaba that was ink black with decaying vegetation. The area in the Congo was so remote that it wasn't marked on most atlases. It was exactly what Huston wanted.

by Andrea Passafiume

The Big Idea

The African Queen began as a novel written by English author C.S. Forester and published in 1935. This unique adventure story about the relationship between a prim spinster and the scruffy boat captain who takes her down the river was kicked around as a potential movie idea for years in Hollywood. RKO thought about making it with Charles Laughton and his actress wife Elsa Lanchester, but ultimately the project was scrapped. The thinking was that audiences would not want to see a romance between two middle-aged people. One script reader's notes at RKO reads, "It is dated, incredible, quite outside acceptable dramatic screen material...Its two characters are neither appealing nor sympathetic enough to sustain interest for an entire picture...Both are physically unattractive and their love scenes are distasteful and not a little disgusting. It's no bargain at any price. No amount of rewriting can possibly salvage this dated yarn." Still, others saw potential in The African Queen. In 1946 Warner Bros. bought it as a possible vehicle for Bette Davis. That never came to fruition, however, and by 1947 they were trying to unload the property. Director John Huston, who had always been a fan of the book, wanted desperately to purchase the rights to the property with his producing partner Sam Spiegel as a project for their independent film company, Horizon Pictures. Warner Bros. was willing to sell it to them for $50,000, but even between the two men they couldn't come up with the cash. They racked their brains to come up with a way to get the money. Finally, Sam Spiegel decided to approach Sound Services, Inc., a company that specialized in supplying sound equipment to studios, and see if they would give them the full amount to finance the project. Sound Services, Inc. wasn't in the business of loaning money to purchase film properties, but Spiegel promised the company that not only would Horizon pay back every cent, but they would also use Sound Services equipment to make The African Queen, giving them full credit in the finished film. Sound Services agreed, and the project became theirs. Huston was adamant that writer James Agee would be the one to help him write the screenplay. Agee was a poet, novelist and film critic whose work Huston had always admired. The two men had become friendly years before when Huston sent Agee a note of appreciation for a review he had written for The Battle of San Pietro (1945) in Time Magazine, which Huston found "sensitive and perceptive." It was the first and only time Huston ever corresponded with a critic. Huston and Agee didn't meet in person until later when Agee did a profile on Huston for Life magazine. As the two became friends, Agee confessed to Huston his secret desire to write screenplays. When The African Queen project came around, Huston thought immediately of his friend Agee and offered him the job. Agee agreed and flew out to California, where he and Huston holed up in a resort hotel outside of Santa Barbara to work on the screenplay. They set a strict regimen for themselves of work and exercise. Though they got a tremendous amount done, Agee was not taking care of himself-he was drinking, smoking and eating too much and not getting enough sleep. Before they could finish the script, Agee had a heart attack and was out of commission for a lengthy recuperation. Meanwhile, Huston was searching for the ideal leads. Katharine Hepburn was the first one contacted. In 1950 she was touring with the stage production of Shakespeare's As You Like It, which was currently playing in Los Angeles. Sam Spiegel sent her a copy of the original novel The African Queen to read while she was staying at the home of her good friend Irene Selznick. She read it and loved it, knowing that the part of Rose would be perfect for her. Sam Spiegel came out to visit Hepburn, and the two discussed the project and potential actors to play opposite her. Charlie Allnut was supposed to have a Cockney accent, which limited their choices until Spiegel suggested Humphrey Bogart. They both thought him perfect for the part and simply decided to make his character Canadian, which would solve the problem of the Cockney accent. As Katharine Hepburn later wrote in her 1987 book The Making of the African Queen; or How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind, "Now, looking back at that conversation-can you imagine anyone but Bogie playing that part? He was really it-hook, line and sinker". John Huston and Humphrey Bogart had worked well together previously on The Maltese Falcon (1941), Across the Pacific (1942), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) and Key Largo (1948) so Huston called up his old pal and said, "Hey, old son, I have a great property. The hero's a low-life, and since you're the biggest low-life in town the part is therefore ideal for you!" Though Bogart wasn't keen on shooting in Africa, he trusted his friend Huston. "He's brilliant and unpredictable," said Bogart of Huston. "Never dull. When I work with John, I think about acting. I don't worry about business." Huston, in turn, called Bogart "an ideal collaborator and companion...He's a joy to work with...his figure seemed to find its way into whatever I did." Bogie had never worked with Katharine Hepburn, and neither had John Huston for that matter. The actor was somewhat leery of working with her, having heard she could be difficult. However, when Bogie and Huston met with Hepburn, she won them over. In her 1979 autobiography By Myself, Lauren Bacall (Humphrey Bogart's wife) said that Bogie had never wanted to travel out of the country, but she herself was longing to go and see the world. "Bogie," she said, "liked his life as it was; going to New York was all the traveling he wanted to do. Finally Sam Spiegel told Katharine Hepburn that he had Bogie and John - told John that he had Bogie and Katie - told Bogie that he had John and Katie - and The African Queen was put together." John Huston was excited about going on location to Africa and was adamant about shooting it in color, even though it meant more hassles and expense. He felt that color would bring an element of vivid richness to the exotic locale that would bring people into the theater. "I had to do this film on location," explained Huston in an interview. "I wanted these characters to sweat when the script called for it. On a sound stage you fake it, but in Africa you don't have to imagine that it's hot, that it's so hot, that it's so humid and wet that cigarettes turn green with mold; it really is hot and clothes do mildew overnight-and when people sweat it isn't with the help of a make-up man. Africa was the only place to get what I was after." Securing financing for the ambitious project was complicated. Most banks were uneasy about putting up money for a film that would be shot in such a remote location. There was unpredictable weather to consider along with a host of logistical problems. A new London based company called Romulus Productions, however, was eager to lure Hollywood talent overseas, so they took a chance and provided most of the film's financial backing. As preparations began, Katharine Hepburn was still waiting to see a finished script. She was growing increasingly irritated with Huston's vagueness about the details, and she often sensed that Huston was avoiding her altogether. It was the first time she had worked with the eccentric director, and she didn't know what to make of him. Bogart tried to reassure her that this was the way Huston always worked. Pressured to complete the screenplay, Huston dashed off a rather hasty ending just to get something on the page before rushing off to England with Sam Spiegel to begin location scouting. James Agee, they hoped, would eventually join them in Africa to finish the script. Once in Africa, Huston and Spiegel began scouting the dense jungle areas by air. They were looking for a dark, winding body of water like the one described in the original novel. They logged 25,000 flying miles over the areas, and finally, there it was - the Ruiki, a tributary to the Lualaba that was ink black with decaying vegetation. The area in the Congo was so remote that it wasn't marked on most atlases. It was exactly what Huston wanted. by Andrea Passafiume

Behind the Camera -.The African Queen


For the temporary production headquarters, John Huston set up shop in Kindu (then called Ponthierville) which was little more than a collection of tin roof huts at the end of a small railway line that carried river cargo to and from the nearest town, Stanleyville. Huston hired locals to clear an area and build a camp for the production within 8 days. There were makeshift dorms, bungalows, offices, a storage hut, makeup hut, a dining area and, of course, a bar. With added cots, chairs and mosquito netting, the camp was ready for habitation just prior to the arrival of the rest of the cast and crew. It would prove to be an adventure of a lifetime for all involved.

John Huston and Sam Spiegel settled into their makeshift camp in Africa, and the other cast and crew arrived shortly thereafter. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, who came along for the ride, traveled together via London, and Katharine Hepburn arrived solo.

Bogart hated Africa immediately and was miserable, but Hepburn adored it, calling it "utterly divine." Bogie complained about everything: the heat, the humidity, the dangers, the food. "While I was griping," said Bogart in a later interview, "Katie was in her glory. She couldn't pass a fern or berry without wanting to know its pedigree, and insisted on getting the Latin name for everything she saw walking, swimming, flying or crawling. I wanted to cut our ten-week schedule, but the way she was wallowing in the stinking hole, we'd be there for years."

John Huston loved being in Africa just as much as Hepburn, which further irritated Bogart. Huston took his time with everything and was in no rush to leave. Huston became intent on shooting an elephant while he was there, fancying himself a great hunter. Whenever it would rain, which was often, Huston would go off hunting with his rifle, obsessed with bagging his ever-elusive elephant. "John really became a white hunter in Africa," wrote Lauren Bacall in her autobiography, "he believed he was one-and he adored it; he didn't care how long he stayed. That was John. Bogie was different-he wanted to be back in civilization."

Though Hepburn was having the time of her life in Africa, she was dubious about the production in the beginning. "Frustrated rage was my constant mood," she said. She remained alarmed at the lack of a completed screenplay from Huston, lack of clear communication, the vagueness of the details, and the general attitude of just winging it. She didn't really know Bogart or Huston except that they made great movies together and liked to drink - a pastime she took no pleasure in, having dealt with Spencer Tracy's alcoholism for years. To make matters worse, Huston and Bogart enjoyed having fun with the haughty Hepburn. "Both Bogie and I teased Katie unmercifully at the beginning," said John Huston in his 1980 autobiography An Open Book. "She thought we were rascals, scamps, rogues. We did everything we could to support this belief. We pretended to get roaring drunk. We even wrote dirty words in soap on her mirror. But eventually she saw through our antics and learned to trust us as friends."

In Africa at that time, moving heavy film equipment and supplies was a tricky undertaking. The roads in the area were at best just narrow paths cut out between jungles. For shooting on the river, they built the steam powered African Queen; another boat for towing the Queen with a generator, lights and reflector platforms; followed by a raft with heavy camera equipment and a small crew from Britain; another raft with props and sound equipment; and finally a floating makeshift dressing room/toilet for Katharine Hepburn made with bamboo. Hepburn had insisted on having the privacy of a dressing room, but after having it dragged up the river several times it was clear that it was totally impractical, so she valiantly gave it up.

Hepburn had insisted that Huston use Doris Langley Moore as her costume designer, as her costumes were meticulous period recreations. The brutal heat and humidity of the area, however, made it impossible for the clothes, costumes or anything to dry completely, and mold would even grow on the fabric. Hepburn desperately wanted a full-length mirror in order to check her appearance between takes, and she got one. She lugged the cumbersome mirror all over the jungles of Africa-until it broke in half. Without blinking, Hepburn carried around the larger broken half without complaint.

Shooting The African Queen was slow going. Tempers often flared and the cast and crew faced constant dangers and difficulties including torrential rains that would close down shooting, wild animals, poisonous snakes and scorpions, crocodiles, armies of ants, water so contaminated that they couldn't even brush their teeth with it, and food that was less than appetizing. "We decided first night out that it was advisable not to ask what we were eating," said Lauren Bacall, "we didn't want to know." Often the cumbersome raft carrying equipment behind the African Queen refused to follow the curve in the river while being transported, and the heavy scorching boiler would come close to tipping over. Cameras and lamps would get caught on overhanging shrubbery, boats would get caught on submerged logs, the boat engine would stop abruptly, or hornets would attack the cast and crew while shooting. To complicate matters, there was a language barrier between the film people and the locals that led to wild misunderstandings. For instance, for the scene that called for Brother Samuel's mission to be burned by the Germans, the crew built a village for the express purpose of burning it down. Huston asked a local leader to bring a bunch of locals to be extras in the scene. However, when the day came for filming, not one of them showed up. It turned out that a rumor had spread among them that the film people were cannibals and it was a trap-anyone who came would be eaten.

Since she was the only one not directly involved in the filming, Lauren Bacall helped out by preparing lunches for the cast and crew. Bogart was miserable-the jungle noises kept him up at night along with the scorching heat and humidity, and he and Huston drank too much. Bacall did her best to be cheerful and make their accommodations as homey as possible. Slowly but surely she forged a friendship with Katharine Hepburn, while Bogie worried about whether or not they would ever get out of Africa.

Bacall also played nursemaid to the cast and crew whenever anyone got sick, which was often. There was dysentery, malaria, and bites from all sorts of bugs to deal with. One night a crew member even came down with appendicitis. Bacall saved the day by being the only one who had thought to bring antibiotics, which were given to the man before he was rushed to the closest hospital in Stanleyville for emergency surgery. Even the stoic Katharine Hepburn finally succumbed to illness towards the end of shooting, though she had taken every precaution imaginable.

Even though bottled water was brought in, boiled and treated with halazone tablets, people still got sick. The only two people who seemed to be immune were John Huston and Humphrey Bogart. "Bogie and I never got sick," wrote Huston in his autobiography, "possibly because we always drank scotch with our water."

Bogart and Hepburn worked very well together and discovered a chemistry between the two characters that wasn't fully developed in the novel and gave the film a welcome dose of humor. At first, however, John Huston felt that Hepburn was playing her role much too seriously. It didn't help matters that the corners of Hepburn's mouth naturally turned down, making it appear that she was frowning. The relationship between Huston and Hepburn up to this point was somewhat strained. She sill looked upon him with frustration and mistrust, and Huston felt like she ignored all of his suggestions.

One night, Huston had a talk with Hepburn and told her that he felt she was playing her role too intensely. He suggested that she use Eleanor Roosevelt as a reference point for inspiration, noting the way Roosevelt's smile seemed always full of hope. For the rest of her career, Hepburn always cited this simple advice as the best piece of direction she had ever received from any director. All of her doubts about Huston vanished. "I was his from then on," she said. "He may have no common sense-he may be irresponsible and outrageous. But he is talented. He ain't where he is for no reason."

Writer James Agee, who had worked with Huston on the screenplay back in California and had suffered a debilitating heart attack, was never in good enough health to join Huston in Africa to continue working on the script. Huston therefore asked another writer, Peter Viertel, to fly over and help him. The author of the original novel, C.S. Forester, had told Huston that he had never been completely satisfied with the way the book ended. In fact, he had tinkered with the ending so much that two different endings found their way to publication - one for the American version, and another for the English. Huston found neither of them satisfying and always felt that the film should have a happy ending. He set about to write a new ending with Peter Viertel's help and together they pounded out the final scenes that exist in the completed film.

With only two days left to go on the shoot, everyone was on edge and ready to go home. When Huston announced that he would need three additional days to film, there was a near mutiny. Bogart was furious and so was the crew. Huston tried to appease everyone with a rousing "team spirit" speech, which was met with frustration. The cast and crew agreed to stay longer, but they believed that the schedule could be speeded up if they all pulled together. They decided on the last Friday to record all of the sound over Saturday and Sunday, while all props and electrical equipment could be shipped out Sunday night. Only the camera, a few crew members, and Bogart, Hepburn and Huston would remain until the very end. The last location shots were completed by noon on Monday, with everyone going straight to the airport. Bogart was elated to be out of there.

On the way back to the United States, they stopped in London to shoot some more interiors, some underwater filming in a studio tank, and the scenes with Robert Morley (who never went to Africa), who played Rose's missionary brother. Bogart still had some difficult scenes to shoot - in London he had to face a handful of real leeches for one of the film's more memorable scenes. But, as production finally ended and everyone made it back safely to the U.S., everyone had become lifelong friends with nothing but good things to say about each other. "It was a wonderful experience," said John Huston in a 1984 interview. "One of the happiest I've ever had" - even though he never did shoot that elephant.

by Andrea Passafiume

Behind the Camera -.The African Queen

For the temporary production headquarters, John Huston set up shop in Kindu (then called Ponthierville) which was little more than a collection of tin roof huts at the end of a small railway line that carried river cargo to and from the nearest town, Stanleyville. Huston hired locals to clear an area and build a camp for the production within 8 days. There were makeshift dorms, bungalows, offices, a storage hut, makeup hut, a dining area and, of course, a bar. With added cots, chairs and mosquito netting, the camp was ready for habitation just prior to the arrival of the rest of the cast and crew. It would prove to be an adventure of a lifetime for all involved. John Huston and Sam Spiegel settled into their makeshift camp in Africa, and the other cast and crew arrived shortly thereafter. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, who came along for the ride, traveled together via London, and Katharine Hepburn arrived solo. Bogart hated Africa immediately and was miserable, but Hepburn adored it, calling it "utterly divine." Bogie complained about everything: the heat, the humidity, the dangers, the food. "While I was griping," said Bogart in a later interview, "Katie was in her glory. She couldn't pass a fern or berry without wanting to know its pedigree, and insisted on getting the Latin name for everything she saw walking, swimming, flying or crawling. I wanted to cut our ten-week schedule, but the way she was wallowing in the stinking hole, we'd be there for years." John Huston loved being in Africa just as much as Hepburn, which further irritated Bogart. Huston took his time with everything and was in no rush to leave. Huston became intent on shooting an elephant while he was there, fancying himself a great hunter. Whenever it would rain, which was often, Huston would go off hunting with his rifle, obsessed with bagging his ever-elusive elephant. "John really became a white hunter in Africa," wrote Lauren Bacall in her autobiography, "he believed he was one-and he adored it; he didn't care how long he stayed. That was John. Bogie was different-he wanted to be back in civilization." Though Hepburn was having the time of her life in Africa, she was dubious about the production in the beginning. "Frustrated rage was my constant mood," she said. She remained alarmed at the lack of a completed screenplay from Huston, lack of clear communication, the vagueness of the details, and the general attitude of just winging it. She didn't really know Bogart or Huston except that they made great movies together and liked to drink - a pastime she took no pleasure in, having dealt with Spencer Tracy's alcoholism for years. To make matters worse, Huston and Bogart enjoyed having fun with the haughty Hepburn. "Both Bogie and I teased Katie unmercifully at the beginning," said John Huston in his 1980 autobiography An Open Book. "She thought we were rascals, scamps, rogues. We did everything we could to support this belief. We pretended to get roaring drunk. We even wrote dirty words in soap on her mirror. But eventually she saw through our antics and learned to trust us as friends." In Africa at that time, moving heavy film equipment and supplies was a tricky undertaking. The roads in the area were at best just narrow paths cut out between jungles. For shooting on the river, they built the steam powered African Queen; another boat for towing the Queen with a generator, lights and reflector platforms; followed by a raft with heavy camera equipment and a small crew from Britain; another raft with props and sound equipment; and finally a floating makeshift dressing room/toilet for Katharine Hepburn made with bamboo. Hepburn had insisted on having the privacy of a dressing room, but after having it dragged up the river several times it was clear that it was totally impractical, so she valiantly gave it up. Hepburn had insisted that Huston use Doris Langley Moore as her costume designer, as her costumes were meticulous period recreations. The brutal heat and humidity of the area, however, made it impossible for the clothes, costumes or anything to dry completely, and mold would even grow on the fabric. Hepburn desperately wanted a full-length mirror in order to check her appearance between takes, and she got one. She lugged the cumbersome mirror all over the jungles of Africa-until it broke in half. Without blinking, Hepburn carried around the larger broken half without complaint. Shooting The African Queen was slow going. Tempers often flared and the cast and crew faced constant dangers and difficulties including torrential rains that would close down shooting, wild animals, poisonous snakes and scorpions, crocodiles, armies of ants, water so contaminated that they couldn't even brush their teeth with it, and food that was less than appetizing. "We decided first night out that it was advisable not to ask what we were eating," said Lauren Bacall, "we didn't want to know." Often the cumbersome raft carrying equipment behind the African Queen refused to follow the curve in the river while being transported, and the heavy scorching boiler would come close to tipping over. Cameras and lamps would get caught on overhanging shrubbery, boats would get caught on submerged logs, the boat engine would stop abruptly, or hornets would attack the cast and crew while shooting. To complicate matters, there was a language barrier between the film people and the locals that led to wild misunderstandings. For instance, for the scene that called for Brother Samuel's mission to be burned by the Germans, the crew built a village for the express purpose of burning it down. Huston asked a local leader to bring a bunch of locals to be extras in the scene. However, when the day came for filming, not one of them showed up. It turned out that a rumor had spread among them that the film people were cannibals and it was a trap-anyone who came would be eaten. Since she was the only one not directly involved in the filming, Lauren Bacall helped out by preparing lunches for the cast and crew. Bogart was miserable-the jungle noises kept him up at night along with the scorching heat and humidity, and he and Huston drank too much. Bacall did her best to be cheerful and make their accommodations as homey as possible. Slowly but surely she forged a friendship with Katharine Hepburn, while Bogie worried about whether or not they would ever get out of Africa. Bacall also played nursemaid to the cast and crew whenever anyone got sick, which was often. There was dysentery, malaria, and bites from all sorts of bugs to deal with. One night a crew member even came down with appendicitis. Bacall saved the day by being the only one who had thought to bring antibiotics, which were given to the man before he was rushed to the closest hospital in Stanleyville for emergency surgery. Even the stoic Katharine Hepburn finally succumbed to illness towards the end of shooting, though she had taken every precaution imaginable. Even though bottled water was brought in, boiled and treated with halazone tablets, people still got sick. The only two people who seemed to be immune were John Huston and Humphrey Bogart. "Bogie and I never got sick," wrote Huston in his autobiography, "possibly because we always drank scotch with our water." Bogart and Hepburn worked very well together and discovered a chemistry between the two characters that wasn't fully developed in the novel and gave the film a welcome dose of humor. At first, however, John Huston felt that Hepburn was playing her role much too seriously. It didn't help matters that the corners of Hepburn's mouth naturally turned down, making it appear that she was frowning. The relationship between Huston and Hepburn up to this point was somewhat strained. She sill looked upon him with frustration and mistrust, and Huston felt like she ignored all of his suggestions. One night, Huston had a talk with Hepburn and told her that he felt she was playing her role too intensely. He suggested that she use Eleanor Roosevelt as a reference point for inspiration, noting the way Roosevelt's smile seemed always full of hope. For the rest of her career, Hepburn always cited this simple advice as the best piece of direction she had ever received from any director. All of her doubts about Huston vanished. "I was his from then on," she said. "He may have no common sense-he may be irresponsible and outrageous. But he is talented. He ain't where he is for no reason." Writer James Agee, who had worked with Huston on the screenplay back in California and had suffered a debilitating heart attack, was never in good enough health to join Huston in Africa to continue working on the script. Huston therefore asked another writer, Peter Viertel, to fly over and help him. The author of the original novel, C.S. Forester, had told Huston that he had never been completely satisfied with the way the book ended. In fact, he had tinkered with the ending so much that two different endings found their way to publication - one for the American version, and another for the English. Huston found neither of them satisfying and always felt that the film should have a happy ending. He set about to write a new ending with Peter Viertel's help and together they pounded out the final scenes that exist in the completed film. With only two days left to go on the shoot, everyone was on edge and ready to go home. When Huston announced that he would need three additional days to film, there was a near mutiny. Bogart was furious and so was the crew. Huston tried to appease everyone with a rousing "team spirit" speech, which was met with frustration. The cast and crew agreed to stay longer, but they believed that the schedule could be speeded up if they all pulled together. They decided on the last Friday to record all of the sound over Saturday and Sunday, while all props and electrical equipment could be shipped out Sunday night. Only the camera, a few crew members, and Bogart, Hepburn and Huston would remain until the very end. The last location shots were completed by noon on Monday, with everyone going straight to the airport. Bogart was elated to be out of there. On the way back to the United States, they stopped in London to shoot some more interiors, some underwater filming in a studio tank, and the scenes with Robert Morley (who never went to Africa), who played Rose's missionary brother. Bogart still had some difficult scenes to shoot - in London he had to face a handful of real leeches for one of the film's more memorable scenes. But, as production finally ended and everyone made it back safely to the U.S., everyone had become lifelong friends with nothing but good things to say about each other. "It was a wonderful experience," said John Huston in a 1984 interview. "One of the happiest I've ever had" - even though he never did shoot that elephant. by Andrea Passafiume

The Critics Corner: THE AFRICAN QUEEN


AWARDS AND HONORS

The African Queen was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Actor (Humphrey Bogart), Best Actress (Katharine Hepburn), Best Director (John Huston) and Best Screenplay (James Agee and John Huston). Humphrey Bogart won for Best Actor.

In 1994 it was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry.

It was named #17 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movies List and #14 on AFI's 100 Greatest Love Stories List and #48 on AFI's Most Inspiring Movies list.

THE CRITIC'S CORNER – THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)

"Just offbeat enough in story, locale and star teaming of Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn to stimulate the imagination. It is a picture with an unassuming warmth and naturalness that can have a bright box office chance through good selling and word-of-mouth...Performance-wise, Bogart has never been seen to better advantage. Nor has he ever had a more knowing, talented film partner than Miss Hepburn." – New York Times.

"(Huston's) lively screen version...is a slick job of movie hoodwinking with a thoroughly implausible romance, set in a frame of wild adventure that is as whopping as its tale of offbeat love. And the main tone and character of it are in the area of the well-disguised spoof...there is beauty and excitement...While the hardships were said to be oppressive, he and his producer, S.P. Eagle (Sam Spiegel), have been repaid. Their picture is doubly provided with the insurance of popularity." – The New York Times.

"Filmed in the Congo, the movie, rich in pictorial beauty, is virtually a Technicolor cook's tour of jungle wonders, further enriched by performances unmatched by anything Hepburn and Bogart have yet contributed to the screen. The African Queen is one of the best pictures of the year-a mature, deeply touching, adult romance linked to a first-rate thriller." --Cue.

"The movie is not great art, but it is great fun. Essentially it is one long, exciting, old-fashioned movie chase. Filmed in the Belgian Congo and Uganda by Director John Huston, it tells its adventure yarn in a blaze of Technicolor, fine wild scenery and action. Bogart, cast as a Canadian instead of a Cockney, does the best acting of his career as the badgered rumpot who becomes a man and a lover against his will. Katharine Hepburn is excellent as the gaunt, freckled, fanatic spinster. Their contrasting personalities fill the film with good scenes, beginning with Bogart's tea-table agony as the indelicate rumbling of his stomach keeps interrupting missionary Robert Morley's chitchat about dear old England." --Time.

"Impossible to deny this film's entertainment value, even if it's hardly the great classic it's often claimed to be...A witty script by James Agee (from C. S. Forester's novel) and fine colour photography by Jack Cardiff help to counteract the basically contrived and implausible nature of the story." - Geoff Andrew, TimeOut Film Guide.

"...it is one of the most charming and entertaining movies ever made...The story, set in central Africa in 1914, is so convincingly acted that you may feel a bit jarred at the end; after the lovers have brought the boat, the African Queen, over dangerous rapids to torpedo a German battleship, Huston seems to stop taking the movie seriously." - Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies.

"Despite some unfortunate studio sets mixed in with real African footage achieved through great hardship by all concerned, this is one of those surprising films that really work, a splendidly successful mixture of comedy, character and adventure." - Halliwell's Film & Video Guide.

"A sure-fire "feel-good" movie.....Fifty-three-year-old Bogart and 45-year-old Hepburn get sexier by the minute...this is perhaps the cinema's greatest romantic adventure which is set in the 20th century - films such as Romancing the Stone [1984] were greatly influenced by it." - Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic.

"The emphasis in the film is on the change in the characters of Rose and Charlie and on the stupidity of war. Bogart, in the role of the dissolute riverboat captain, gives a superb and many-layered performance....but he is more than matched by Hepburn's authoritative creation of the shy spinster; the scenes of their dawning love for each other are a delight. This is one of Huston's favorite films." - Georges Sadoul, Dictionary of Films.

Compiled by Andrea Passafiume & Jeff Stafford

The Critics Corner: THE AFRICAN QUEEN

AWARDS AND HONORS The African Queen was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Actor (Humphrey Bogart), Best Actress (Katharine Hepburn), Best Director (John Huston) and Best Screenplay (James Agee and John Huston). Humphrey Bogart won for Best Actor. In 1994 it was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Film Registry. It was named #17 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movies List and #14 on AFI's 100 Greatest Love Stories List and #48 on AFI's Most Inspiring Movies list. THE CRITIC'S CORNER – THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951) "Just offbeat enough in story, locale and star teaming of Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn to stimulate the imagination. It is a picture with an unassuming warmth and naturalness that can have a bright box office chance through good selling and word-of-mouth...Performance-wise, Bogart has never been seen to better advantage. Nor has he ever had a more knowing, talented film partner than Miss Hepburn." – New York Times. "(Huston's) lively screen version...is a slick job of movie hoodwinking with a thoroughly implausible romance, set in a frame of wild adventure that is as whopping as its tale of offbeat love. And the main tone and character of it are in the area of the well-disguised spoof...there is beauty and excitement...While the hardships were said to be oppressive, he and his producer, S.P. Eagle (Sam Spiegel), have been repaid. Their picture is doubly provided with the insurance of popularity." – The New York Times. "Filmed in the Congo, the movie, rich in pictorial beauty, is virtually a Technicolor cook's tour of jungle wonders, further enriched by performances unmatched by anything Hepburn and Bogart have yet contributed to the screen. The African Queen is one of the best pictures of the year-a mature, deeply touching, adult romance linked to a first-rate thriller." --Cue. "The movie is not great art, but it is great fun. Essentially it is one long, exciting, old-fashioned movie chase. Filmed in the Belgian Congo and Uganda by Director John Huston, it tells its adventure yarn in a blaze of Technicolor, fine wild scenery and action. Bogart, cast as a Canadian instead of a Cockney, does the best acting of his career as the badgered rumpot who becomes a man and a lover against his will. Katharine Hepburn is excellent as the gaunt, freckled, fanatic spinster. Their contrasting personalities fill the film with good scenes, beginning with Bogart's tea-table agony as the indelicate rumbling of his stomach keeps interrupting missionary Robert Morley's chitchat about dear old England." --Time. "Impossible to deny this film's entertainment value, even if it's hardly the great classic it's often claimed to be...A witty script by James Agee (from C. S. Forester's novel) and fine colour photography by Jack Cardiff help to counteract the basically contrived and implausible nature of the story." - Geoff Andrew, TimeOut Film Guide. "...it is one of the most charming and entertaining movies ever made...The story, set in central Africa in 1914, is so convincingly acted that you may feel a bit jarred at the end; after the lovers have brought the boat, the African Queen, over dangerous rapids to torpedo a German battleship, Huston seems to stop taking the movie seriously." - Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies. "Despite some unfortunate studio sets mixed in with real African footage achieved through great hardship by all concerned, this is one of those surprising films that really work, a splendidly successful mixture of comedy, character and adventure." - Halliwell's Film & Video Guide. "A sure-fire "feel-good" movie.....Fifty-three-year-old Bogart and 45-year-old Hepburn get sexier by the minute...this is perhaps the cinema's greatest romantic adventure which is set in the 20th century - films such as Romancing the Stone [1984] were greatly influenced by it." - Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic. "The emphasis in the film is on the change in the characters of Rose and Charlie and on the stupidity of war. Bogart, in the role of the dissolute riverboat captain, gives a superb and many-layered performance....but he is more than matched by Hepburn's authoritative creation of the shy spinster; the scenes of their dawning love for each other are a delight. This is one of Huston's favorite films." - Georges Sadoul, Dictionary of Films. Compiled by Andrea Passafiume & Jeff Stafford

The African Queen


"A story of two old people going up and down an African river... Who's going to be interested in that? You'll be bankrupt."

So spoke British producer Alexander Korda to American producer Sam Spiegel upon learning that Spiegel wanted to film The African Queen. Korda wasn't alone in his skepticism. The novel by C.S. Forester had been making the Hollywood rounds since its 1935 publication. Columbia originally bought it as a vehicle for Charles Laughton and his wife Elsa Lanchester. When that duo instead made The Beachcomber (1938), a similar story, the deal fell through. Warner Bros. then bought it for Bette Davis and David Niven, but that deal also unraveled before the property ultimately found its way to Spiegel. "It will give John [Huston] the kind of commercial hit he had when he made The Maltese Falcon [1941]," Spiegel boasted to The New Yorker before shooting even began. But Spiegel would turn out to be right: the roughly $1.3 million gamble turned out to be not only a critical success, earning four Oscar nominations, but a huge commercial hit, pulling in $4.3 million in its first release.

The African Queen (1951) is set at the beginning of WWI. German troops set fire to an African village, resulting in the death of an English missionary. His straightlaced sister Rose (Katharine Hepburn), now alone, is taken aboard a riverboat, the African Queen, by its gin-soaked Canadian skipper, Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart). Allnut would love to sit out the war just drinking and smoking, but Rose convinces him otherwise; newly invigorated and desiring revenge, she persuades him to take her downriver where they will try to destroy a German U-boat using homemade torpedoes. Along the way, the unlikely pair falls in love.

The location shoot in the African Congo turned out to be one of the most difficult, most legendary, and most recounted in Hollywood history. To start, the company arrived in Africa without a finished script. James Agee had collaborated with Huston on the screenplay, but a heart attack kept Agee from flying to Africa for the shoot and from writing the film's ending. Instead, Peter Viertel came in to help, and he later related his run-ins with Huston in his novel White Hunter, Black Heart, a thinly disguised expose of the making of The African Queen and its director who would rather hunt elephants than shoot film. (Clint Eastwood directed a film version of that book in 1990, playing the Huston character himself.) Hepburn's entertaining 1987 book The Making of the African Queen also details Huston's obsession with hunting. One day he even convinced Hepburn to join him, and he inadvertently led her into the middle of a herd of wild animals from which they were lucky to escape alive.

Other location problems included sun, rain, snakes, scorpions, crocodiles, tsetse flies, hornets, huge biting black ants, and constant humidity which created mildew everywhere. Further, the African Queen's engine had problems, rope would get tangled in its propellers, sound from the generator would interfere with shots. One night the Queen sank, and it took three days to raise the boat and get it ready again. There also were no toilets except the outhouse back at camp. The food was OK but the dishes were washed in infected river water, and virtually everyone in the cast and crew got sick - except for Bogart and Huston, which they attributed to the fact that they basically lived on imported Scotch. Bogart later said, "All I ate was baked beans, canned asparagus and Scotch whiskey. Whenever a fly bit Huston or me, it dropped dead."

But in Hepburn's memoir, the shoot nonetheless comes off as a grand adventure, led by John Huston, a man with a strong but odd personality. Hepburn was frustrated with Huston's lack of interest in discussing the script - which Hepburn thought had major problems - before leaving for Africa. Finally he "ambled" up to her hut one morning and began to talk the script over with her. "We had long and amiable arguments," wrote Hepburn. "Nothing much was done, really, and I seemed to be happy. I found that I could be quite honest with John about what I thought, and I also found that where I had good ideas he would take them. Where I was just worrying and confusing the issue, he would say, 'Let it alone.'"

As Hepburn found out from Bogart, Huston's nickname was "the Monster" for the way he tended to treat people around him. He enjoyed seeing his actors suffer, it seemed. Simply deciding to shoot in the Congo was one way of torturing everybody. Another example was the scene in which Bogart finds his body entirely covered with leeches (This was actually shot in the studio in London). Bogart insisted on using rubber leeches. Huston refused, and brought a leech-breeder to the studio with a tank full of them. This made Bogart queasy and nervous - qualities Huston wanted for his close-ups. Ultimately, rubber leeches were placed on Bogart, and a close-up of a real leech was shot on the breeder's chest. Hepburn observed these kinds of incidents, and later wrote of Huston, "I never did see him go to the outhouse. Maybe he never did. Wouldn't surprise me a bit. Would explain a great deal."

Still, for all Huston's oddities and the pranks that he and Bogart pulled on Hepburn (such as writing dirty words in soap on her mirror), she came to respect his talent deeply. One episode in particular won her over for good. The director had been dissatisfied with Hepburn's performance, finding it too serious-minded. He came calling at her hut one day and suggested that she model her performance on Eleanor Roosevelt - to put on her "society smile" in the face of all adversity. Huston left the hut, and Hepburn sat for a moment before deciding, "that is the goddamnedest best piece of direction I have ever heard." Hepburn, Bogart, Huston and Agee went on to earn Oscar® nominations, and Bogart won the Best Actor Academy Award® for the first and only time in his career.

Producer: Sam Spiegel, John Woolf
Director: John Huston
Screenplay: James Agee, John Huston, Peter Viertel, C.S. Forester (novel)
Cinematography: Jack Cardiff
Film Editing: Ralph Kemplen
Art Direction: Wilfred Shingleton
Music: Allan Gray
Cast: Humphrey Bogart (Charlie Allnut), Katharine Hepburn (Rose Sayer), Robert Morley (Rev. Samuel Sayer), Peter Bull (Captain of Louisa), Theodore Bikel (First Officer), Walter Gotell (Second Officer).
C-105m. Closed captioning.

by Jeremy Arnold

The African Queen

"A story of two old people going up and down an African river... Who's going to be interested in that? You'll be bankrupt." So spoke British producer Alexander Korda to American producer Sam Spiegel upon learning that Spiegel wanted to film The African Queen. Korda wasn't alone in his skepticism. The novel by C.S. Forester had been making the Hollywood rounds since its 1935 publication. Columbia originally bought it as a vehicle for Charles Laughton and his wife Elsa Lanchester. When that duo instead made The Beachcomber (1938), a similar story, the deal fell through. Warner Bros. then bought it for Bette Davis and David Niven, but that deal also unraveled before the property ultimately found its way to Spiegel. "It will give John [Huston] the kind of commercial hit he had when he made The Maltese Falcon [1941]," Spiegel boasted to The New Yorker before shooting even began. But Spiegel would turn out to be right: the roughly $1.3 million gamble turned out to be not only a critical success, earning four Oscar nominations, but a huge commercial hit, pulling in $4.3 million in its first release. The African Queen (1951) is set at the beginning of WWI. German troops set fire to an African village, resulting in the death of an English missionary. His straightlaced sister Rose (Katharine Hepburn), now alone, is taken aboard a riverboat, the African Queen, by its gin-soaked Canadian skipper, Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart). Allnut would love to sit out the war just drinking and smoking, but Rose convinces him otherwise; newly invigorated and desiring revenge, she persuades him to take her downriver where they will try to destroy a German U-boat using homemade torpedoes. Along the way, the unlikely pair falls in love. The location shoot in the African Congo turned out to be one of the most difficult, most legendary, and most recounted in Hollywood history. To start, the company arrived in Africa without a finished script. James Agee had collaborated with Huston on the screenplay, but a heart attack kept Agee from flying to Africa for the shoot and from writing the film's ending. Instead, Peter Viertel came in to help, and he later related his run-ins with Huston in his novel White Hunter, Black Heart, a thinly disguised expose of the making of The African Queen and its director who would rather hunt elephants than shoot film. (Clint Eastwood directed a film version of that book in 1990, playing the Huston character himself.) Hepburn's entertaining 1987 book The Making of the African Queen also details Huston's obsession with hunting. One day he even convinced Hepburn to join him, and he inadvertently led her into the middle of a herd of wild animals from which they were lucky to escape alive. Other location problems included sun, rain, snakes, scorpions, crocodiles, tsetse flies, hornets, huge biting black ants, and constant humidity which created mildew everywhere. Further, the African Queen's engine had problems, rope would get tangled in its propellers, sound from the generator would interfere with shots. One night the Queen sank, and it took three days to raise the boat and get it ready again. There also were no toilets except the outhouse back at camp. The food was OK but the dishes were washed in infected river water, and virtually everyone in the cast and crew got sick - except for Bogart and Huston, which they attributed to the fact that they basically lived on imported Scotch. Bogart later said, "All I ate was baked beans, canned asparagus and Scotch whiskey. Whenever a fly bit Huston or me, it dropped dead." But in Hepburn's memoir, the shoot nonetheless comes off as a grand adventure, led by John Huston, a man with a strong but odd personality. Hepburn was frustrated with Huston's lack of interest in discussing the script - which Hepburn thought had major problems - before leaving for Africa. Finally he "ambled" up to her hut one morning and began to talk the script over with her. "We had long and amiable arguments," wrote Hepburn. "Nothing much was done, really, and I seemed to be happy. I found that I could be quite honest with John about what I thought, and I also found that where I had good ideas he would take them. Where I was just worrying and confusing the issue, he would say, 'Let it alone.'" As Hepburn found out from Bogart, Huston's nickname was "the Monster" for the way he tended to treat people around him. He enjoyed seeing his actors suffer, it seemed. Simply deciding to shoot in the Congo was one way of torturing everybody. Another example was the scene in which Bogart finds his body entirely covered with leeches (This was actually shot in the studio in London). Bogart insisted on using rubber leeches. Huston refused, and brought a leech-breeder to the studio with a tank full of them. This made Bogart queasy and nervous - qualities Huston wanted for his close-ups. Ultimately, rubber leeches were placed on Bogart, and a close-up of a real leech was shot on the breeder's chest. Hepburn observed these kinds of incidents, and later wrote of Huston, "I never did see him go to the outhouse. Maybe he never did. Wouldn't surprise me a bit. Would explain a great deal." Still, for all Huston's oddities and the pranks that he and Bogart pulled on Hepburn (such as writing dirty words in soap on her mirror), she came to respect his talent deeply. One episode in particular won her over for good. The director had been dissatisfied with Hepburn's performance, finding it too serious-minded. He came calling at her hut one day and suggested that she model her performance on Eleanor Roosevelt - to put on her "society smile" in the face of all adversity. Huston left the hut, and Hepburn sat for a moment before deciding, "that is the goddamnedest best piece of direction I have ever heard." Hepburn, Bogart, Huston and Agee went on to earn Oscar® nominations, and Bogart won the Best Actor Academy Award® for the first and only time in his career. Producer: Sam Spiegel, John Woolf Director: John Huston Screenplay: James Agee, John Huston, Peter Viertel, C.S. Forester (novel) Cinematography: Jack Cardiff Film Editing: Ralph Kemplen Art Direction: Wilfred Shingleton Music: Allan Gray Cast: Humphrey Bogart (Charlie Allnut), Katharine Hepburn (Rose Sayer), Robert Morley (Rev. Samuel Sayer), Peter Bull (Captain of Louisa), Theodore Bikel (First Officer), Walter Gotell (Second Officer). C-105m. Closed captioning. by Jeremy Arnold

Quotes

Well I ain't sorry for you no more, ya crazy, psalm-singing, skinny old maid!
- Charlie Allnut
We can't do that!
- Charlie
How do you know? You never tried it.
- Rose
Well, yeah, but I never tried shooting myself in the head neither.
- Charlie
I don't know why the Germans would want this God-forsaken place.
- Charlie Allnut
God has not forsaken this place, Mr. Allnut, as my brother's presence here bears witness.
- Rose Sayer
How'd you like it?
- Charlie Allnut
Like it?
- Rose Sayer
White water rapids!
- Charlie Allnut
I never dreamed...
- Rose Sayer
I don't blame you for being scared - not one bit. Nobody with good sense ain't scared of white water...
- Charlie Allnut
I never dreamed that any mere physical experience could be so stimulating!
- Rose Sayer
Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.
- Rose Sayer
By the authority vested in me by Kaiser William II, I pronounce you man and wife. Proceed with the execution.
- Captain of Louisa

Trivia

The first choices for the lead roles were John Mills and Bette Davis.

The scenes in the reed-filled riverbank were filmed in Dalyan, Turkey.

Originally offered to Bette Davis in 1938, the film would have co-starred David Nivenas Charlie. It was offered to Davis again in 1947, this time to co-star James Mason, but she had to pull out of the project due to pregnancy. In 1949, Davis tried again to make the film, but by that time plans were under way for Katharine Hepburn to star.

This is the role that won Humphrey Bogart the only Oscar of his career.

Known as the "LS Livingston", the "Queen of Africa" was a working steam boat for 40 years prior to it being "cast" in the movie.

Notes

Robert Morley's onscreen opening credit reads: "with Robert Morley as The Brother." As noted in contemporary sources, Warner Bros. purchased the rights to C. S. Forester's novel in 1946. At that time, Bette Davis, Ida Lupino and Olivia de Havilland were mentioned as possible stars. According to Variety news items in 1949, John Collier wrote a screenplay for Warner Bros. that was based closely on the book, then bought the rights to the book and screenplay from Warner Bros., planning to produce the film himself. Instead, he sold the book and script to Horizon Enterprises, which was co-owned by John Huston and Sam Spiegel (credited onscreen under his frequent pseudonym, S. P. Eagle). In Huston's autobiography, however, he recalled having bought the script directly from Warner Bros. Some modern sources claim that Columbia originally bought the novel as a vehicle for Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton, and that at one point David Niven and Paul Henreid were each considered for the male lead.
       As noted in the onscreen credits, The African Queen was shot mainly on location in the Belgian Congo (which was identified in the film as German East Africa, the name by which it was known during the story's World War I time period, and which went by the name of Zaire from 1960-1997, when it took on its current appellation, The Democratic Republic of Congo), in Uganda and on the Murchison Falls on the border of Lake Albert. According to United Artists press materials and Huston's autobiography, the director built a camp to house the cast and crew in Biondo, outside the town of Stanleyville, which included a bar, a restaurant and several one-room bungalows.
       Press releases report that, because the African Queen launch used in the film was too small to carry cameras and equipment, portions of the boat were reproduced on a large raft in order to shoot close-ups of Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. Interior and water-tank scenes were filmed in London, as were most of the scenes containing secondary characters. Robert Morley shot all of his scenes in London, including the footage of him preaching, which was then edited together with shots of the natives praying, that had been filmed in Africa. Although the onscreen credits state that some scenes were shot at the Isleworth Studios in London, press materials name the studio as Worton Hall.
       Modern sources add the following information about the production: While Huston and James Agee began to adapt the book into a new screenplay, Spiegel secured a loan from Sound Services, Inc. and co-financing from United Artists Corp. and London's Romulus Films, Ltd., which was co-owned by brothers John and James Woolf. At that point, Romulus secured the European distribution rights to the film, while United Artists was awarded distribution rights in the Western hemisphere. During the writing of the screenplay, Agee suffered a serious heart attack, and uncredited writer Peter Viertel wrote the film's final scenes with Huston. Forester had written two different final scenes for his book, one of which was published in England and the other in America. In the more widely published American version, "Rose Sayer" and "Charlie Allnut" are turned over to British officers, who then blow up the Louisa. In Collier's script, the African Queen hits the Louisa and destroys it, after which Rose and Charlie walk down the beach to inform the British Army that their way is now clear. In a modern interview, Viertel stated that since he and Huston wanted Rose and Charlie to be together at the final scene, they anticipated possible censorship problems by inventing a way for the couple to be married on the German ship.
       Hepburn, in her written account of the film's production entitled The Making of "The African Queen," or How I Went to Africa with Bogie, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind, described the first day of shooting, which required five cars and trucks to take the cast, crew and equipment three and a half miles from Biondo to the Ruiki river, at which point they loaded everything onto boats and sailed another two and a half miles to the shooting location. Press materials and contemporary articles detail the various perils of shooting on location in Africa, including dysentery, malaria, bacteria-filled drinking water and several close brushes with wild animals and poisonous snakes. Most of the cast and crew were sick for much of the filming. In a February 1952 New York Times article, Huston declared that he hired local natives to help the crew, but many would not show up for fear that the filmmakers were cannibals. Huston advised Hepburn to play Rose by keeping in mind Eleanor Roosevelt's slightly superior, but polite, public bearing, and in Hepburn's book she called the suggestion the "best piece of direction I have ever heard."
       Modern sources add the following names to the crew credits: Boom boy Kevin McClory; Cooks M. Van Thoms, Mme. Van Thoms; Camp manager Geoffrey Dunes; Katharine Hepburn's personal asst in Africa Tahili Bokumba; and Pilots Alec Noon, John "Hank" Hankins. The film had its premiere in Los Angeles on December 26, 1951 in order to qualify it for that year's Academy Awards. Although the picture earned nominations in the Best Actor (Bogart), Best Actress (Hepburn), Best Director and Best Screenplay categories, only Bogart won.
       Shortly after filming was completed, Belgian fan magazine Cine-Revue published an article allegedly written by Lauren Bacall, who had accompanied her husband, Bogart, on location, which included behind-the-scenes photographs. According to a March 1952 Daily Variety story, Romulus Films protested the publication of the photos, which they said "dispelled the film's illusion" by exposing private shooting information. Bacall denied having written the story. An August 1952 Variety item announced that Berlin's film trade union requested that The African Queen be withdrawn from the Berlin Film Festival because of its "anti-German tendencies."
       In October 1952, Daily Variety reported that agents Michael Baird and Alvin Manuel were suing Horizon Pictures, Inc., Horizon Enterprises, Spiegel and Huston for ten percent of the film's profits plus seven percent interest. The agents claimed that in 1949, Horizon promised them the ten percent in return for setting up a co-production deal with Romulus. A February 1953 Hollywood Reporter news item announced the Jack Broder's Shamark Enterprises had put an attachment on funds due to Horizon from United Artists for distribution of The African Queen. The attachment stemmed from a suit Broder brought against Horizon for $120,000 in commissions due for helping finance earlier films. In December 1952, Spiegel and his wife Lynne began divorce procedures which entailed ascertaining all of Spiegel's assets. As a result, full disclosure of all financial records of The African Queen were made public. A Los Angeles Examiner article detailed the profits and salaries paid out to parties including Bogart, Hepburn, Collier and Romulus. Horizon Enterprises sued United Artists in 1955, according to a November 1955 Daily Variety article, for $61,859 still owed to them as part of the distribution deal. The dispositions of these suits are not known.
       In 1953, Viertel published the book White Hunter, Black Heart, a thinly fictionalized account of his experience writing the script for The African Queen with Huston. The book follows the exploits of a tyrannical director who stalls the production of his African-set film by obsessively hunting an elephant. It was made into a film in 1990 by Clint Eastwood and starred Eastwood and Jeff Fahey. In an August 1990 letter published in The Times (London), John Woolf protested the film's portrayal of Huston.
       Although Hollywood Reporter stated in January 1952 that a sequel to The African Queen was being discussed, none was ever made. On March 18, 1977, the CBS network broadcast a television pilot based on the film, also titled The African Queen, but the series was never produced. On December 15, 1952, Bogart reprised his role for a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast, which co-starred Greer Garson as Rose. According to a 1990 news item in Variety, the boat that stood in for the African Queen, the Liemba, was purchased by a Bogart fan and brought from its mooring in Lake Tanganyike, Africa to Key Largo, FL.

Miscellaneous Notes

Based on the novel "The African Queen" by C. S. Forester (London, 1935).

Warner Bros. purchased the rights to C. S. Forester's novel in 1946. At that time, Bette Davis, Ida Lupino and Olivia de Havilland were mentioned as possible stars.

Released in USA on video.

Print restored in 2010 by Paramount Pictures and ITV, and sponsored by Angelica Huston.

Selected in 1994 for inclusion in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry.

Re-released in Paris February 13, 1991.

Released in United States 1973 (Shown at FILMEX: Los Angeles International Film Exposition (Great American Films) November 15 - December 16, 1973.)

Released in United States 1978 (Shown at FILMEX: Los Angeles International Film Exposition (Special Programs - "Salute to Oscar" - Filmex Marathon) April 13 - May 7, 1978.)

Released in United States 1973

Released in United States 1978

Released in United States May 2010

Released in United States Spring March 21, 1952

Shown at Cannes Film Festival (Restored Print/Cannes Classics) May 12-23, 2010.

Released in United States Spring March 21, 1952

Released in United States May 2010 (Shown at Cannes Film Festival (Restored Print/Cannes Classics) May 12-23, 2010.)