I’ve always been fascinated with Africa and travelling into unknown wilderness. Films such as Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979) and Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (Werner Herzog, 1972) really gave me this great feeling of being lost in nowhere. The unknown is indeed fascinating; this is one of the reasons why psychological horror can work so well. So when a film decides to take its characters to the edge of civilization you might expect it to push through these elements of the unknown. Well, not always.
The African Queen takes Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn through the dense African jungle on a river. The African Queen is the boat, and Bogart is the alcoholic captain. There is a plot that creates the circumstances in which the two travel together, but I won’t bother with that here. Suffice to say, they have to get through some tough areas on the river to reach their goal, and this is what creates the core of the film. Now most of the film takes place on the little boat, and for that the film is to be commended. John Huston’s simple but yet elaborate style really works here, and the script makes sure that there is always something interesting going on screen. However, one of the issues I have with this film is that it never really reaches any high marks. It all works very well, and has a lot of subtle touches, but overall the film really never gives me anything significant back. It’s a fun adventure with humour, romance and thriller moments, all in a neat little package. But as a movie viewer who usually looks for something more, be it themes, atmosphere or something intangible the film never delivers. There is a lot of potential in this piece of work, but I felt it somehow slipped away. Although I often talk about how I don’t care about a film being dark and depressing, I feel in this case it could have worked quite to its advantage. Indeed, several moments are quite dark, and these are the best. However, there is too much fooling around and the film looses a bit of its aim. A more serious tone and claustrophobia the film might have evoked much more emotions and ideas. Instead it stands as a solid but fairly uninteresting adventure film.
Bogart is great in this however, and encapsulates everything about his character. It is always fun to see Bogey in a different type of role, and here he does it marvellously. The chemistry between him and Hepburn is very good, which is essential considering they are the only two characters for the majority of the film. The location shooting is nice and gives it that extra touch of atmosphere, and the cinematography captures the landscape quite beautifully. The two lead characters have quite contrasting personalities which creates a lot of conflict, and continues to drive the film forward. One thing that struck me was how much comedy there is in this. A lot of the dialogue and situations are comical, and this adds to the variation of the film. However, there is a bit too much of everything. One could say this is a film that has everything, but sadly it is master of none. I don’t blame Huston’s directing, because for what it is it is impeccable for most of the time. However the script is too ambitious, and stretches in all directions at once. I don’t really like it when movies try to reach too far and miss the point in stead. A film can be better if it is concise and focused, although this is in no way a criterion. There are good films that have stretched far, but here it just isn’t executed as well as it might have been. It is different from many of the classic Hollywood films I’ve seen, but not always for the better.
An okay film that will entertain most. However I found there was too little to pick up here, the film remained too anonymous and hid behind a constant façade. It does a lot of things right, Bogey is good, Huston as always directs well, but the overall scope of the film looses sight and capsizes.
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