The African Queen
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VHS Movie Reviews of The African Queen
Movie Review: A CLASSIC, NEED I SAY MORE ?
Summary: 5 Stars
If you haven't seen this movie, YOU MUST BE LIVING IN A CAVE.This is one of the all time classic films and one that is a MUST HAVE. Sparks fly between Hepburn and Bogey and there is never a dull moment.
Movie Review: Where is the DVD??
Summary: 5 Stars
As an ardent fan of the African Queen, I beseech the movie studios to get going on a special edition with all of the extras, and pronto! This masterpiece of filmmaking gives us two of the best actors of all time, in a sweeping, gorgeously filmed story. Bogart and the brassy Hepburn together seek to escape the Nazis on a trip downriver. In some ways, this feels like the sequel to Casablanca (I see it that way). With a satisfying ending and sweat you can almost taste, this is a stunner from the old Hollywood system. Modern audiences expecting to see Apocalypse Now may be disappointed in the lack of eye candy, but this was made back in the day when the story mattered more than the artifice.
Peace.
Movie Review: You can get this movie on dvd ..
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a nice movie and while not compared with the action packed "Indiana Jones" I think it has some elemnts that were used in the later .Its quite good for its time , nice visuals yet sometimes documentry like footage was thrown in which I dislike .
My point here is to let you know that you don't have to wait until the studio decide to publish a dvd version ( could be never ) because there is already a R2 version of this movie at amazon.co.uk .
Movie Review: A classic worth seeing in spite some limitations
Summary: 4 Stars
Directed by John Huston from C.S. Forester's novel and adapted to the screen by James Agee, this 1951 film stars Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. It is set 1914 in an unnamed country in East Africa. Hepburn is an English spinster missionary whose brother dies as the result of a German raid. Bogart is a hard drinking Canadian riverboat captain who helps her get away on his 30-foot boat called "The African Queen". Hepburn is all spunk and spitfire and convinces Bogart attack the German ship. But before they do that that they have to travel the river and forced to overcome a variety of natural dangers. Hepburn faces these dangers as an equal partner to Bogart and not as some retiring and timid female. She steers the boat, dives underwater to make repairs, chops down tangled foliage with a machete and inspires Bogart with her courage. Naturally, they fall in love.Now, fifty years later, I look at this film with fresh perspective, especially since I had never seen it before. Bogart was 52 years old when it was made and was probably at the beginning of his illness. He just didn't seem to have the physical strength that the role called for or the good looks that made him so popular in his day. Perhaps it was the script, but some of his lines seemed awkward, and it surprised me that he won an academy award as Best Actor that year. Hepburn, who was 45 at the time, fared better. Her striking features, unique voice and personality added depth to her role. Both characters had to go through changes during the course of the film and, as it was a two-character movie, there was no break in their constant on-screen performances.
Doing the special effects for this film had to be challenging. Often, they didn't work for me. Perhaps this was because so much of the film depended on showing Bogart and Hepburn grappling with the natural forces around them. I guess the director did his best with the techniques available at the time, but I must say I was distracted from the performances because much of the setting just didn't seem real. I'm trying my best not to judge these special effects by contemporary standards, but I can't help it if I live in the year 2001. Even within its limitations though , I definitely recommend this film. It is a classic worth seeing and a part of film history.
Movie Review: A Gem
Summary: 5 Stars
It's been said that if you see a movie based on a novel first, then read the novel, it's impossible to visualize the characters in the latter being different from the way they appear in the movie. That's certainly the case here. Bogey and Kate are so definitively cast, as Charley and Rosie, that nobody else could take their places. This is one of those fims that should never be remade, simply because it couldn't be done any better. Robert Morley is excellent in a small but significant role as Rose's pompous and humorless missionary brother, and Peter Bull is perfect as a German officer. The ending is more upbeat than that of the C.S. Forester novel, and a little more farfetched, but it's a movie ending, and I have no complaints. This film has so much to love in it. Everybody should see 'The African Queen.' What a classic! (BL, Tucker, GA)