Evening star., 1952-03-07


of the seasons major cinema
excitementS.
It is based ON c. s. Forrester's
tongue-in-cheek tale Of a fiercely
virginia. missionary and gin
soaked river boatman. No pair
ever lived q more tempestuous and
hilarious romance. Miss Hepburn
and Bogart give close to the best
performances Of their careers In
this game of anorous ping pong
in which every one emerges a
winner, most Of all "African
Queen" audiences.
The Aim was shot in Techni-
color against a vivid and varied
African river background. It is
o setting which is no small part
Of the excitement and delight Of
watching the fantastically differ
ent lovers capitulate to the
others deeply concealed charms.
Clearly Africa has so thoroughly
passed its recent series Of screen
tests that Hollywood will have to-
establish a huge branch office
there.
Like "The Beachcomber" Of
some years ago, "The African
Queen" is one Of those mismatingI
jekes designed to convulse vir-
tua1ly any reasonably adult movie
goer.
The time Of Forrester's story !,
adapted by James Agee and Hus-
ton, is World War I. Bogart. an
alcoholic with a sour and rumbling
stomach, ekes out an existence
by plying an up-country river In
q sputtering steam launch. When
. missionary outpost on his run
is plundered by bullying band
Of German soldiers, it is up to
him to rescue Miss Hepburn as
the posts sole survivor.
Never were two more unlikely
humans forced into a single small
boat for so long voyage through
D river jungleland. And never did
. director before Huston take
fuller advantage of such a situa-
tion to wrest the last ounce Of
humor and excitement out Of it.
y -
Almost the entire footage Of
"The African Queen" is devoted
to the voyage, acted exclusively
by Miss Hepburn and Bogart.
They play their respective parts
to the hilt; she q firm and fearful
virgin in terrifying predicament,
he a gin-soaked rogue who still
has enough pride to scorn q
woman like that.
Their first sharp difference
arises, however, not over the ques-
ton Of her honor and how to
protect it, but rather over who is
In charge of the expedition. His
idea is to get downstream as fast
as he can and unload his pas
senger at the first plausible place.
She, contrariwise, thinks the
Yickety launch should be converted
into a war craft destroying Ger
man military installations on the
way.
As, dominating, articulate wom-
en- might. Miss Hepburn over
powers the skipper on this score
Inspired by this victory, she goes
on to keep him sober by pouring
out two cases of gin, to keep him
in his place when it comes to
choosing sleeping quarters. and
finally to give him the queer
notion that it might be all right
to be a decent man again.
This latter requires both art
fulness and sacrifice, but the
majesty, solitude and loneliness OF
Africa inspire Miss Hepburn and
Bogart to whatever given occa-
sion calls for.
*A *i*
While the personal relations OF
the two voyagers principally oc-
cupy the cameras attention. the
journey is full Of exciting diver
sions. The river down which the
journey goes is a veritable hell
stream. 1t alternates with rapids
which look like the sheerest
suicide, and reed-grown. insect
infested marshes even more haz-
ardouS.
Thus after they have mastered
their problem of mutual honor
Miss Hepburn and Bogart are left
with several equally narrowing
physical dilemmas. Huston has in
serted these at intervals expertly