The African Queen is the kind of movie I
remember watching with my grandmother when I was a little girl. It is based off
of a novel by the same name, which was written by C.S. Forester. The film
begins in a missionary church in Africa with our female lead, Rose Sayer,
playing the organ during a service. The service finally ends when our male
lead, Charlie Allnut, interrupts the service with a mail delivery. However,
when German troupes destroy the village and capture the natives, causing Rose’s
brother to have a mental breakdown and pass away, Charlie takes Rose off on his
boat, The African Queen, to hide out until the trouble has passed.
Unsurprisingly, things don’t stay calm for very long as Rose comes up with the
mad idea to use The African Queen and some homemade torpedoes to destroy The
Queen Louisa, a German gunboat, in the name of Brittan. As Charlie and Rose
travel down an extremely dangerous portion of the river, the two slowly begin
to fall in love with each other, despite being polar opposites. When the pair
finally make it to their destination, they are caught by the Germans before
they are able to carry out their plan. In the grand finale the lovers ask to be
married before being hung, however, they are rescued just before their
execution when the remnants of The African Queen, fit with torpedoes rigged up
by Charlie, hitting the side of the very ship they are on. Charlie and Rose
escape unscathed and swim to shore to begin their new life together. The African Queen is an old fashioned
romance about two very different people, but its graphics definitely show its
age.
The African Queen isn’t quite Hallmark
levels of sweetness in its portrayal of romance, but its close…and that isn’t a
bad thing. It was made back when people thought a little bit differently about
love. Despite Charlie’s crass nature, he still treats Rose like a lady from the
very beginning. He brings the mail to Rose and her brother whenever it comes
in, helps Rose burry her brother after he passes, and even lets Rose sleep
under roofed part of the boat, which has been sectioned off for decency’s sake,
at night. It is during this first night of sectioned off sleeping quarters that
the two begin to open up to one another. When it begins pouring down rain,
Charlie tries his hardest to sleep through it, but eventually gives in and
sneaks under the roof where Rose is sleeping, scaring her witless. After
initially kicking him out, Rose takes pity on the sopping wet Charlie and,
after making herself decent, allows him to come inside and sleep on top of a
wide shelf under the roof. When he is still getting wet from being so close to
the edge of the boat, Rose gives Charlie her umbrella to help keep him dry. As
the film continues it becomes apparent that the term, “opposites attract” is
anything but a new subject when it comes to romance on the silver screen. At
the beginning of the film, Rose seems to be an uptight, ladylike, conservative
woman with very little tolerance for men like Charlie. However, as the film
continues she surprises both Charlie and the viewer by revealing that she may,
indeed, be a touch insane. It is Rose’s idea to rig up homemade torpedoes to
The African Queen and hurtle it toward the German gunship in the name of
Brittan. It is Rose who insists on traveling down the most dangerous part of the
river, then gets an adrenaline rush from steering the boat over the rapids. In
part, it may be this wilder side of Rose that attracts Charlie initially.
However, Rose’s willingness to get her hands dirty and work hard to accomplish
her goals may also be a feature Charlie finds attractive. Although Charlie’s
character does not change very much throughout the film, he does become much
gentler toward Rose and even, eventually, wants to see her accomplish her goal
even though he finds it completely ridiculous. He makes Rose tea when she finds
his combination of alcohol and river water unappealing, is fairly understanding
when she dumps said alcohol over the side of the boat and into the river, and
is even the one to suggest that they get married before they are hung to death
by the Germans. Rose and Charlie’s romance is very innocent and very sweet,
never going beyond more than a kiss. Despite its relatively simple appearance,
I believe that Rose and Charlie’s romance is one of the better relationships to
appear on screen.
Despite
its wonderfully constructed romance, The
African Queen does have its flaws. First, being an older film, its special
effects do not hold up especially well today. They are by no means terrible,
but they do not hold up the same illusion of reality as I imagine they once
did. There were several instances where it was very obvious that the projections
behind the actors where just that: projections. There was also one very
immersion breaking scene where Rose and Charlie are suddenly swarmed by
insects. However, these insects were nothing more than a series of blotches
flashing across the screen. It was difficult to take the scene seriously as,
with the film’s improved clarity on DVD, these blotches did not resemble flying
insects in the slightest. Something else I noticed about the film was that its
moments of purposeful suspense were not all that suspenseful, while other
scenes that may not have been intended to be suspenseful built tension
perfectly. For instance, not once did I find myself worried or concerned for
Charlie and Rose while they went over the rapids, while they were being shot at
by soldiers, or when they were about to be hung. Instead, I felt the most
concern during the film’s quieter scenes. When The African Queen became stuck
in the mud and Rose and Charlie were working to get it unstuck I felt genuine
concern for both of them. There was no music and there was hardly any dialogue
at all during this scene. This scene transitioned perfectly into the next with
Rose getting on her knees and praying to the Lord, not to be saved from the
perilous situation she finds herself in, but that she and Charlie would be
welcomed into His kingdom should they die. This was the only scene in the
entire movie that made me truly fear that the two of them would not make it out
alive.
Despite
its very few flaws, The African Queen
was an absolutely charming and family friendly film. While I doubt that many
members of my generation will choose to watch this delightful movie, I think
that those who do stand a very good chance of enjoying it at least a little
bit. This film had so much heart, good will, and downright fun in it that I
look forward to sharing it with my own family someday. While the film’s slower
pace, older graphics, and old fashioned romance may not be exactly what viewers
are asking for today, I think we all could stand to watch more films like The African Queen.