African Queen

Horizon Pictures, (1951) Color, 105 Min's

The time 1914, the place Africa, the people, Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. Kate Hepburn plays a middle aged missionary, in Africa with her brother. Humphrey Bogart plays a man who runs his old tub, between there camp and other camps bringing them mail and news from the outside world. One day he brings them news of war. (Hepburn and her brother are British) and the news that the Germans are close at hand and he has to leave soon because they are on the lookout for his boat. He leaves and soon after the village is raided and burned, Rosie's(Hepburn) brother dies. She's stuck she must go with the dirty ill-mannered boat operator to escape the Germans.

Trivia:

In "The Making of the African Queen, Katharine Hepburn details John Huston's obsession with hunting. One day he convinced Hepburn to join him, and inadvertently led her into the middle of a herd of wild animals. They barely escaped.   

While filming the scene where Charlie finds his body covered with leeches, Humphrey Bogart insisted on using rubber leeches. John Huston refused, and brought a leech-breeder to the London studio with a tank full of them. It 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.

According to Katharine Hepburn's autobiography, John Huston initially found her performance too serious-minded. One day, he visited her hut and suggested that she model her performance on Eleanor Roosevelt; putting on her "society smile" in the face of all adversity. After Huston left, Hepburn sat for a moment before deciding, "That is the best piece of direction I have ever heard."
 

According to cameraman Jack Cardiff, Katharine Hepburn was so sick with dysentery during shooting of the church scene that a bucket was placed off camera because she vomited constantly between takes. Cardiff called her "a real trouper." In "The Making of The African Queen" Hepburn said she rushed for the outhouse only to find a black mamba inside, then ran to the trees.

'The African Queen' sank and had to be raised twice during filming of the movie. Lauren Bacall quoted "The natives had been told to watch it and they did. They watched it sink."

Lauren Bacall famously ventured along for the filming in Africa to be with husband Humphrey Bogart. She played den mother during the trip, making camp and cooking. This also marked the beginning of her life-long friendship with Katharine Hepburn.   

Katharine Hepburn's first color film.