tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201660899514011402.post3370193670367887399..comments2024-03-25T06:50:31.379-05:00Comments on The War Movie Buff: #32 - The African Queen (1951)War Movie Buffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05999735218343872013noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201660899514011402.post-16371534080133508512019-11-06T22:23:51.020-06:002019-11-06T22:23:51.020-06:00Nicely stated. As far as the African perspective,...Nicely stated. As far as the African perspective, the movie would have been truly revolutionary if it had taken that approach at that time. But the book is no different on that.War Movie Buffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05999735218343872013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201660899514011402.post-73479738121084402282019-11-06T12:13:40.003-06:002019-11-06T12:13:40.003-06:00The "bible defeats booze" theme would po...The "bible defeats booze" theme would possibly have still been common enough among English Protestants at that time (maybe even moreso in remote areas) that Mr. Allnut might have been more susceptible to "reform" than he knew. Indeed, it's more than one hundred years later and the church I attend still has a strong anti-drink culture, to the extent that it's not even preached against. It's just ... not done, at least not in public, and new members seem to quickly take that on with the other cultural aspects of our style of worship.<br /><br />We do have alcoholics, who have additional reasons to try to avoid drinking. My guess is that Allnut was not an alcoholic.<br /><br />It would be interesting to make a sort of sequel to this movie from the perspective of the Germans: outnumbered and lacking resources but fighting heroically with occasionally questionable tactics, unexpectedly damaged by a couple of patriotic British civilians. It could also benefit from a bit of perspective from the Africans, drawn into a war that has little to do with them and for which there is no "great cause" to root or hope for, only the standard incentives that motivated soldiers since before the time that wars began to be fought for great causes. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201660899514011402.post-53431773151798868192018-05-21T06:30:12.947-05:002018-05-21T06:30:12.947-05:00I didn't read your review word for word, but w...I didn't read your review word for word, but what I read, I liked. Thank you.raywoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05411560299249509335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201660899514011402.post-5181661155737704822014-02-28T22:25:49.913-06:002014-02-28T22:25:49.913-06:00I am a strong believer that movies should be bette...I am a strong believer that movies should be better than the books they are based on.War Movie Buffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05999735218343872013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201660899514011402.post-47039718955821547002014-02-26T23:16:26.661-06:002014-02-26T23:16:26.661-06:00Showed it to my ten year old son a few years ago a...Showed it to my ten year old son a few years ago and he loved it. He really got that it was an adventure romance. The war theme is a conduit for the adventure. I think he also liked that Bogart was playing a Canadian (created a sense of identification for him). As for myself, I have been a fan of Forester's for about 35 years now and it took forever to get around to reading this one. You are right, the film is a definite improvement on the book.André7https://www.blogger.com/profile/04529840090218454738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201660899514011402.post-30806431437520680822012-08-02T21:07:16.655-05:002012-08-02T21:07:16.655-05:00Wartime romance is an appropriate subgenre, but mo...Wartime romance is an appropriate subgenre, but most of those do not have the action this movie has.War Movie Buffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05999735218343872013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201660899514011402.post-68771397480966688362012-08-02T18:24:04.580-05:002012-08-02T18:24:04.580-05:00I view it as a romance, admittedly a strange one, ...I view it as a romance, admittedly a strange one, set in wartime. While I liked the movie when I saw it a few years ago, I agree that Military History's decision to rank it higher than Casablanca is simply weird.historyonfilmhttp://www.historyonfilm.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201660899514011402.post-22035647954666904352012-07-28T09:08:42.368-05:002012-07-28T09:08:42.368-05:00I've seen a lot of screwball comedies and I...I've seen a lot of screwball comedies and I'm not sure I would put it in that subgenre. I really did not find much comedy in it. There is some comic relief. I am more comfortable with it as an action/romance. I actually thought the romance worked okay other than the time frame being too short.the war movie buffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201660899514011402.post-73267971559732549212012-07-28T08:58:47.331-05:002012-07-28T08:58:47.331-05:00I don't really see it as a war movie but as a ...I don't really see it as a war movie but as a movie with a war theme. I also think Casablanca is superior but I enjoyed African Queen much more than I though I would and even got Katherine Hepburn's memoir about the filming which is said to be very interesting. I wouldn't even call the movie a romance, it's s crewwball comedy which is soethign a bit different in my opinion. As a couple they don't really work, do they? that's often the case in screw ball comdies while the couples seem to have more chemistry in romances. <br />It's a weird list, that's for sure.allaboutwarmovieshttp://allaboutwarmovies.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201660899514011402.post-61640648041105324242012-07-27T21:34:48.675-05:002012-07-27T21:34:48.675-05:00Excellent points. I have to say that in my trek t...Excellent points. I have to say that in my trek through Military History magazine's greatest 100, there are several movies that are even less war movies than "The African Queen".the war movie buffnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7201660899514011402.post-33485074710063165292012-07-27T21:25:31.083-05:002012-07-27T21:25:31.083-05:00Another case of critics stretching the definition ...Another case of critics stretching the definition of a war movie to include what they wanted. And "Casablanca" does somehow seem more of a war movie than "The African Queen," although neither is "solidly in the genre." Maybe it's because "African Queen" emphasizes adventure and romance more, and the Germans appear in relatively few scenes. It was even unofficially remade as a Western, "Rooster Cogburn," with outlaws instead of Germans, proving that the war was not central to the plot. In "Casablanca," the Nazis are a menacing presence throughout the movie, and a lot of scenes involve the good guys trying to outwit them or escape from them. It would be hard to remake it as a Western. BTW, that poster does look like "Titanic" or "A Night to Remember."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com