The African Queen, a 1951 adventure film starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, has captivated audiences for decades. Directed by John Huston, the film is adapted from the 1935 novel of the same name by C. S. Forester. The movie's story and the behind-the-scenes challenges during its production have added to its enduring appeal. Let's explore the various locations where this classic film was brought to life.
The African Queen is set in World War I East Africa, telling the tale of Canadian riverboat captain Charlie Allnut (Bogart) and his adventures with English missionary Rose Sayer (Hepburn), who persuades him to take his boat-The African Queen-up a dangerous river to attack a German gunship.
Hepburn and Bogart command the camera as iconic talents with passionate, energetic performances and gripping on-screen chemistry.
African Locations
The cast and crew assembled in Africa in December 1950, and much of the film was shot in Lake Albert, Uganda, and in the Belgian Congo in Africa. The doomed church and the village of Kungdu were built on the shore of Lake Albert at Port Butiaba, Uganda, up near the border with Democratic Republic of the Congo. This was particularly novel for the time, especially for a Technicolor picture that used large, cumbersome "Three-Strip" cameras.
The cast and crew endured sickness and spartan living conditions during their time on location. In the early scene in which Rose (Hepburn) plays an organ in the church, a bucket was placed off-camera in which she could vomit between takes because she was sick.
Read also: Filming The African Queen
You can stay at Paraa Safari Lodge, near the Falls.
A myth has grown that the scenes in the reed-filled riverbank were filmed in Dalyan, Turkey, but in her book about the filming, Hepburn stated: "We were about to head... back to Entebbe but John [Huston] wanted to get shots of Bogie and me in the miles of high reeds before we come out into the lake...". The sequence was shot on location in Africa and at the London studios.
The African Queen - True WW1 Story Behind The Film
Studio Filming in London
About half of the film was shot in the UK. Even so, much of the African jungle was recreated at Worton Hall Studios, Worton Road in Isleworth, southwest London. The scenes in which Bogart and Hepburn are seen in the water were all shot in studio tanks at Worton Hall Studios in Isleworth, near London. These scenes were considered too dangerous to shoot in Africa. All of the foreground plates for the process shots were also filmed in studio.
The interior of Robert Morley’s ‘First Methodist Church at Kungdu’ was built here, to match an exterior constructed in Africa.
Scenes on the boat were filmed using a large raft with a mockup of the boat on top. Sections of the boat set could be removed to make room for the large Technicolor camera. This proved hazardous on one occasion when the boat's boiler, a heavy copper replica, almost fell on Hepburn. It was not secured to the deck because it also had to be moved to accommodate the camera.
Read also: Experience Fad's Fine African Cuisine
The Real African Queen
The small steamboat used to depict the African Queen was built in 1912 in Britain for service in Africa. The African Queen itself wasn’t really blown up at all. One of the two boats used as the African Queen is actually the 35-foot (10 m) L.S. Livingston, which had been a working diesel boat for 40 years; the steam engine was a prop and the real diesel engine was hidden under stacked crates of gin and other cargo.
It still exists and you can see it at Key Largo, first of the Florida Keys on Route 1 at Florida’s southern tip. Florida attorney and Humphrey Bogart enthusiast Jim Hendricks Sr. purchased the boat in 1982 in Key Largo, Florida.
After falling into a state of disrepair following Hendricks' 2001 death, the ship was discovered rusting in a Florida marina in 2012 by Suzanne Holmquist and her engineer husband Lance.
The boat was restored in April 2012 and is docked next to the Holiday Inn in Key Largo, Florida.
Based on the 1935 novel by C.S. Forester, the film “The African Queen” stars Humphrey Bogart in his only Oscar-winning role as the rough boat captain Charlie Allnut.
Read also: The Story Behind Cachapas
Other Vessels
The vessel used to portray the German gunboat Königin Luise was the steam tug Buganda, owned and operated on Lake Victoria by the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation. Although fictional, the Königin Luise was inspired by the World War I vessel Graf Goetzen (also known as Graf von Goetzen), which operated on Lake Tanganyika until she was scuttled in 1916 during the Battle for Lake Tanganyika. The name Königin Luise was taken from a German steam ferry SS Königin Luise (1913) that operated from Hamburg before being taken over by the Kaiserliche Marine on the outbreak of World War I.
Reception and Legacy
The African Queen opened on December 26, 1951, at the Fox Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills in time to qualify for the 24th Academy Awards. Contemporary critical reviews were mostly positive. The film was a commercial success, grossing over $10 million on a $1 million budget.
The African Queen maintains an interesting legacy today. Hepburn also wrote about her experiences making The African Queen in The Making of the African Queen or How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind.
Behind the Scenes Challenges
The cast and crew assembled in Africa in December 1950, and much of the film was shot in Lake Albert, Uganda, and in the Belgian Congo in Africa. The cast and crew endured sickness and spartan living conditions during their time on location.
Shooting was slow going. There was a language barrier between the film people and the locals that led to wild misunderstandings.
