Eye Candy #234 - "The African Queen"

The African Queen:  Anyone who knows me knows I’ve waited a long time to see this movie (and my rant that with its first DVD release in March 2010 it will have arrived AFTER all of Pauly Shore‘s oeuvre made it to DVD), and this is a perennial member of any “Best of All Time” list.  And I can say that, well, after having finally seen it, I’m a little under whelmed.  Perhaps I was expecting the scope and sweep of “Casablanca” or “The Godfather”, something truly exceptional.  And while “The African Queen” is a good movie, it hasn’t aged well.  The largest part of the problem is the story and script - the plot about a Canadian barge pilot and a female missionary plotting to blow up a German warship on an African lake during World War I comes across incredibly bland, with the two characters rushing from casual acquaintance to newlyweds within the span of a few days like you would expect in a romantic comedy from the same era. The dialogue doesn’t communicate the tension you would expect if one was planning a suicide sabotage mission.   So the source material, not all that strong.  The acting of Hepburn and Bogart is fine, given what they have to work with but it’s hardly the best of each.  I can name half-a-dozen roles that showcased each better.   I just have a hard time getting around the plot contrivances, like miraculous rainstorms that arrive just in time to free the African Queen from mud - if this film had been made in the 30’s and 40’s, it would be easier to swallow.  For what is, it wasn’t really worth my wait.  Well-made, but not spectacular and not one of the greatest of all time.  Woodchuck sez, “Was hoping for more and didn’t get it.”