Love Fest February

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 The African Queen (1951 US). Humphrey Bogart and Captain Janeway, whoops I mean Katherine Hepburn star in this classic about a spinster missionary who talks a river boat captain into taking a trip up the river and to destroy a German gunship. Based on the novel of the same name. Like a lot of films of the day they bickered a lot. I wonder if relationships at the time were like that. But they did get their poo poo together to survive the African river and the Germans and to fall in love. Eventually they stopped bickering. The implication throughout the film was that god was on their side for this mission because of Hepburn’s faith. This is one of my favorites. It was nominated for an Oscar in multiple categories and Bogie won for best actor. I’m really surprised though that director John Houston didn’t win in his category cuz that was a hard shoot. There was some criticism that the film shot in Africa, had no people of color in it. While that is true it did not have many people in it at all. The majority of the film was these two on the boat. Bogie and Bacall were well into their marriage and she was hanging out on set with their son Steve (named after Bogies character in To Have and Have Not). Apparently, she was not too thrilled about that. The Library of Congress has chosen this film for preservation for future generations. Find it for rent on most streaming.

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