[THE AFRICAN QUEEN screens Friday April 8th at 9 pm, Saturday April 9th at 7:25 pm, and Sunday April 10th at 4 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review by Charles Cassady Jr.
I think I actually first saw John Huston's romantic-comedy-adventure classic on a big screen as a 16mm treat in elementary school. I fear to think what today's elementary schoolers get to watch at assembly these days. Probably R-rated Judd Apatow-Farrelly Brothers comedies about overly dramatic black transexuals (by stunning coincidence, also entitled THE AFRICAN QUEEN). I can't say I remember how this 1951 great went over with the rest of the juvenile audience, the future Cuyahoga County employees and up-and-coming alcoholics who were my peers. But I sorta liked it then, and with time and maturity I really like it now. It still plays nicely, this legendary, much-imitated romantic adventure teaming Hollywood legends Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.
Review by Charles Cassady Jr.
I think I actually first saw John Huston's romantic-comedy-adventure classic on a big screen as a 16mm treat in elementary school. I fear to think what today's elementary schoolers get to watch at assembly these days. Probably R-rated Judd Apatow-Farrelly Brothers comedies about overly dramatic black transexuals (by stunning coincidence, also entitled THE AFRICAN QUEEN). I can't say I remember how this 1951 great went over with the rest of the juvenile audience, the future Cuyahoga County employees and up-and-coming alcoholics who were my peers. But I sorta liked it then, and with time and maturity I really like it now. It still plays nicely, this legendary, much-imitated romantic adventure teaming Hollywood legends Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.