The African Queen - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The African Queen or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The African Queen

[janice]

A myth has grown that the scenes in the reed-filled riverbank were filmed in Dalyan, Turkey. However, Katharine Hepburn's published book (p. 118) on the filming states, 'We were about to head . . . back to Entebbe [Uganda], but [John Huston] wanted to get shots of Bogie [Humphrey Bogart] and me in the miles of high reeds before we come out into the lake . . . ". The reeds sequence was thus shot on location in Africa (Uganda and Congo) and studios in London.

[javier]

The boat used as "The African Queen" was built in England in 1912 and used by the British East Africa Company from 1912-68 to shuttle passengers and cargo across Lake Albert (on the border between Uganda and Belgian Congo). It is now located in Key Largo, FL.

[victoria]

Co-scriptwriter Peter Viertel used his experiences from being on location in Africa in his novel "White Hunter Black Heart". It was made into a motion picture in 1990, White Hunter Black Heart (1990), starring and directed by Clint Eastwood.

[javier]

The vessel used to portray the German gunboat Königin Luise in the film was the steam tug Buganda, owned and operated on Lake Victoria by East African Railways & Harbours. Although fictional, the Königin Luise was inspired by the German 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 British refloated the Graf Goetzen in 1924 and placed her in service on Lake Tanganyika in 1927 as the passenger ferry MV Liemba, and she remains in active service there as of 2015.

[kim]

In the film Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn sail along Ulonga-Bora River to a lake. The actual Ulonga (Ulanga)-Bora River does not run to any lake but to the Indian Ocean. The river has been renamed the Rufiji and it is quite similar to the fictional counter world-river in the movie with its massive delta at the end.

[bernice]

"The African Queen" sank and had to be raised twice during filming of the movie. Lauren Bacall is quoted as saying, "The natives had been told to watch it and they did. They watched it sink."

[terry]

With the death of Theodore Bikel on July 21, 2015, 63 years and 4 months after the films premier, all the cast members have now passed away.

[beth]

When John Huston accepted the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1983, he told the following anecdote: "I remember the Congolese soldiers appearing one day at the compound we were building, that was to lodge the company when it came. They arrested our native hunter, whose task it had been to furnish the ever-bubbling pot with meat from the forest. It was some days before we learned why. Villagers had been missing. Along with the deer, guinea-hen and monkey, we had been eating what is euphemistically called 'long pig'." A cut to Robert Mitchum in the audience shows him delightedly mouthing the last two words, as if this is an anecdote he has heard Huston tell many times. In the documentary Embracing Chaos: Making the African Queen (2010), assistant director Guy Hamilton calls the story "Absolute bullshit".

[mathew]

While filming the "leeching" scene, Humphrey Bogart insisted on using rubber leeches. John Huston refused, and brought a leech-breeder to the London studio with a tank full of them. It made Bogart queasy and nervous, qualities Huston wanted for his close-ups. Ultimately, rubber leeches were placed on Bogart, and a close-up of a real leech was shot on the breeder's chest.

[willard]

For the temporary production headquarters, John Huston set up shop in Kindu (then called Ponthierville), which was little more than a collection of tin-roofed huts at the end of a small railway line that carried river cargo to and from the nearest town, Stanleyville. Huston hired locals to clear an area and build a camp for the production within eight days. There were makeshift dorms, bungalows, offices, a storage hut, makeup hut, a dining area and, of course, a bar. With added cots, chairs and mosquito netting, the camp was ready for habitation just prior to the arrival of the rest of the cast and crew. It would prove to be an adventure of a lifetime for all involved.

[eli]

In the 1970s Viacom, then just a television syndication company, acquired the US rights to the film. It immediately licensed video rights to Magnetic Video, which soon merged with 20th Century Fox- In 1994, Viacom purchased Paramount Pictures and the film was incorporated into Paramount's library. Fox continued to hold video rights until 1997. Paramount did not issue the film on video until 2009, when a newly-restored version was released on DVD and Blu-ray.

[victoria]

John Huston didn't trust Sam Spiegel and instructed his agent get him out of his contract with Horizon Films--Spiegel's company--thereby surrendering his percentage of the film's progress. Huston regretted it, as withdrawing from the deal cost him millions. The same can be said for cinematographer Jack Cardiff, who opted for a straight salary rather than a percentage. Spiegel made a fortune, as the film went on to be a huge hit.