Blu-Ray Review: The African Queen

1951
Directed By John Huston

When a studio owns a film it didn't make, it treats it much like the cliched red-headed stepchild. There are few exceptions to this rule (Warner Brothers owns the MGM and much of the RKO libraries and treats them with respect) but every other studio seems to follow this adage.
The African Queen was an independent production that wound up being owned by Paramount Pictures. Fox Video gave it a VHS release in the early days of home video and repackaged it a few times over the years before Paramount acquired it. When DVD came on the scene in the late 1990s, the film frequently could be seen in "Why Isn't This On DVD?" lists... but never on disc... despite being the only film featuring the pairing of two of Hollywood's all-time great stars Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. By 2009, the film needed major restoration and Paramount ponied up the money to put the classic out in high-def.


The image quality varies but is never bad. Between 50-75% of the footage was shot on location in Africa. The daytime shots are the best looking of any in the film. The colors and image clarity are as vivid as any modern film, yet it still has that classic Technicolor look.
The rest of the film was shot on sound stages in England. The images are far grainier and lack the pop of the sun's light.
The African Queen also featured early green-screen work that was glaringly bad in the original release, which has been painstakingly fixed to make it palatable to modern audiences.
Though the on location/studio footage is definitely noticeable, it is not distracting enough to pull you out of the film.

Included is a new hour-long documentary detailing the making of the film.

It is great to finally have one of the great classics in high-def, looking better than ever.















There is also a more deluxe version that contains a reproduction of  Katherine Hepburn's book on the making of the film and a few other goodies.