Word: hepburn
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...odyssey of cockney mechanic Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) and missionary Rose (Katharine Hepburn) down uncharted African waters suggests tense comedy-melodrama: they must, after all, evade rifle fire, skirt rapids, fix boilers, swat flies, brave swamps, remove leeches, blow up German cruisers, and fall in love. Regardless, Huston injects the action with mechanical uncaring: Allnut and Rose talk genially in medium close shot, one of them looks off-screen, says "Look!", and Huston cuts to what they see; he resorts to this lethargic montage in introducing enemy troops, the fort, all rapids, and the boat Louisa. The repetition of dramatic technique...
...Huston simply fails to give either Bogart or Hepburn enough to do in The African Queen. The romance pastoral is established, but only at the expense of character development: Huston piles close-ups of Bogart and Hepburn on top of one another, all impeccably framed by Cardiff, all suggesting nothing more than bovine contentment. Ultimately, the comic timing of Huston and his actors save The African Queen from tedium: Hepburn's superb reactions to Bogart's gin-swilling equal Bogart's own anguish at watching her dispose of it, bottle by bottle. Lines in the printed script easily passed...
...theme through characterization and narrative. In The African Queen, the pretentions of melodrama cancel-out the element of romance, providing only an irritating absence of clarity of purpose. Considering its creators, The African Queen represents a sad, if entertaining, meeting of people whose careers were moving downhill. Bogart and Hepburn had made by far their best films, she for Cukor and Bogart for Hawks; Huston's reputation as a director grew deservedly tarnished, and the best of his later films (Moby Dick, The Misfits) were critical failures; only Agee, in writing The Night of the Hunter, managed...
Innocence is based on a 1964 story by Noel Coward, but Director Guy Green obviously hoped to create a younger Singapore version of Summertime, in which Katharine Hepburn found unhappiness in the arms of Rossano Brazzi. To that end, the action is clotted with well-photographed local color-teeming bazaars, sinful side streets, tourist-trap luxury. Unfortunately, though, no amount of lively scenery can make up for the scenario, and on-camera at least, the nubile Miss Mills is not much more plausible as a sex symbol than her unfortunate aunt...
...Academy Award nominations are usually like a children's party: hardly anyone goes home without a gift. This year, favors were distributed liberally to some older participants: Katharine Hepburn (best actress) for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; Dame Edith Evans (best actress) for The Whisperers. Younger guests were also smiled upon: Hollywood Newcomers Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross for best actor and supporting actress (The Graduate...