The African Queen: I Don't Get It

I forced myself to sit through The African Queen this weekend, a film from 1951 starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn that was filmed mostly in Africa with studio shots in London. In years past, I've started to watch it knowing that it's supposed to be one of the greatest movies of all time. Boy, my taste buds sure weren't having any of this film. I kept thinking it would get better but it just slogged on and on. I wish I could sue someone for the two hours of my life I'll never get back.

Can someone please tell me what everyone sees/saw in Ms. Hepburn? I've seen her in four movies now and honestly I think she's a crappy actress. It's the same wooden personality. She's delivering the lines as an actress, not speaking them as a character. I don't get it. I think Candice Bergen went to the Katharine Hepburn school of acting.

For The African Queen, she was nominated for her fifth Best Actress Academy Award, losing to Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire. Humphrey Bogart won Best Actor.

Hepburn won her second Best Actress Oscar for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner where she was the worst of the six primary players. Heck, I think Louise "Wheezy" Jefferson (Isabel Sanford) out-acted her as the maid in that one!

The only role I've seen her in where I actually enjoyed her performance was in On Golden Blonde Pond where she won another Oscar. I think that's simply because the role fit the acting rather than her delivering a special performance.

It'll be a long time before I see another of her other movies.
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The Emotionally Retarded Monarch...I Mean The Queen

** SPOILER ALERT **

Went to see The Queen with A Work In Progress yesterday. I'm sad to report I was a bit disappointed in the movie. Perhaps it was that my expectations had been set so high. Or that the main characters were so unsympathetic. It was worth the price of a matinee ticket, and kept me interested throughout, but it just didn't connect with me.

The story centers around the British monarchy, particular Queen Elizabeth II, and their reaction to the death of Prince Diana. It really is an interesting study into what was going on behind the walls of Balmoral Castle and the hazards of poor public relations. I found out that the royals aren't likable at all ("a'tall" in the Queen's English). The woman puts mourning a stag over a human and can't understand why she no longer connects with her subjects.

James Cromwell played Elizabeth II's husband Prince Philip. Better know as Farmer Hoggett in BABE, I kept wanting to shout out "That'll do pig!" whenever they were on screen together and the queen said something unfeeling and/or obnoxious.

It was up for six Oscars last night:

Best Picture
Stephen Frears — Best Director
Helen Mirren — Leading Actressˆ º
Alexandre Desplat — Score
Consolata Boyle — Costume Design
Peter Morgan — Writing, Original Screenplay

ˆAcademy Award winner
º I don't really follow the whole fashion and red carpet drama, but I did think that Helen Mirren was the best dressed of the night.

Tomorrow I will recount my trip to London just two weeks after Princess Diana's death.
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