Agee, Huston and The African Queen

Written by …

James Agee

"His regard for other people’s feelings was unique in my experience. I don’t believe is was because he was afraid of hurting them, and certainly it had nothing to do with gaining in anyone’s estimation. It was simply that his soul rejoiced when he could say yes and mean it to something someone else believed in." -John Huston (Agee on Film)

Reviewing Vincente Minnelli’s 1945 masterpiece of impulsive romance, James Agee began, "The Clock (MGM) at its best, is so good that it inspires ingratitude for not being great." Agee’s lyrical profundity was as entertaining to read as it was astute. In an era before the endless abyss of PR shtick and kiss-ass reviews supplanted the loftier ethics of film-criticism, Agee was the high water mark. Writing for Time and The Nation only seven brief years in the nineteen-forties, he introduced the modern form of criticism still in use, and influenced generations of writers.
By 1948, Agee was dividing his time between freelance journalism and screenwriting. His 1949 Life magazine cover story, Comedy’s Greatest Era, remains among the finest essays ever written on silent film. Agee’s genuine admiration of talent, and effusively positive means of expression, resulted in numerous, abiding friendships. Only recently discovered, Agee wrote The Tramp’s New World, a post-apocalyptic fantasy, for Charles Chaplin, whom he fearlessly defended during the HUAC lunacy that eventually forced Chaplin from the country.
Agee wrote screenplays for two of the most enduring films produced in the nineteen-fifties, The African Queen (1951), and The Night of the Hunter (1955). The latter was directed by Charles Laughton, who lived up to his onerous reputation, and Agee’s participation ended in his acrimonious departure. Laughton claimed (after Agee’s unfortunate death at 45) that little of the writer’s work survived in the final version of the film. The Night of the Hunter would later be considered a groundbreaking film, through its use of minimalist production design, unforgettable performances (Lillian Gish, Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters), and resonating moral message.

Agee was far more successful collaborating with director John Huston on The African Queen. The film garnered several Oscar nominations, including best screenplay, and won for best actor (Humphrey Bogart). Huston and Agee, who became great friends, shared screenwriting duties in the adaptation of C. S. Forester’s novel.
What remains clear today is the brilliance and insight with which Agee presented film analysis in a thoughtful, entertaining and informative manner, and the magic of his words on the printed page. His aspirations as a screenwriter, while depriving readers of his film criticism, were understandable given his immense talent, though unfortunate, considering his abbreviated life.

Directed by …

John Huston (1951)

"When Claire Trevor, starting work in Key Largo, asked for a few pointers, he told her, ‘You’re the kind of drunken dame whose elbows are always a little too big, your voice is a little too loud, you’re a little to polite. You’re very sad, very resigned. Like this,’ he said, for short, and leaned against the bar with a peculiarly heavy, gentle disconsolateness. It was the leaning she caught onto (though she also used everything he said); without further instruction of any kind, she took an Oscar for her performance." –James Agee (Life Magazine)

The son of an itinerate stage actor and a newspaper correspondent, John Huston was a sickly child, dividing his time between divorced parents, bouncing from boarding school to fleabag hotel room. He became amateur lightweight boxing champion of California in his teens, and by twenty-one a lieutenant in the Mexican Cavalry. While in Mexico Huston wrote a book, it was published, and he leveraged this early success into a Hollywood screenwriting contract, which eventually led to directing. His origins explain Huston’s affinity for great writers. Throughout his career he collaborated with Truman Capote, James Agee, Arthur Miller, and developed films based on the works of Kipling, Melville, Joyce, and many others.
Huston made his directing debut in spectacular fashion with The Maltese Falcon (1941). During his World War II military service, Huston directed a documentary account of the Battle for San Pietro (1945), depicting the conflict with such jarring reality Army censors cut it to half its original length. Even then the film evoked such a strong anti-war sentiment it remained unseen until years later.
Huston’s greatest success brought him two Oscars and a plumb role for his aging father Walter, as the crotchety prospector in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). Starring Huston’s favorite actor, Humphrey Bogart, it was their fourth of eight films together. "Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no stinking badges!"
Key Largo (1948) later that year was a tour-de-force for claustrophobic gangster Edward G. Robinson, with an all-star cast, again featuring Bogart, Laurel Bacall, and Lionel Barrymore. Claire Trevor won an Oscar for her portrayal of Gaye Dawn, a pathetic, over-the-hill, alcoholic gun moll.
The Asphalt Jungle (1950), based on a novel by W. R. Burnett, was a noir thriller about a jewel heist gone bad, starring Sterling Hayden and Sam Jaffe. It was followed by …

The African Queen (1951)
Wednesday, February 14, 5:00 & 7:30pm
The Historic Lynwood Theater, Bainbridge Island

Based on a novel by C. S. Forester, The African Queen (1951) is the story of two irascible misfits, thrown together by adversity, forced to reconcile their considerable differences for the sake of justice and survival, who inexplicably end up falling in love. Set in Africa as the first World War begins, German troops destroy the missionary outpost of Reverend Samuel Sayer (Robert Morley) and his sister Rose (Katherine Hepburn). Their only contact with civilization is Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart), the seedy pilot of their supply boat. When Charlie finds Rose in the burnt out settlement after her brother has died, he takes her on board to avoid capture, and what begins as a plan to simply ‘hide’ becomes a mission of heroism. Charlie suffers Rose’s starchy spinsterhood, while Rose comes to terms with Charlie’s crude, slovenly behavior and drunkenness, as their humorous journey reaches its harrowing and memorable conclusion.

Hepburn on location

Rarely do combinations of story, production and talent line up with results as wonderful as The African Queen. Two of Hollywood’s finest actors, well into middle age, were perfectly cast as disparaged, alien opposites, with utterly hysterical and ultimately sweet results. Directed by an emerging Hollywood master, photographed by a stalwart of British Cinema (Jack Cardiff), adapted from the novel by a genius of film commentary and screenwriting (James Agee), the enduring popularity of The African Queen fifty years on confirms why this film's place in American culture is as certain as water is wet.