Editing The African Queen (film) (section)

== Production ==
[[File:Hepburn bogart african queen.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Hepburn and Bogart in a publicity still for the film]]
Production [[Film censorship in the United States|censors]] objected to several aspects of the original script, such as the two unmarried characters cohabiting the boat (as in the book), and some changes were made before the film was completed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://explore.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/show/censored/walkthrough/film1|title=University of Virginia Library Online Exhibits – CENSORED: Wielding the Red Pen|work=virginia.edu}}</ref> Another change followed the casting of Bogart; his character's lines in the original screenplay were rendered with a thick [[Cockney]] dialect, but the script had to be completely rewritten because he was unwilling to attempt the accent. The rewrite made the character Canadian.

The film was partially financed by [[John and James Woolf]] of Romulus Films, a British company. [[Michael Balcon]], an advisor to the [[National Film Finance Corporation]], advised the NFFC to refuse a loan to the Woolfs unless the film starred his former [[Ealing Studios]] actors [[John McCallum (actor)|John McCallum]] and [[Googie Withers]] rather than Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, whom the Woolfs wanted. The Woolfs persuaded NFFC chairman [[John Reith, 1st Baron Reith|Lord Reith]] to overrule Balcon, and the film went ahead.<ref>Sue Harper & Vincent Porter, British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference, OUP, 2007, p.12</ref> The Woolfs provided £250,000 and were so pleased with the completed film that they convinced John Huston to direct their next picture, ''[[Moulin Rouge (1952 film)|Moulin Rouge]]'' (1952).<ref name="tino">Tino Balio, ''United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry'', University of Wisconsin Press, 1987 p. 46</ref>

Much of the film was shot in [[Lake Albert (Africa)|Lake Albert]], [[Uganda]]  and in the [[Belgian Congo]] in Africa. This was rather novel for the time, especially for a [[Technicolor]] picture that used large, cumbersome "Three-Strip" cameras. The cast and crew endured sickness and spartan living conditions during their time [[Location shooting|on location]]. In the early scene in which Hepburn plays an organ in the church, a bucket was placed off-camera in which she could vomit between takes because she was sick. Bogart later bragged that he and Huston were the only members of the cast and crew who escaped illness, which he credited to having drunk [[Whisky|whiskey]] on location rather than the [[Waterborne diseases|local water]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://africanqueenflkeys.com/history.html|title=History of the African Queen|author=Web Designer Express and Web Design Enterprise|work=The African Queen}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://life.time.com/icons/humphrey-bogart-katharine-hepburn-filming-the-african-queen-1951/#1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130701022829/http://life.time.com/icons/humphrey-bogart-katharine-hepburn-filming-the-african-queen-1951/#1|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 1, 2013|title=Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn Filming 'The African Queen,' 1951|first=Ben |last=Cosgrove|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref>

[[File:The African Queen - trailer.ogv|thumb|upright=1.4|Film trailer]]
About half of the film was shot in the [[UK]]. The scenes in which Bogart and Hepburn are seen in the water were all shot in studio tanks at [[Worton Hall Studios]] in [[Isleworth]], near London. These scenes were considered too dangerous to shoot in Africa. All of the foreground plates for the process shots were also filmed in studio.<ref>Embracing Chaos: Making ‘The African Queen' a documentary film</ref> A myth has grown that the scenes in the reed-filled riverbank were filmed in [[Dalyan, Turkey]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043265/|title=The African Queen (1951)|author=Light Sword Of The Protector|date=20 February 1952|work=IMDb}}</ref> but in her book about the filming, Hepburn stated: "We were about to head... back to [[Entebbe]] but John [Huston] wanted to get shots of Bogie and me in the miles of high reeds before we come out into the lake...". The sequence was shot on location in Africa and at the London studios. The shots of the German-occupied Fort Shona were all filmed at Worton Hall, where a fortress [[Set (film and TV scenery)|set]] was constructed from tubular [[scaffolding]] and covered with [[plaster]].<ref name="Behlmer">{{cite book |last1=Behlmer |first1=Rudy |title=America's Favorite Movies: Behind the Scenes |date=1982 |publisher=F. Ungar Publishing Company |isbn=978-0-8044-2036-5 |page=250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6XFZAAAAMAAJ|access-date=8 March 2023 |language=en}}</ref>

Scenes on the boat were filmed using a large raft with a [[mockup]] of the boat on top. Sections of the boat set could be removed to make room for the large Technicolor camera. This proved hazardous on one occasion when the boat's boiler, a heavy copper replica, almost fell on Hepburn. It was not secured to the deck because it also had to be moved to accommodate the camera. The small steamboat used to depict the ''African Queen'' was built in 1912 in Britain for service in Africa. At one time it was owned by actor [[Fess Parker]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Interviews/Parker/interview_fess_parker.htm|title=MichaelBarrier.com -- Interviews: Fess Parker|work=michaelbarrier.com}}</ref> The boat was restored in April 2012 and is now on display as a [[tourist attraction]] in [[Key Largo]], [[Florida]].<ref>{{cite news|date=December 9, 2011|title=African Queen boat to be restored|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16108483}}</ref><ref name="CBS">{{cite news | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-african-queen-sets-sail-again/ | title=The African Queen sets sail again | date=April 13, 2012<!-- 3:23 PM -->| access-date=April 13, 2012 | work=CBS News}}</ref>

Because of the dangers involved with shooting the rapids scenes, a small-scale model was used in the studio tank in London. The vessel used to portray the German gunboat ''Königin Luise'' was the steam [[Tugboat|tug]] ''Buganda'', owned and operated on [[Lake Victoria]] by the [[East African Railways and Harbours Corporation]]. Although fictional, the {{lang|de|Königin Luise}} was inspired by the World War I vessel {{lang|de|[[Graf von Götzen|Graf Goetzen]]}} (also known as {{lang|de|Graf von Goetzen}}),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://edocs.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/volltexte/2001/8010385/original/Bild.jpg |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-08-25 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808051452/http://edocs.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/volltexte/2001/8010385/original/Bild.jpg |archive-date=2014-08-08 }}</ref> which operated on [[Lake Tanganyika]] until she was scuttled in 1916 during the [[Battle for Lake Tanganyika]]. The British refloated the {{lang|de|Graf Goetzen}} in 1924 and placed her in service on Lake Tanganyika in 1927 as the [[passenger ferry]] {{MV|Liemba}} and she is still operating with continuing maintenance agreed in 2023.<ref>{{citation |url=https://www.thecitizen.co.tz/tanzania/magazines/how-sh48-billion-contract-will-boost-tanganyika-victoria-transport-4442234 |title=How Sh48 billion contract will boost Tanganyika, Victoria transport |date=23 November 2023 |newspaper=The Citizen}}</ref>

The name ''Königin Luise'' was taken from a German steam [[ferry]] {{Ship|SS|Königin Luise (1913)}} that operated from [[Hamburg]] before being taken over by the {{lang|de|[[Kaiserliche Marine]]}} on the outbreak of World War I. She was used as an auxiliary [[minelayer]] off Harwich before being sunk on 5 August 1914 by the cruiser {{HMS|Amphion|1911|6}}.<ref name="Details">[https://german-navy.de/hochseeflotte/ships/minelayers/koniginlouise/index.html Details on the ''Königin Luise'']</ref>

A persistent rumour holds that London's [[Feral parakeets in Great Britain|population]] of [[feral]] [[Rose-ringed parakeet|ring-necked parakeets]] originated from birds that escaped or were released during filming of ''The African Queen''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/nature-studies-london-s-beautiful-parakeets-have-a-new-enemy-to-deal-with-10305901.html|title=Nature Studies: London's beautiful parakeets have a new enemy to deal with|website=[[Independent.co.uk]]|date=8 June 2015}}</ref>