John Huston was responsible for directing some legendary films during the 1940s all the way up into the 1960s. Some of his iconic films are: The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Moby Dick. Considered his seminal work, The African Queen, was released in 1951. With a reputation for maintaining a high level of consistency between his films, Huston certainly adhered to his modus operandi for this movie.
Throughout his films, Huston demonstrates a preoccupation with failure. He places his characters in impossible situations and allows them to fail. In The African Queen, Rose and Charlie decide to blow up the German boat which remains near the village. Rose has no experience with warfare or strategy; she's a missionary. While Charlie may be an experienced ship's captain, he is not a soldier. Both are outgunned by their unwitting opponent. Their only advantage is surprise. This premise is exactly aligned with Huston's typical film scenario. In this movie, however, the heroes are successful, in a way, because they are eventually responsible for blowing up the German boat.
Huston is also recognized for addressing religion in his films. This movie is no exception. At the outset of the film, viewers see Rose and her brother living in the village as missionaries. Samuel cannot deal with the trauma of seeing the Nazis destroy the village without warning, and ends up killing himself. Rose on the other hand holds onto her faith. With the intention of bringing faith back to herself and the people, she determines to both survive the resulting predicament she finds herself in alone and avenge the deaths for which the Germans are responsible. She reads her Bible every day, a habit which Charlie finds infuriating, yet her commitment to her religious beliefs is enduring. She remains a formidable Christian figure throughout the movie.
Another classic characteristic of Huston's films is to portray his characters realistically as people. They make mistakes. They face adversity or avoid it. Most importantly, they participate in the meta-narrative of life. In The African Queen, Rose and Charlie do all of these things. While set in an exotic, somewhat unbelievable location, the film still maintains touch with reality because the characters feel so real. They respond to stimuli in very human ways, getting angry or afraid or by laughing. Their stories neither begin nor end with the events of the movie.
