Unit 9: World War I (1914-1918)

Movie Settings:




The movie I picked for this unit was the African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The movie was released in the UK and the United States in 1951 and was released in 1952 to be nominated for the Oscars. The African Queen went on to be nominated for four times and won Best Actor. This movie was directed by John Huston and the movie is based off the book of the same name. This movie is now considered a classic and was number 17 for AFI's 100 Greatest Movies of All Times.







Plot:


The movie starts off with Samuel (Robert Morley) and Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn) in West Africa in 1914. Sam and Rose are both brother and sister missionaries and trying to spread the knowledge of God to villages and tribes. One day their mailman (Humphrey Bogart) tells them that the German's are at war with the English, and that German's are nearby. German troops come and destroy the village and Samuel ends up dieing. The rest of the movie is Rose and Charlie trying to find and destroy the German boat and help out the country of England. Through out the movie, you find Rose and Charlie fall in love and in the end, they get married right before their execution.



Actors:


Katharine Hepburn was an alright actress in this movie. She plays an English woman, and I think she did a bad job at that. Her accent sounded fake and sounded like an elderly woman, then of an English. Other then that, she did great. A scene that highlights her performance was when her brother passed away, and Charlie comes to comfort her, and she looks like she wants to cry, but is holding it in. Humphrey Bogart also did a great job in this movie, he drank some Gin and was wasted in one scene. A scene that is quite remember able was when he was pushing the boat, and a bunch of leeches were stuck to his skin.


Presentation:



Presentation for this movie was excellent. Most of the scenes were shot in Africa, and the movie got the real authentic West African plains and rivers. The animals in the movie were also fantastic and were not fake robots or puppets, like other movies from that era. So this movie came alive really well.


What Happened during this Era ?



Well during this era, World War I was in full effect and all of Europe were fighting. The United States did not join in until 1917 and the war ended the following year. Many young men were being sent to the army and there were many of young men being forced into the army by posters and art works that promoted the war. Also, in the United States, there was an epidemic, about 500,000 people died, from a strange disease that came and disappeared.



Comparison:



When comparing the movie and the actual time era, you get a whole lot of new facts and thoughts about the war. For example, the German's were taking African's and were turning them into soldiers. The German's were everywhere and of course Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn character's wanted to get back at them for what they had started.


What Have I learned ?


I have learned that America entered the War in 1917 and finished the war in 1918. I had always thought that the America was in the war from the start and lost billions of lives. I guess it looks like my thought was wrong. Also, people suffered alot during the War, just like the people of Africa, losing their village and being forced to become a soldier for a country they did not care about .