The short book, full of photographs (not movie stills), is loaded with charm. In a few, well-chosen words, Hepburn captures the personalities of those involved in making the movie, including director John Huston and producer Sam Spiegel. Her descriptions are often blunt, but never more so than when writing about herself. She calls herself an "old fusspot" at one point and says she "looked like a very freckled female impersonator."
About Bogart she says, "To put it simply: There was no bunk about Bogie. He was a man." As for Lauren Bacall, who does not appear in the film, Hepburn describes how effective she is working behind the scenes. She regards Huston as a genius despite what often seemed to her a lackadaisical attitude about the movie.
The adventure of making the movie in Africa almost rivals the adventure in the movie itself. At one point the African Queen sinks. Army ants stream through the middle of Hepburn's hut. She gets very sick, as do many others who drink the bottled water. Those who stick with alcohol do fine.
"Technical problems galore and no chairs — no dressings rooms — no toilet — hot ginger ale and fruit juice and beer — the problem of sending out lunch for forty people," she writes. Complete sentences are not a high priority for Hepburn.
Anyone who loves this movie would love this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment