“If anything, The African Queen stands as testament to the poverty of having a budget: When Powell and Pressburger wanted the Himalayas, they retreated to their London studio, turning lurid backdrop shooting into the approximation of a fever dream. Huston meanwhile, with the facility to fly a cast to Africa, trails the heart of darkness, and returns with a video-diarist’s program of interests: So that what you get are turgid shots a-plenty of wildlife dopily standing around, the light a flat, unchanging, democratic blue. Nevertheless, the area’s elements, in all their scintillating dullness, prove enough to transform Hepburn from tight-buttoned choirgirl into rope-gnashin’ first mate, as she charts the titular vessel on its course to blow up German ship, the Louisa,” writes DAVID LEVINSON....[Read More]

Alternate views on American Classics aside, DIANE SPODAREK considers the steamy Black Snake Moan, awash with Southern Blues, a sound she describes as, “the essence of this movie, the longing for what can never be, because the South is full of misery, and this is another Hollywood version of our insatiable desire to see poor white-trash folks getting drunk and puking their lives down the toilet.” Left-of-field, she also follows two Swedish galpals into the sunset in Heartbreak Hotel, and the Apartheid horror Catch a Fire.