The African Queen

Director of Photography on The African Queen (GB 1951/Dir. John Houston)

JC: "We were supposed to make the whole film in Uganda on Lake Victoria, but when Houston went on a recce he cabled that the location was too pretty - like Maidenhead - and then later cabled that he had found the perfect location in the Belgian Congo. We worked in a most remote part of the Congo and our home was in the jungle with rooms made out of dried leaves. But we survived - although our boat, The African Queen was sunk and it took a whole day to get it afloat again".