Subsequent Releases and Rights Issues
The film has been released on Region 2 DVD in the United Kingdom, Germany and Scandinavia.
The British DVD includes a theatrical trailer and an audio commentary by cinematographer Cardiff in which he details many of the hardships and challenges involved in filming in Africa. The picture quality is somewhat grainy and suffers from colour shifts; the sound lacks bass response and suffers from clicks and pops.
Prior to 2010, the film had been released in the United States on VHS video, laserdisc and as a region 1 DVD. A region 1 DVD is available and distributed by the Castaways Pictures and has English and Chinese subtitles available with no other features. It is not clear if this is authorised or not. While Granada International holds international rights, the U.S. rights are held by Paramount Pictures, who inherited the rights to the film when Viacom (who had acquired the rights from copyright holder Horizon Film Management in the 1970s) purchased the studio in 1994. For many years, 20th Century Fox had U.S. video rights (through CBS/Fox Video) until they reverted to Paramount in 1997. The version distributed by Castaways Pictures has atrocious English subtitles that in many instances obliterate the meaning of the actual dialog. For instance, consider this exchange between Charlie and Rosie (Bogart and Hepburn) as they argue about who will be aboard the African Queen and who will go ashore—with the subtitles as they appear in the Castaways version given in brackets: Hepburn: "Who do you think you are, ordering me about?" Bogart: "I'm the captain, that's who, and I ain't taking you along." . Similar butchering appears in the subtitles throughout this version of the film.
US TV rights have changed hands several times over the years – from Viacom Enterprises, to Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Paramount Domestic Television, CBS Television Distribution and finally to Trifecta Entertainment & Media, which currently distributes the film under license from Paramount. It can often be found on either Turner Classic Movies or pay-per-view.
Read more about this topic: The African Queen (film)
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