Review of The African Queen (1952) by Jonny P — 08 May 2012

John Huston had become disenchanted with America in the early 1950's. His latest film, The Red Badge of Courage (1951) had flopped badly and he was disgusted at the McCarthy Witch-hunts. So he packed up and moved to Europe, and this was his first film made there, both in England and in Uganda and the Congo.

It's a good adventure, well made with good rapport from the leads. Rev. Samuel Sayer (Robert Morley) and his sister Rose (Katharine Hepburn), run a missionary in a small village in German East Africa in 1914.

Their mail and other supplies are delivered by Canadian boat captain Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart), whose coarse mannerisms the Sayers tolerate. However, when war between Britain and Germany breaks out, the German's burn the missionaries home to the ground, Samuel goes mad and dies.

So, Charlie takes Rose in his boat The African Queen navigating a dangerous river with deadly rapids to find a safe passage to Kenya. It's a difficult journey, but they hope manage to survive and with faith and tenacity, and against the odds, get past German Forts, crocodile infested lagoons and boggy quagmires.

It's a good adventure, you can see where Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo came from. Hepburn shows a toughness and strong willed might whereas Bogart has fun in this role, (he won an Oscar for it), and despite from obvious back projection on the boat, it manages to be fun.