The African Queen

The African Queen (1951)

Runtime: 105 minutes

Directed by: John Huston

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull

From: Romulus Films/Horizon Pictures

This is a film I thankfully have seen before. But, when the time came for me to watch it on cable, I was happy to do so and see this great motion picture again. The Letterboxd review is below.

Don't worry, I have seen this classic film before; in fact, the first time I only saw parts of it but it was WAY back when (meaning I was a little kid) it was on television one night. Sure, rights issues meant it took a long while to make it to disc but this was not my first viewing in full.

The plot is simple yet effective: World War I has just started and in deepest darkest Africa you get to meet such characters as a brother and sister pair of missionaries (Katharine Hepburn and Robert Morley) and a captain of a small boat (Humphrey Bogart) named The African Queen. The Germans come in, bad things happen, and Hepburn leaves with Bogey on his boat, and as she's British (he's Canadian) she is looking for revenge.

The movie is as great as its reputation suggests it is. It's an always engrossing story and much of it was filmed either in Uganda or what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which provides plenty of beautiful scenery. Famed director John Huston does masterful work putting this all together.

But it's the tremendous performance of the two leads that makes this a rousing success. Both are perfect in their roles; Hepburn is a spinster type while Bogie is uncouth and loves his gin... to think that in real life he and Huston loved Scotch and that was a major part of their diet while they were down in Africa shooting this. It's quite the adventure, with as many twists and turns as the Ulanga River they traverse. Much of the time it's just the two stars on screen and it's never boring due to the characters they play and what great thespians both are. Bogie may have been the only one to win an Academy Award but both did an incredible job and that is why this is still a great movie all those years later.