The African Queen (1951) ****

Release Date: December 26, 1951

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn

Directed By: John Huston

‘Twas a stroke of genius that lead to the casting of two strong personalities such as Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in this war drama romance. Both are hard headed and strong willed character actors who are guaranteed to clash yet are also believable as a couple once things swing that way. This is also helped out by a story that is riveting and easy to get engrossed in with stakes that can be understood by virtually everyone. The WWI setting may not have been topical but with the war in Korea going on it made for an easy substitute.

The story is relatively straightforward forward. Samuel (Robert Morley), and his sister Rose (Katharine Hepburn) are Methodist missionaries in German East Africa during the beginning of the war. When German soldiers burn the village they serve in and round up the people into service, Samuel protests and is injured. He subsequently died leaving Rose alone to fend for herself. Their supplier of food and other goods, Charlie Allnut, (Humphrey Bogart), a Canadian mechanic who captains a single person steamer up and down the river, arrives and assists in burying Samuel as well as evacuating Rose from the area. 

While on the river, Rose comes up with a plan to aid in the war effort by using the steamer as a makeshift torpedo, with the aid of some gelignite Charlie has onboard, to sink a large gunboat that is patrolling a large lake downriver and preventing the British from attacking. Charlie is hesitant at first, stating that the way would be suicidal with dangerous rapids and a German patrol in the way but Rose persists and eventually convinces him to try. The remainder of the film is taken up with this journey down the river as the two face many dangers and slowly begin to fall in love with each other.

There has already been hundreds and hundreds of pages written about the various merits of The African Queen that it would seem almost insurmountable to come up with anything new or enlightening seventy years after it debuted. What I can say about this film is that it is a real tour de force for both leads as they are asked to share the bulk of the screen time to themselves with no one else to bounce off of. In that way it can be compared to such films as True Grit and its sequel Rooster Cogburn which also focused primarily on an odd couple off by themselves. Films like this can die on the vine if the chemistry isn’t right. Fortunately, this film has that undefinable chemistry in spades, building up right from the start to the point that when Charlie and Rose finally do kiss we have been anxiously awaiting the moment. 

Adding onto our interest in their relationship, we also have a vested interest in their self assigned mission. Their success might not bring in a turning point to the war but it would make a great deal of difference to the region as well as the overall safety of Rose and Charlie. We are so invested in our leads that the rest of it is just gravy on top. Audiences at the time were largely made up of people who had either participated in in some way or lived through the Great War. Those who were too young would have at least gone through WWII followed by Korea and could easily understand the feelings of our two leads as they face off against an invading superpower. The timing here greatly elevates the emotional payoff this movie is going for.

Everything about this film is spot on, from the lead actors to the beautiful scenery filmed on location in Uganda. Films in the past that tried to approximate location shoots always seemed to come across as a little fake and staged. Here, the location stands out as a character of its own, something that cannot be accomplished on a stage. Some of the model work needed to film scenes on the rapids is a little dated but that is a sign of the times when it was filmed. The climax of the film hits all the right notes as well leaving us with a satisfying conclusion to an already stellar film. 

This is a highly entertaining film that hardly seems dated aside from a few effects shots. The romance and the drama are all deftly handled and never hit a false note. The conclusion plays exactly as you would expect from this type of a film but that is just fine, too. This isn’t the type of movie that needs twists and turns to it. It is better off staying true to the drama and introducing conflict and drama naturally. It is a near perfect film that will satisfy virtually anyone willing to give it a couple of hours of their time.