In 1914 Canadian boat skipper Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) uses his steamer, the African Queen, to ferry mail and supplies to villages in German East Africa during WWI. A missionary, Rev. Samuel Sayer (Robert Morley) is killed by German soldiers and Charlie agrees to take Sayer's spinster sister, Rose (Katharine Hepburn) back to civilization. Charlie tells Rose that the Germans have a gunboat, the Empress Louisa, patrolling a large lake downriver that blocks British counterattacks. Charlie tells Rose, "Well I ain't sorry for you no more, ya crazy, psalm-singing, skinny old maid."
Rose has a plan to convert the African Queen into a torpedo to sink the Empress Louisa, and she persudaes Charlie to navigate the very dangerous Ulanga River. Their exciting adventure is more difficult because of personality conflicts. She is a prim and proper church organist, and he is a rough and dissolute alcoholic. The pair must combat the elements, the Germans, and each other. Fortunately, they fall in love and become romantic with perfect chemistry.
Charlie: "All this fool talk about The Louisa. Goin' down the river..."
Rose: "What do you mean?"
Charlie: "I mean we ain't goin' to do nothin' of the sort."
Rose: "Why, of course we're going! What an absurd idea."
Charlie: "What an absurd idea! What an absurd idea! Lady, I may be a born fool, but you got ten absurd ideas to my one, an' don't you forget it. We can't do that."
Rose: "How do you know? You never tried it."
Charlie: "Well, yeah, but I never tried shooting myself in the head neither."
Charlie: "How'd you like it?
Rose: "Like it?
Charlie: "White water rapids."
Rose: "I never dreamed..."
Charlie: "I don't blame you for being scared - not one bit. Nobody with good sense ain't scared of white water..."
Rose: "I never dreamed that any mere physical experience could be so stimulating! Now that I've had a taste of it I don't wonder why you love boating."
The African Queen sinks in the lake and both are captured and taken aboard the Empress Louisa, where Charlie asks the Captain (Peter Bull) to marry them before executing them as spies. The Captain says, "By the authority vested in me by Kaiser William II, I pronounce you man and wife. Proceed with the execution." Once married, the German gunboat explodes because it hits the submerged African Queen and its torpedoes. The newly-married couple swim to safety.
Also in the cast are: Theodore Bikel (in his film debut as First Officer), Walter Gotell (Second Officer), Peter Swanwick (First Officer of Shona), Richard Marner (Second Officer of Shona), Gerald Onn (Petty Officer), John von Kotze (German officer), and Errol John. The script was written by James Agee, John Huston, and Peter Viertel from C. S. Forester's 1935 novel. Viertel took over from Agee who suffered a serious heart attack. Original music is by Allan Gray. John Huston directed.
Filmed on location in Uganda and on the Lualaba River by cinematographer Jack Cardiff, THE AFRICAN QUEEN is great fun, a mixture of wry comedy, character, adventure, and romance. Scenes in the riverbank were filmed in Dalyan, Turkey. Scenes of Bogart and Hepburn in the water were shot in studio tanks in England. The "Queen of Africa" was the "LS Livingston" for 40 years before it appeared in the movie. It is now docked next to the Holiday Inn off US Highway 1, in Key Largo, Florida.
Humphrey Bogart won his only Oscar for his brilliant performance. This was Bogart's fourth film to be directed by Huston, and he clearly demonstrates his range as an actor while holding his own opposite the formidible Hepburn. It was the first colour film for Bogart, Hepburn, and Huston. AFRICAN QUEEN is a great classic.
