The African Queen (1952)

Available on Blu-ray Disc (Region B)UK/USA 1951 English (Colour); Adventure/Drama/Romance/War (Romulus/Horizon/Remus); 105 minutes (PG certificate)Crew includes: John Huston (Director); James Agee, John Huston (Screenwriters, adapting Novel by C.S. Forester *** [6/10]); Sam Spiegel (Producer); Jack Cardiff (Cinematographer); Wilfred Shingleton (Art Director); Ralph Kemplen (Editor); Allan Gray (Composer)Cast includes: Humphrey Bogart (Charlie Allnut), Katharine Hepburn (Rose Sayer), Robert Morley (Reverend Samuel Sayer), Peter Bull (Captain of Louisa), Theodore Bikel (First Officer), Walter Gotell (Second Officer), Peter Swanwick (First Officer of Shona), Richard Marner (Second Officer of Shona)Academy Award: Actor (Bogart); Academy Award nominations (3): Director, Actress (Hepburn), Screenplay; BAFTA nominations (2) (1952): Film from Any Source, Foreign Actor (Bogart)"The greatest adventure a man ever lived... with a woman!"When Germans level an African village at the outbreak of World War I, the unkempt, gin-drinking captain of a battered tramp steamer (Bogart) offers to transport the prim, spinster sister of a dead missionary (Hepburn) to safety, while she persuades him to assemble makeshift torpedoes in order to destroy an enemy warship downriver hindering the British advance.Casting is everything, with the gentle sparring of an uncouth Bogart (belatedly winning his only Oscar) and lady-like Hepburn turning a mutual dislike into tolerance, and finally love, as the repetitively humorous utterances of "Mr Allnut" and "Miss" transform into "Charlie" and "Rosie."Despite off-screen ordeals during its filming, a classic battle-of-the-sexes adventure.Blu-ray Extras: Commentary, Documentary, Stills Galleries, Star Profiles, Trailer. ***½ (7/10)

Humphrey Bogart is such a great actor and can make any film intriguing for the viewer just like he did in African Queen, as well as his partner Katherine Hepburn. These two actors are what really make the film what it is. The film starts off slow, but if you stick with it the story picks up. Bogart and Hepburn's characters play off each other well and help the plot develop. The editing and quality of the picture is not the best, but it gets the job done. Like almost every movie there is an underlying love story that comes into play and ultimately what made the film work. The humor throughout keeps the adventure interesting as well as the suspenseful scenes through the rapids.

The African Queen is a well paced romantic comedy, reminiscent of the screwball style of the 1930s and 40s. The stars are well, the biggest names in Hollywood during this period. The coolest guy in the world Humphrey Bogart and greatest classic actress Katharine Hepburn collaborate in a mismatched journey out of German East Africa at the onset of World War I. The working class boat driver Charlie Alnutt, played by Bogart, contrasts in a screwball way with Hepburn's Rose Sayer, a member of the British elite. This movie has an amazing score and the music often directs the emotional dynamism in the film. In addition to the noteworthy music, no surprise in the 1950s, this film employs a lot of continuity editing. One primary example of this is when The African Queen, the actual boat on which Bogart and Hepburn are traveling, goes over a massive drop and is damaged severely. The following scene shows the pair draining the boat of water followed by a cut with continuity editing, showing the boat empty of water. Like all screwball comedies, the pair ends up together in the end despite mild turbulence. Overall, this film is a witty and fun ride through the African wilderness with two of American cinema's greatest treasures.

1. Humphrey Bogart who plays a gin-swigging steamboat captain named Charlie Allnut. *Need I also mention that Bogie won his one and only Oscar for best actor for his performance? 2. Katherine Hepburn as the stubborn and over the top straight-laced missionary named Rose Sayer who is given no choice but to have to rely on the drunkard captain Charlie Allnut for her passage on his steamboat appropriately named the African Queen. 3. Robert Morley has a brief but important role playing Rose's brother the righteous Reverend Samuel Sayer. Samuel is not only Rose's Missionary brother but also her rock of Gibraltar. When these two Missionaries are advised by Charlie (who is delivering them some supplies) to leave their post as war is upon them, they decide to stay on and preach rather than fear for their own lives as the Germans are evading Africa during World War 1. Sadly, Reverend Samuel Sayer quickly succumbs to a high fever and now Rose is on her own in the heart of Africa at the outbreak of war with no passage arranged for her return home. 4. This is a story that encompasses great adventure, plenty of action, a generous supply of wonderful comedy between Hepburn and Bogart, and of course a true romance blossoming on the African Queen. 5. Opposites do attract and this could not be truer than with the polar opposites of Missionary Rose Sayer, and steamboat captain, gin-swigging Charlie Allnut, who eventually find a way to not only become good friends, but who also bring out the best and worst in each other and eventually they fall in love. 6. The adventure takes place as the two sail down the Ulanga River with Rose persisting that Charlie fear not and use his precious African Queen steamboat as a torpedo to take out the German's artillery ship the Königin Luise. 7. Rose and Charlie are both feisty characters and a case of gin that Charlie has stashed on his boat brings out the best and the worst of their feistiness in both a comical and dramatic way for different reasons. I just loved the interactions between these two hard boiled characters who must find a way to get along if they actually want to survive their trip down the Ulanga River. 8. The action takes place as Rose and Charlie must not only get through the fierce rapids of the Ulanga river, not once, not twice, but three times, but they must also find a way to survive the attack of the Germans who are piercing Charlie's steamboat with bullets. 9. After surviving the drunkenness of Charlie's worst hangover, and the deliberate spillage by Rose of Charlie's most precious cargo (his gin), the Ulanga river rapids, the German's attack on their steamboat, the African Queen is left barely limping by the end of the film. Rose and Charlie are oh so close to not only surviving their ordeals, but succeeding in beating the Germans at their own game and they find themselves in an embarrassing but still loving embrace that will have most romantics letting out a big sigh of relief and wonderment. These are the scenes which epitomize the term "film classic".10. Although the majority of this film relies solely on the superb acting and great chemistry between Katherine Hepburn, and Oscar winner Humphrey Bogart, much praise has to also be extolled on to director John Huston who kept his two stars sympatico during the sweltering heat and bug infested waters of filming each day. The reward is there on the big screen for all to see, a classic film that will never fade from the top 100 classic films of all time. I just love this film and I hope anyone who has not seen it takes the time to enjoy one of the greatest films of all times.A Perfect 10 for 10 rating