The African Queen

Plot synopsis:
An English spinster, Rose (Katharine Hepburn), is the sister of a missionary, Rev. Samuel Sayer (Robert Morley). The two Christian missionaries are in a remote African village with grass huts and a little wooden church, which is located somewhere deep in a German African colony during WWI near the Ulanga River. The German war machine appears to brutally start burning the little straw hut village, killing the native women and children while kidnapping the African men, and just as quickly the German terror vanishes. When the smoke clears from the burning village, all is in ruin. The meek and fragile Rev. Samuel Sayer is so distraught by what he has just witnessed he kills himself. Rose is left all alone to fend for herself;she is lost in despair. There is no safety here, and the German threat is all around. There is no way out except to travel south down the dangerous and unforgiving Ulanga River. The river leads to Lake Victoria and possible freedom. Except for the last danger, which is the Louisa - a German gunship that patrols the Tanganyika shore of the lake up to the southern mouth of the river. The Ulanga is filled with dangers like animals that can eat you, rocks and white water rapids that can smash and sink a boat. It has only been successfully navigated once by a map maker named Spangler a hundred years ago and no one since has repeated the feat.Rose is straggling about the burnt village in shock and despair from her brother's suicide when a Mr. Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) shows up out of nowhere to save her. This scruffy old gin-swigging rummy is a boat captain who is unshaven and crusty. Mr. Allnut is there to deliver mail and supplies to the village. Mr. Allnut travels up and down the northern part of the Ulanga on a rusty old 12-foot boat called the African Queen. The boat barely runs, powered by a small antique steam engine on its last legs kept together and encouraged to run with a few well placed kicks and bangs from a hammer by Mr. Allnut. Mr. Allnut buries Rev. Sayer and takes Rose to the African Queen for safety before the Germans come back. While on the African Queen Rose attempts to convince Mr. Allnut they should go south down the Ulanga and sink the Louisa. Mr. Allnut thinks the spinster is a crazy old maid and tells her so. And Rose thinks Mr. Allnut is washed-up rummy good for nothing coward unfit to be a captain. As impossible as it may seem Mr. Allnut decides to follow her suggestion because its the only way to avoid the Germans, and probably the only way to shut Rose up and stop her from nagging on and on about her crazy plan to fight the German navy.During the first few days aboard the African Queen navigating the Ulanga they annoy each other to the point of being disgusted. Rose reads her bible while Mr. Allnut drinks rum from a generous supply he has on board until he passes out every day. Rose decides to dump all of Mr. Allnuts bottles of gin into the river one morning while Mr. Allnut is still passed out. When Mr. Allnut awakes, he is emotionally destroyed by the thought of no more booze. How could you, Miss? Mr. Allnut asks over and over as the African Queen smokes and tugs along the Ulanga. Rose decides to stop talking to Mr. Allnut and gives him the silent treatment until he gives in to her plan to sink the Louisa. Mr. Allnut continues to talk to Rose even though Rose refuses to acknowledge his existence on the little boat. Mr. Allnut pretends he doesn't care even though the silence is slowing killing him. It is apparent they cannot stand each others company. Finally Mr. Allnut can't take the silence anymore and agrees to Rose's impossible plan to sink the Louisa using home made torpedoes made by Mr. Allnut. Mr Allnut says he can make them from the supplies on the boat - explosives and two gas canisters used for welding.As the two strangers sail down Ulanga River like great map makers before them and determined to sink the Louisa, Rose is impressed by Mr. Allnut's abilities and admires his seamanship when they hit big white water and how he skillfully navigates past the dangerous rocks. They ride into some really rough white water that causes Rose to feel aroused by the thrill of the ride. Not understanding the experience she compares it to a thrilling sermon delivered by her brother when the holy ghost consumed him. The spiritual excitement overcomes her as she describes her excitement to Mr. Allnut. Rose and Mr. Allnut survive a second and more dangerous set of white water rapids, along with extra dangers from African guerrillas shooting at them from the banks of the river hoping to kill them and capture the African Queen. When they realize they have survived certain death again they start hugging and kissing. After they kiss, they realize they are in love. It's implied they are lovers that afternoon after much flirting and a quick nap. However, their troubles are not over as the African Queen breaks down and they work as a team to fix it. Mr. Allnut shaves, baths and listens to Rose read the good book. They make tea and find they adore each others company. They call each other dear and tell each other sweet nothings.Nevertheless there is still more danger ahead. The river disappears, the water is shallow, and Mr. Allnut is forced to get into the mucky river and pull the African Queen by hand to higher water. Blood sucking leeches, mosquitoes, and dangerous animals torment the couple's efforts. The African Queen comes to a complete stop, stuck dead in mucky swamp water and high weeds covering any sight of land or water ways. They are lost in the weeds and can't see anything. They are disheartened and beaten and accept their doomed fate as they hold each other in exhaustion waiting to die. Passed out on the African Queen they lie there defeated. When it begins to rain and the river rises, the African Queen becomes unstuck and floats down the river only a few hundred feet from high water and the mouth of the Ulanga River. The Ulanga River is pouring into Lake Victoria and they see the Louisa gunship for the first time as it makes a routine patrol..The two lovers are now alive again! With new hope and determination they are convinced they can now sink the Louisa. They wait in the banks of the Ulanga out of sight of the Louisa until it comes back on its routine patrol. They have fixed and fastened two homemade torpedoes to the insides of the African Queen. By cutting circle holes above the water line they can stick the tips of the torpedoes through the holes which act as battering rams that will compress on collision and ignite the explosives to explode the gas canisters when they crash into the Louisa at full speed ahead. Rose and Mr. Allnut lovingly argue about who will stay ashore while the other steers the boat into the Louisa. The hero will jump just before the collision and explosion that will sink the Louisa on impact. They both decide they would not want to live without the other so they will do it together. Rose and Mr. Allnut wait until the Louisa comes back on its patrol routine that evening and begin to plan to ram the Louisa. Building steam as the weather starts to change and the waves grow higher. The Louisa is not expecting the African Queen to even be there let alone capable of exploding and sinking the Louisa. As they steam towards the Louisa the lake begins to become rough, a rain storm squalls, and the seas begin filling the boat with water. A rogue wave turns the African Queen upside over tossing Rose and Mr. Allnut into the lake. The two are separated by another huge wave and disappear. Have they drowned? Alas, the Louisa is not sunk and the African Queen appears to be gone with the two star-crossed lovers.The sun appears after the storm and we see Mr. Allnut is alive. He was rescued and captured by the Germans. Mr. Allnut is now standing on the Louisa's deck in the captain's office. He is being interrogated by the Louisa's captain (Peter Bull). The captain is determined to have Mr. Allnut answer his questions. The German captain always ends each question with the threat of death and hanging to Mr. Allnut, who is depressed and despondent. Mr. Allnut answers each question and threat of death with a hopeless sigh of, who cares! Because Mr. Allnut believes his Rose has drowned. Mr. Allnut is relieved by the thought of hanging rather than live without his Rose. Suddenly he hears Rose's voice coming from a life boat that has rescued her. Mr. Allnut, thrilled that Rose is alive, decides to deny he knows her in hopes of saving her from his fated hanging by the Germans. But the very English Rose not only argues with the captain but brags how she and Charlie and the African Queen sailed down the Ulanga, and how Charlie made homemade torpedoes, and how they came within feet of sinking the Louisa by themselves and would have, but the storm saved the Louisa from their doom when the weather caused the African Queen to sink and a wave tossed them into the water. The Louisa's captain thinking them both crazy decides to hang them both. On the deck of the Louisa, Rose and Charlie stand holding hands deeply in love, happy about dying together. Standing there with the hangman's rope around their necks Charlie asks the Louisa's captain to marry them as his last request before hanging. Charlie says he really doesn't care about getting married but it would mean a lot to the Mrs. A teary-eyed Rose is thrilled by the suggestion. The Louisa's captain thinks they are both mad but reluctantly agrees to marry them. The two are so happy to be married that they don't care they are going to be hung. Just as he pronounces them man and wife the Louisa explodes. The sunken African Queen has been hit by the Louisa. Rose and Charlie find themselves swimming and the Louisa is gone. They did it. A wood plank with the name African Queen floats by and the two grab it as they swim to apparent safety. Swimming away, the two sing merrily, "There was an old fisherman..."

Tags: suspenseful, cute, humor, boring, romantic

Review:
For more about the conditions it was created under, I suggest you read Katherine Hepburn's The Making of The African Queen or How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and almost lost my mind.
Based on the famous C.S. Forester novel, which it follows quite closely, THE African QUEEN is the simple story of pragmatic river-rat Charlie Allnut (Bogart) and high-minded Methodist missionary spinster Rose Sayer (Hepburn) who are thrown together by chance when German troops sweep through Africa during World War I.
Once safely aboard his beat-up riverboat "The African Queen," Allnut desires nothing more than to dodge the Germans until war's end; Rose, however, determines to strike a blow against the Germans by sailing the boat downriver to attack a German battleship.There are so many fine things about this movie that they are hard to innumerate.
It's a lot of fun to watch, and it is also a film you can admire for the expert way it was put together.Bogart and Hepburn not only give great performances, they are also wonderful together, and they make the on-screen relationship between their characters believable and interesting - it's great to watch as it develops.
Topping it off are the wonderful settings, with a lot of fine shots of wild animals and jungle scenery - there is always plenty to look at, and it also sets off the action nicely.Any one of a number of things would make "The African Queen" worth watching, and as a whole it is a terrific movie.
The original opening of the film with Bogart coming in as church services are being conducted for a few hundred uncomprehending native Africans is Director John Huston's comment on the usefulness of the lives Morley and Hepburn have led up to that point.
What Hepburn and Bogart accomplish by the end of the film makes up for the waste that was Hepburn's life.But The African Queen is a great romance as well.
As was remarked, they're going to have stories to tell their grandkids.When I watch The African Queen I'm reminded of what Bogart's friend Frank Sinatra sang in one of his best ballads about how Love Isn't Just For the Young.
It's all natural that the two main protagonists of "The African Queen" turn the titular boat into the unsung heroine of a military deed, whose success is as improbable as the very thought that a straight-laced Methodist missionary spinster would fall in love with a coarse, rudimentary and gin-soaked mailman, but not so when the romance serves as the very fuel of that mission, and when it's Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn and John Huston on the lead: the miracle of "The African Queen", as movie and story, is the result of three immense talents confidently maneuvering in the same direction.Film historian and critic Richard Schickel said about Hepburn that her secret appeal relied on the characters she usually played: "a woman on her high horse with slightly pretentious, often comically stated ideas about the world.
Dobbs, Bogart was exuding a threatening toughness; as Allnut, it's a new step on his career, as a more lovable kind of loser, in a performance that will earn him an Oscar for Best Actor (Hepburn, Huston and James Agee for the screenplay will also be nominated).
Too bad for him, he's got Hepburn aboard, an iron-lady who followed her bother (Robert Morley) in German East Africa only to witness the efforts of a lifetime being burned down by the Kaiser's army, a fatal shock for the brother.But Rose is stronger than her ill-fated brother and when she accepts to set off aboard "The African Queen", she's most determined to be part of the conflict, not in the victim's departments.
Rosie ignites the fire of bravery in Allnut, and the exhilarating cross of the first obstacles lead to the victorious embrace, sealing the existence of a love that got from one heart to the other, through a taped adrenalin-filled boiler hose, and a few rows as tumultuous as the rapids.This is not Hollywood corny romantic comedy; this is John Huston confronting two genuine characters one another, an inspirational believer and a practical technician, both combining their strengths for survival and accomplishment.
That's "The African Queen": thrilling, romantic, inspiring, starring the two stars, honored by the American Film Institute as the greatest screen legends, Bogart and Hepburn, in interactions full of comedy given the opposition of their personalities and a believable chemistry built on trust, incentive and partnership, this is not 'holding-hands' heroism à la "Titanic", each step is tackled with technical precision.
In Africa during World War I, after Bible-thumping spinster's (Hepburn) missionary brother (Robert Morley) is dead by fevers , a hard-drinking , sympathetic , gin-swigging riverboat captain (Bogart) is persuaded by her to use his boat and undertake a risked trip down African wild rivers .
James Agee and John Huston, who also directed, have a great knack for writing crisp and smooth interplay between the two leads.There aren't very many supporting roles in this movie, but Robert Morley makes the best of his small performance.
The African Queen is an entertaining film done in grand old Hollywood style, and it is probably the most conventional movie John Huston ever made.
Adapted by Huston and James Agee from the novel by C.S. Forester, it's believed that the original intention was to film it as an outright drama, but whether by star design or a going with the flow attitude, the picture turned out to be a drama fused with splices of humour, the kind where the tongue gets firmly stuck in the cheek.As character pieces go, The African Queen has few peers, especially in the pantheon of 50s cinema, then you add the excellent story to work from, with the location work in Congo and Uganda expertly utilised by Huston (clearly revelling in the mix) and his photographer, Jack Cardiff.
This is not the best movie Ford, Bogart, or Hepburn did as individual artists, the but joining of their considerable talents did create a unique and most enjoyable movie that is fondly associated with all of them."The African Queen" is a war movie, romance, adventure, comedy, drama, morality tale, and battle of the sexes all in one and it works on all levels.
In the 1950's,location shooting was a rarity,so the locale selected,everyone involved with this production knew it was going to be very hard work to get this film made.They just didn't know how tough until work began.I guess it helped to have one of the best directors of that day (not to mention in all of cinema history),John Huston,paired with two of the best actors to grace the screen,Humphrey Bogart and Kate Hepburn.The story is very captivating,and these cinema giants,working harder than usual under very adverse conditions,managed to come up with a winner.Definitely on the must see list for any classic cinema fan..
Bogart and Hepburn shine in this two-actors-adventure-movie and even without the breathtaking visual effects of todays' films, it outshines them in its simplicity and authenticity.The plot is very good and straight and the situation where the two characters (polar opposites) interact is an eye candy for all film goers.
This is almost strictly a two-person movie with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn dominating the story and screen time.
The story also a little unusual in that neither lead actor is in his/her prime, meaning it's almost a middle-age romance story.Once they become enamored with each other, the movie mainly goes into the trials the two have in piloting this boat, "The African Queen" down river with the goal of reaching a German ship and blowing it up.
Yes, it's a World War II movie, of sorts.To be honest, the film does slow down a bit in the beginning of Bogie and Hepburn's romance but the last 30 minutes finish strong with one obstacle after another hitting the pair of adventurers, and it's interesting to watch..
It has a perfect script, two characters who throw sparks off each other, great location work that shows in the photography, and two of the finest performances ever on film--Bogie's gin-slinging boat captain and a prim missionary proving that opposites attract.
The film is typical Huston and many believe that the scene where Bogart is pulling the tiny boat through the reed-lined African swamp, earned him his very first well deserve Oscar.
Along the way, they bicker about various things (she's disgusted by his drinking, he finds her too pious), but they grow to respect each other.Bogart and Hepburn pretty much play their usual roles, and the movie also stars a few crocodiles (most of the movie was filmed on location in Africa).
Staring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn 'The African Queen" touched on brilliance in action, adventure, comedy, and a nice little dose of drama and romance to create a package that anyone would love.The majority of the filming was done with just Bogart and Hepburn as they steamed down the river in the filthy and boozing Captain Charlie Aunt's (Bogart) boat "The African Queen", in which the movie was named after.
Anyone who has seen Hepburn in "True Grit" will realize she is playing pretty close to the same character which could have been a negative but in both cases (Being "True Grit" and "The African Queen") the combined talent of actors easily overpowered the problem.The lone flaw that was obvious in the movie was the fact that a vast majority of the filming appeared to be filmed in studio with fake backgrounds.
Something that will be remembered as one of the moments to be modelled for todays cinematic experience.The movie is based on a novel written by C.S forester about 2 couples played by Hepburn and Bogart going through outrageous circumstances against the Germans.
It was before I had heard of Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn or the director John Huston, but the romantic adventure story and dazzling imagery really gripped me and seared itself into my memory.
Term "overrated"; it wouldn't be something I would attribute to a film usually as directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart (co-star Katherine Hepburn is another matter).
It doesn't help matters that cliché steers the ship; Bogart and Hepburns' characters, Charlie and Rosie, are going down a river where at first they can't stand one another as one is a drunkard on gin and the other is a prissy go-for-it-all who doesn't really see the consequences, AND whenever Bogie somehow gets the African Queen over some rapids she suddenly starts to fall in love with the guy.
His prim sister Rose Sayer (Katharine Hepburn) escapes with Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) on his rickety river steamboat 'African Queen'.
THE AFRICAN_QUEEN is a fine film, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn.
When there is a tribal uprising in the Belgian Congo and missionary Rose Sayer's (Hepburn) brother (played by Robert Morley) is killed, she enlists the aid of dipsomaniac Charles Allnut (Bogart) to help get her to safety by way of his boat, The African Queen.
Scene for scene, this film only grows better with age, due to the undeniable chemistry between the two leads (Bogart won the Best Actor Oscar; Hepburn was nominated Best Actress) and Huston's magnificent direction, which also netted an Oscar nomination.
The acting by Bogart is brilliant and Katharine Hepburn is as good.It´s exciting and VERY funny.It also have a great direction by John Huston and even if a few of the action scenes feels old and maybe some of the special effects is not fantastic Humphrey Bogart really deserved his Oscar but Katharine Hepburn is as good.The dialogue between them is wonderful.4,5/5.
The African Queen is the film I measure all "man and woman who hate each other at the start but gradually fall in love" movies against.
Even with as scruffy as he appears, he still acts the gentleman, although I do have to ask am I the only one who gets some Bugs Bunny vibes with his performance here?Katharine Hepburn's Rose is one tough dame, and does seem like a very unlikable character during the first portion of the film, not treating Charlie with any respect because he won't agree with her demands and interfering with what ain't her property!
Along with the sound effects of nature in the background and the occasional bit of wildlife, The African Queen gets as close as a movie can get to making me feel like I'm a riverboat in East Africa.
As they overcome obstacle after obstacle the two grow closer and closer together and realize that the only way they can make it is together.The African Queen was originally supposed to be a straight drama, but John Huston found that his actors had so much chemistry and decided to combine other elements into the film which made it the great classic that it is known as today..
I remembered The African Queen as a great movie; a rambling adventure, telling the gently romantic story of Charlie and Rosie's Quixotic cruise to sink the Louisa.
Found it hard to like her, so didn't.In the end I think it is the names of the people involved - Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn, John Huston - rather than the quality of the movie that make people regard this so highly..
The African Queen is the story of a missionary English woman, Rose, and a Canadian boat man,Charlie, in what was then German East Africa, who go on a mission to torpedo a German gunboat right after the 1st World War began.
They plan on using the African Queen, Charlie's boat, as part of their home made torpedo and bomb the German gunboat with it.It's a charming film about patriotism in times of war, exceeding ones limits for what they believe in and finding love even at the most desperate times.
African Queen was probably one of the first Bogart movie that I ever saw and I was simply mesmerized by his and Katherine Hepburn's portrayals of a hard drinking roustabout teamed up with a prim and proper lady.
I cannot remember Bogart ever making a film in which he had to interpret a character - except in "African Queen", now a classic in the world of cinema.
With a supply of wood for the boiler and a case of gin for himself, he manages to keep going up and down the river on his African Queen.It's a pretty tall story when you come to think of it....a rough neck like Charlie falling in love with Rose a prim and very staid Methodist missionary (Katherine Hepburn).
But it had to be like that because it was just a series of adventures...ever-changing...and danger at every turn of the river.I have to admire the performances of Bogart and Hepburn who were on the screen virtually all the time.
The writing is simple and to the point, the acting and chemistry of the two stars is honest and likeable.Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn play two lonely people in the congo, he a river rat with his own supply boat, her a spinster sister of a christian missionary, their differences in life make the story.
John Huston directs African Queen with the simple touch of an artist, each scene is better than the last, leading up the last great scene.This movie is a a timeless classic.
Released in 1951, the film stars Humphrey Bogart (who won the Academy Award for Best Actor) and Katharine Hepburn, and was directed by John Huston.
Humphrey Bogart (Charlie Allnut) and Katherine Hepburn (Rose Sayer) fight like cats and dogs at first, but fall in love.
John Huston directed this classic WWI romantic adventure that stars Humphrey Bogart as Riverboat Captain Charlie Allnut, an alcoholic and aging veteran of the river who is persuaded to lead pious Rose Sayer(played by Katharine Hepburn) by her missionary brother(played by Robert Morley) who is later beaten and left to die of fever by the German occupiers.
To be fair, the story does stretch credulity to breaking point on many occasions, not just the unlikely romance between crusty old Bogie and prim and proper Kate, but their whole adventure down the river surviving in one piece culminating in the highly improbable destruction of a German warship...and they survive that too.Of course with all this to swallow, for the movie to work you have to engage with the lead characters in what is basically a two-hander for much of the time and who better to engage with than Bogart and Hepburn.
Adventures set in the past in exotic location have also been a popular idea, and the African Queen does that.Set in 1914 on the outbreak of World War One, Rose (Katharine Hepburn) and Samuel Sayer (Robert Morley), are brother and sister from England, working as missionaries in German East Africa.
Rose ends up going with Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart), a Canadian boat captain of the African Queen.
It's the year 1914.The war has started in Europe.Katharine Hepburn plays a British missionary called Rose Sayer who's in Africa with her brother Samuel (Robert Morley).Soon the war comes to Africa and Rose's reverend brother dies.Humphrey Bogart plays a boozing Canadian boat captain Charlie Allnut who has to get Rose back to civilization with the African Queen.Their other intension of the journey is to construct a torpedo and destroy a German warship, the Louisa.On the way they face many difficulties and challenges, the unpredictable weather being one of them.At first Rosie and Charlie nearly hate each other but soon the opposites start to attract and hate turns to love.John Huston, a fine director is in charge of The African Queen (1951).Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn, what a team they make.They share a huge amount of chemistry on that little boat.Besides them there are only a few other actors in the movie.One of them is Theodore Bikel in his early movie role playing First Officer.This movie is a great adventure drama with some war and romance.It's pretty amazing to watch those two people on the boat trying to survive.The movie offers a bit of comedy, as well.It's quite funny to watch Bogie imitating those hippos and apes.I recommend you get on the African Queen and enjoy the ride..
This movie has it all: Romance, Comedy, Action, Adventure, along with great acting done by Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart..