The African Queen - DVD

Rating: G Runtime: 105 minutes

One of the true classics of Hollywood’s golden era, Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart star as the devout missionary owner of a steamboat (the titular African Queen) and a vulgar Canadian mechanic, respectively.

Charting a course out of East Africa as World War I flared up, meaning they have to navigate not just the river rapids, but the occasional torpedo fired by murderous Germans. Released six years after World War II, there is a real edge to fighting scenes that is reportedly missing from the source material, a 1935 novel by CS Forester.

Unlike most other films being made at the time, The African Queen was largely shot on location in the Congo and in full technicolour (the cameras were enormous). The cast and crew reportedly ran out of fresh water, there were no showers, and Bogart and director John Huston were constantly drunk, to Hepburn’s disgust. The sweat-soaked sense of adventure leaping off the screen and barbed exchanges between the two leads make this easy to believe. “There is rollicking fun and gentle humor in this outlandish “African Queen.” …. Without two accomplished players, Mr. Huston could never have achieved his highly audacious purpose of a virtually two-character film, but Miss Hepburn and Mr. Bogart are entirely up to their jobs”. Bosley Crowther, The New York Times