The African Queen

1951 1h 45m English 7.7

Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, War

September 1914, news reaches the colony in German East Africa that war has broken out across Europe making British Reverend Samuel Sayer a hostile foreigner. German imperial troops burn down his mission; he is beaten and dies of fever. His well-educated, snobbish sister Rose Sayer buries him and leaves by the only available transport, the dilapidated river steamboat 'African Queen' of grumpy Charlie Allnut. As if a long difficult journey without any comfort weren't bad enough for such odd companions, she is determined to find a way to do their part for the British war effort while avenging her brother and aims high, as God is obviously on their side: construct their own torpedo and use the converted steamboat to take out a huge German warship, the Louisa, which is hard to find or reach on the giant lake. She presses till Charlie accepts to steam up the Ulanga, brave a German fort, raging rapids, bloodthirsty parasites, and the endlessly branching river which seems to go nowhere but impenetrable swamps. Despite fierce rows and moral antagonism between a bossy devout abstentionist and a free-spirited libertine drunken loner, the two grow closer to each-other as their quest drags on.—KGF Vissers (corrected by Adds)