The African Queen (1951)

Cautiously Recommended

UK

Feature Film

Director: John Huston

Writers: James Agee, John Huston, C.S. Forester

Cinematographer: Jack Cardiff

Composer: Allan Gray

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull

Huston’s light-hearted take on Forester’s novel – following a rough-arsed sailor and a prim-and-proper missionary’s attempts to traverse a dangerous river in German East Africa following the outbreak of the First World War, alternately endeavouring to avoid or confront the German forces – is really rather silly and never vaguely believable, but Bogart and Hepburn’s full-blooded performances just about make up for the film’s numerous faults (not the least of which being Gray’s horribly incongruous score). Iain.Stott