Prim and strait-laced Rose Sayer (Hepburn) assists her brother, the Reverend Samuel Sayer (Robert Morley), at a Christian mission in the Congo at the start of the First World War. The German army burns the village and the reverend dies from the shock and disappointment. Rose finds a crusty, gin-soaked, but obliging riverboat captain, Charlie Allnut (Bogart), who has been ferrying supplies to the various East African villages and who agrees to take her out of the jungle, even if it means battling the Germans. Their adventures on his old steamer, the African Queen, and eventual unlikely romance form the backbone of the story, based on a novel by C.S. Forester and adapted by director John Huston and novelist James Agee. Bogart won an Oscar for this highly memorable role, and Hepburn is terrific as well in this classic 1951 film. Watch for 27-year-old Theodore Bikel in his second feature film role as First Officer in the German Navy.
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The review of this Movie prepared by David Loftus
