From the DVD box: “During World War One, a hard drinking river trader (Bogart) and a prim missionary (Hepburn) are forced to take a hazardous river expedition together, encountering tropical hazards, nefarious German officers and a surprising romance.”
The chemistry between the pair is extremely strong. There’s gentle humour and a surprising amount of tenderness, without ever resorting to sentimentality. It also works as an adventure story, a war film, a rom-com and a character study. There are elements of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in the couple floating down the river with the ever-present threat of an alien land in turmoil just beyond the river banks.
My only criticism is that the death of Hepburn’s missionary brother is never really explained. It would have made better narrative sense for the Germans to have killed him, instead of him suddenly being struck down by fever. Otherwise, The African Queen is a flawless thing of wonder.
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