I Watch Films: The African Queen
The African Queen
In German East Africa in 1914, Samuel and Rose Sayer are brother and sister missionaries. Their link to the outside world is via The African Queen a small and disreputable launch captained by the disreputable Charlie Allnutt, that goes up and down the river to the mines.
WW1 breaks out, German troops burn the village and beat Samuel. He dies of fever. Charlie arrives (his crew has deserted) and buries him, then suggests he and Rose should try and lay low, figure out how to get out of the country. Rose wonders if the British will try and invade; the best route would be over the (fictional) lake Wittelsbach, but that’s guarded by a German gunboat.
Simply to get there would be impossible; there are rapids, a fortified town and the uncharted river delta to navigate. And what would they do there? Rose asks if he could make a torpedo from the gas cylinders and explosive for the mines and he realises he could make a spar torpedo (basically stick the explosives out the front of the boat and ram them).
She convinces him. They have adventures, he gets discouraged and drunk on gin, she pours the gin away. They fall in love. Eventually they reach the lake, but the African Queen is swamped by a storm. Charlie is fished out of the water by the Germans and questioned. They don’t believe his story and threaten to hang him. They then rescue Rose and decide to hang both of them as spies and/or saboteurs. As a final request Charlie asks the captain to marry them, which he does (he probably doesn’t have the authority). At that moment the floating wreck of The African Queen drifts into the ship and sinks it, allowing Rose and Charlie to escape.
Humphrey Bogart got his only Oscar for his performance. At one point the pair of them bathe in the river and are hilariously wearing long underwear and try to avoid looking at each other.
Watch This: It’s an old-fashioned adventure film, lifted by the central performance of the two characters (who are the only characters for the majority of the film assuming you don’t count the boat, which I don’t*)
Don’t Watch This: If you don’t want an old-fashioned adventure film
* The African Queen, the boat, has more character than many vehicles in films but that’s still not a lot.
In German East Africa in 1914, Samuel and Rose Sayer are brother and sister missionaries. Their link to the outside world is via The African Queen a small and disreputable launch captained by the disreputable Charlie Allnutt, that goes up and down the river to the mines.
WW1 breaks out, German troops burn the village and beat Samuel. He dies of fever. Charlie arrives (his crew has deserted) and buries him, then suggests he and Rose should try and lay low, figure out how to get out of the country. Rose wonders if the British will try and invade; the best route would be over the (fictional) lake Wittelsbach, but that’s guarded by a German gunboat.
Simply to get there would be impossible; there are rapids, a fortified town and the uncharted river delta to navigate. And what would they do there? Rose asks if he could make a torpedo from the gas cylinders and explosive for the mines and he realises he could make a spar torpedo (basically stick the explosives out the front of the boat and ram them).
She convinces him. They have adventures, he gets discouraged and drunk on gin, she pours the gin away. They fall in love. Eventually they reach the lake, but the African Queen is swamped by a storm. Charlie is fished out of the water by the Germans and questioned. They don’t believe his story and threaten to hang him. They then rescue Rose and decide to hang both of them as spies and/or saboteurs. As a final request Charlie asks the captain to marry them, which he does (he probably doesn’t have the authority). At that moment the floating wreck of The African Queen drifts into the ship and sinks it, allowing Rose and Charlie to escape.
Humphrey Bogart got his only Oscar for his performance. At one point the pair of them bathe in the river and are hilariously wearing long underwear and try to avoid looking at each other.
Watch This: It’s an old-fashioned adventure film, lifted by the central performance of the two characters (who are the only characters for the majority of the film assuming you don’t count the boat, which I don’t*)
Don’t Watch This: If you don’t want an old-fashioned adventure film
* The African Queen, the boat, has more character than many vehicles in films but that’s still not a lot.
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