The African Queen (1951)
(John Huston, US 1951, 105 min., 35mm)
John Huston’s adventurous drama The African Queen—co-scripted by ace film critic James Agee and beautifully shot on location by the legendary Jack Cardiff—is the first and only pairing of two of Hollywood’s most iconic and independent stars, Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The boozy riverboat captain and the devout British missionary form an unlikely friendship by challenging each other’s ideological prejudices while fleeing from a remote African wilderness at the beginning of World War I. Huston and company suffered many hardships on location in what was then the Belgian Congo. Yet with humor, star chemistry, a magnificent setting, and thrilling Technicolor photography, they created a natural winner not to be missed.