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The African Queen

The African Queen (1951)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 0

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86

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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 30,497

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Movie Info

After years of wooing director John Huston via good reviews, film critic James Agee was given a chance to write the screenplay for a Huston picture. Adapted from a novel by C.S. Forester, The African Queen stars Humphrey Bogart in his Oscar-winning portrayal of Charlie Allnut, the slovenly, gin-swilling captain of a tramp steamer called the African Queen, which ships supplies to small East African villages during World War I. Katharine Hepburn plays Rose Sayer, the maiden-lady sister of a prim

Unrated, 1 hr. 45 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure, Romance, Classics

C.S. Forester, James Agee

Jul 9, 2004

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Cast

All Critics (37) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (46) | Rotten (0) | DVD (13)

It is a picture with an unassuming warmth and naturalness...

June 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The direction is often questionable, but the screenplay (by James Agee, John Collier, Huston, and Peter Viertel from C.S. Forester's novel) is a model of tight construction.

June 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

And so Mr. Huston merits credit for putting this fantastic tale on a level of sly, polite kidding and generally keeping it there, while going about the happy business of engineering excitement and visual thrills.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A ripping, gripping yarn, a surprisingly erotic love story and, as it happens, a premonition of Herzog's Fitzcarraldo.

March 3, 2011 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

[A] grand, propulsive and plumly-restored slice of Technicolor derring-do.

March 3, 2011 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | Comment
Daily Telegraph

What an inspired pairing! And to think the roles of Charlie Allnutt and Rose Sayer were nearly played by David Niven and Bette Davis.

March 3, 2011 Full Review Source: Radio Times | Comment
Radio Times

It's probably cameraman Jack Cardiff who deserves kudos for turning this odd-couple romance into such a colourful escapade through east Africa.

February 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

Huston understands the majestic savagery of his surroundings well enough to let it exert some dramatic pressure on what is primarily a buoyant romantic comedy.

February 9, 2011 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

Five minutes in, and cowriter-director John Huston has already set the stage for something besides your typical '50s jungle-bwana boogie.

February 9, 2011 Full Review Source: Time Out New York | Comment
Time Out New York

The performances by Humphrey Bogart (who earned his lone Oscar for his troubles) and Katharine Hepburn, along with John Huston's astute direction has produced a high spirited and highly entertaining adventure movie.

July 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Matt's Movie Reviews | Comment
Matt's Movie Reviews

Hepburn and Bogart shine in this odd couple adventure.

May 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

As a paradigm of why certain actors and filmmakers remain revered several decades after their death or greatest success, The African Queen is more than merely exemplary.

March 25, 2010 Full Review Source: PopMatters | Comment
PopMatters

These are not "pretty" characters, but they are beautiful and their affair is a natural force outside of society and the church.

March 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Seanax.com | Comment
Seanax.com

...a totally delightful and entirely engrossing romance, filled with comedy, action, and adventure, the film now meticulously restored. (Blu-ray Edition)

March 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

A more unorthodox adventure story and a more unconventional romantic comedy you couldn't imagine.

March 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

A long-overdue disc of a longtime audience favorite, with an absolutely tip-top image restoration that makes this old tub look good as new.

March 20, 2010 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

...one of those films that have been so assimilated into the collective unconscious that they feel ubiquitous,to the point that even those who have never seen it probably feel as though they have.

March 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | Comment
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Part buddy action flick, part screwball comedy, it's all good.

December 23, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinemania | Comment

Bogart and Hepburn are truly amazing together.

April 26, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | Comment
ColeSmithey.com
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The African Queen

I'm conflicted with this one. This shouldn't be the case. It's Huston, Bogart, and Hepburn...in a period piece romantic action comedy. This should be a stone could classic that I'm in love with.Instead, I'm pleased by it, but also stunned at how not excellent this actually is. Set in German occupied Africa during World

January 11, 2012
cosmo313
Chris Weber

Super Reviewer

The circumstances around the making of this film are almost as good of a story as the movie itself, being one of the first independent films to truly succeed, and to feature "old" people, (Bogart and Hepburn, both seeking to reclaim their careers in the wake of the McCarthy era). The African Queen uses a deceptively

May 28, 2007
danperry17

Super Reviewer

    1. Charlie Allnut: Leeches ahhhh!
    – Submitted by Roger M (57 days ago)
    1. Rose Sayer: "Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put into this world to rise above.
    – Submitted by Chris P (13 months ago)
    1. Charlie Allnut: A man takes a drop too much once in a while, it's only human nature.
    – Submitted by Chris P (13 months ago)

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June 22, 2007:
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Foreign Titles

  • The African Queen (1951) (DE)
  • The African Queen (1951) (CA)
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