As far as adventure and action films go, The African Queen is rather tame. It relies on the interplay between the two protagonists, one a sophisticated and passionately patriotic missionary, the other a rather mellow boatman. After she pressures him into making makeshift torpedoes to help the war effort, they go an a terrifying journey through an unnavigable African river to reach the Atlantic (filmed on location!). The resulting thrills are primarily repetitive scenes where the rapids overwhelm the boat and some part of the engine fails - how many waterfalls can they go down before the viewer catches on? The ending shakes things up as they get caught by the Germans, but even then, the heroics are a bit silly. Not a bad film, but relies mostly on its conflicting actors and scenery, and offers not much else.
Review of The African Queen
