Must-watchWorld War I · Film · 1951
The African Queen
When war reaches German East Africa, a prim missionary and a gin-soaked riverboat captain set off down a wild river with a crazy plan to sink a German gunboat, and slowly fall for each other.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 1 places.
Stop 1: The lake of the Königin Luise (Lake Tanganyika)
Key location
After running rapids, a German fort and a swamp of reeds, Rose and Charlie reach the lake and turn their battered launch into a homemade torpedo.
What really happened
C. S. Forester's 1935 novel, which Huston adapted, is set on a thinly disguised Lake Tanganyika, where German East Africa (today Tanzania) faced the Belgian Congo. Germany controlled the lake early in the war with armed steamers, above all the Graf von Götzen, launched at Kigoma in 1915, which inspired the film's Königin Luise.
In reality the lake was won by an even stranger expedition: in 1915 the Royal Navy hauled two motor boats, Mimi and Toutou, overland across Africa and sank or captured German vessels in December 1915 and February 1916. The Graf von Götzen was scuttled in July 1916, later refloated and still sails the lake as the ferry MV Liemba.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- The African Queen
- Directed by
- John Huston
- Countries
- United Kingdom, United States
- Languages
- English, German
- Released
- 1951
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Mediterranean & Africa
- Themes
- Naval
- Romance
