Netflix pick for 8/25/14 – ‘The African Queen’

From 1951, “The African Queen” starts as a movie about a couple of uptight missionaries and the boarish sea captain who ferries them around East Africa, and it ends up being a movie about a mission to torpedo a German warship to allow for a British naval counter attack, and it is kind of crazy how quickly this story escalates, or it would be crazy if it doesn’t happen so naturally.

With the great Humphrey Bogart winning his only Best Actor Oscar for his work in this movie and Katharine Hepburn playing the missionary who finds herself suddenly with both a vendetta against the World War I era Germans and a means by which to hurt them, and all directed by one of the manliest and toughest film makers ever in the form of the one and only John Huston, “The African Queen” is surprising in how well it holds up after all these years, as the story just sucks you in and the constant sense of danger just makes the whole thing fly by. This movie is considered a classic for a reason, folks.

Just see it for yourself here on the Netflix Instant and enjoy!