The 1951 film starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn that follows a journey down an African river is The African Queen. Bogart plays Charlie Allnut, a rough Canadian boat captain, while Hepburn plays Rose Sayer, a missionary in German East Africa during the First World War.
After German forces destroy Rose’s mission and her brother dies, she persuades Charlie to take his small steamer down the Ulanga River. Their dangerous voyage combines wartime adventure, physical hardship, and an unlikely romance. The film was adapted from C. S. Forester’s 1935 novel and directed by John Huston.
The production was famously demanding, with filming in difficult tropical conditions. Bogart later won the Academy Award for Best Actor, his only competitive Oscar, while Hepburn received a Best Actress nomination. The film is often confused with Bogart’s Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon, but neither features this river expedition or his pairing with Hepburn. The African Queen was added to the United States National Film Registry in 1994.