The African Queen

C. S. Forester

(4.6 stars; 12 reviews)

The African Queen [2015] Drama Samantha Bond and Toby Jones star in a new dramatisation of C.S. Forester's classic World War 1 novel. Set in 1915, Rose Sayer's work as a missionary comes to an abrupt end when the village she and her brother, Reverend Samuel Sayer, live in is invaded by the German army. Samuel dies of fever and Rose blames the ungodly Germans for having ground him down and frightened off the entire village.  Patriotically, but naively, Rose conceives of blowing up a German warship thus helping the war effort. She convinces cowardly Cockney Charlie Allnut to lend his rickety steam-powered boat, The African Queen, for the cause. He has offered to give Rose a lift in his boat to get away from the village and the Germans, so reluctantly goes along with her plan. If they manage to survive German attacks, rapids, malaria and mechanical mishaps will they be able to survive each other?  The novel, The African Queen by C.S. Forester, was of course the basis for the highly popular Hollywood movie of the same name. Paul Mendelson's dramatisation goes back to the novel re-instating Forester's original ending and giving Charlie his Cockney identity back!  By C. S. Forester; dramatised for radio by Paul Mendelson Music composed and played by Gary C. Newman Producer/director: David Ian Neville. Credits Rose Samantha Bond  Charlie Toby Jones  Samuel Sayer Stephen Critchlow  German Sailor Mark Edel-Hunt  German Sea Captain David Acton  Director David Neville  Producer David Neville  Author CS Forester  Adaptor Paul Mendelson  Broadcasts Sat 21 Feb 2015 14:30 Classic Serial: The African Queen [2001] Mike Walker's adaptation of CS Forester's novel, best-known in its film version by John Huston. During the [First] World War, straight-laced missionary Rose Sayer and gin-swigging Cockney Charlie Allnutt find themselves marooned together in occupied central Africa. When Rose proposes they escape, the unlikely duo embark on a journey together through the whitewater rapids and crocodile swamps of the Ulanga river in Charlie's ramshackle old launch The African Queen. Credits Author: C.S. Forester Adapted by: Mike Walker Producer/Director: Kate McAll Music composed by: Stuart Gordon Rose Sayer: Tara Fitzgerald Captain: Paul Humpoletz Charlie Allnutt: Jamie Foreman BBC Radio 4 01 Sep 2001 21.00

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.