The movie The African Queen tells the story of Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart), a hard-drinker who runs a small steamboat through the shallow rivers of East Africa in the early 1900s bringing dynamite, gin, supplies, and tools to European speculators and miners. He also carries the mail to Rosie (Katherine Hepburn), a missionary. When WWI breaks out and the Germans burn Rosie's home and church, the British missionary and the Canadian boatman flee in the African Queen.

Their destination is a large lake downriver where they hope to do their part in the Allied war effort by blowing up a German destroyer. On the river they face one danger after another. Insects attack. As they pass a German-held fort, bullets whiz by them. They fight rapids. With a lot of moxie they survive these tests, but then the river dissipates and splits into a hundred streams. The African Queen bogs down in a marsh.

With no current to push them along, Charlie and Rosie use poles to push the boat forward, and eventually Charlie has to wade the shallows pulling the boat by a rope. Charlie shudders when he finds leeches on his back and arms, but he grimly returns to the water, and soon Rosie herself slogs though the marsh hacking a path with a machete while Charlie pulls. Eventually they come to the end of their strength. The boat is stuck on a mud flat, and Charlie is feverish.

He states, "Rosie, you want to know the truth, don't you? Even if we had all our strength, we'd never get her off this mud. We're finished."

She responds simply, "I know it," and they resign themselves to death in the wasteland.

As Charlie drifts to sleep, Rosie prays a simple prayer of resignation, "We've come to the end of our journey. In a little while we will stand before you…. Open the doors of heaven for Charlie and me."

But the camera draws back slowly to reveal what the couple cannot see because of the reeds, —the African Queen is less than 100 yards from the shining lake. The camera then transports us far upstream to the headwaters of the river. A torrential rainstorm is sending animals scurrying for cover. Further downstream, the rains have turned the rapids into cataracts. Down on the mudflat a small channel begins to run through the reeds. The channel swells, gently lifts the Queen off the mudflat, and carries it to the lake. Charlie and Rosie wake to the gentle rocking of the boat and a refreshing breeze.

Reaching the end of human resources can mark the beginning of divine intervention.

Elapsed time: Measured from the beginning of the opening credits, this scene begins at 1:19:00 and ends at 1:25:00.

Content: The African Queen is not rated.