Two of the harder to find films to watch in Nicholas Ray's oeuvre both star future svengali to statuesque blonde starlets, John Derek (The Ten Commandments): the social conscience/proto-youth film Knock on Any Door, and the Western Run for Cover (now easy to view on Netflix streaming, albeit in the wrong aspect ratio). Knock on Any Door is both a precursor to Rebel Without a Cause and its opposite number. Its misguided juveniles are from the bad part of town and far enough down the road of delinquency as to be considered hopeless. Run for Cover is the last of Ray's Western trilogy which began with The Lusty Men (1952). (Ray's The True Story of Jesse James would come later and is quite different from his previous oaters). But as different as each sounds from the other, the fact that the two are tied together by Derek's casting is just one indication of how close Knock on Any Door and Run for Cover are thematically.
Some time back, I was tagged for a meme in which I had to list 
An adaptation of C.S. Forester's novel, the movie takes place in East Africa during the early days of World War I. Rose Sayer (Katherine Hepburn) and her brother, Samuel (Robert Morley), are missionaries who depend on deliveries from good-natured drunkard, Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart), and his riverboat, the African Queen. But as Africa falls to the Germans, Samuel falls ill and dies, leaving Rose alone until Allnut's next visit. Allnut and Rose decide to take a treacherous voyage on the riverboat in hopes of escaping the encroaching Germans. But first, the patriotic Rose hopes to convince Allnut to use some of the blasting gelatin his boat carries to make torpedoes that will destroy a German ship upriver, the Louisa. The ensuing journey brings romance to the unlikely couple as they face the river's travails with courage.
And what a refreshing film romance it is, between two powerhouse stars that engage both the viewer and themselves as equals. After a run through some white water rapids, the prissy Sayer is exhilarated: 
Huston's film is important in some significant ways. Like their characters, Bogart (Casablanca) and Hepburn (The Philadelphia Story) made for an unusual but effective screen couple, their incongruous acting styles contributing to the romantic chemistry. Also, it was the rare movie in those days that got to shoot on location, and Huston (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) travelled to Africa to add authenticity to its aesthetic, an account of this being the basis for Peter Viertel's novel, White Hunter, Black Heart, and its eventual Clint Eastwood-directed 1990 film adaptation. Marking the first time either star would appear in a color film, the Technicolor cinematography is executed by the renowned Jack Cardiff (Black Narcissus).
Cardiff's photography enhances this enjoyable romp, as one can observe from even these less than stellar screen captures. Cardiff, who so effectively pushed the boundaries of color cinema in his collaborations with the Powell and Pressburger team (A Matter of Life and Death, The Red Shoes), captured the inherent dichotomy of the dark continent in his mysterious yet alluring lighting and framing design. The African Queen is amongst his most visually attractive films in a career that spans the range of film history, from silent film to today.
For Huston and Bogart, who had collaborated on some of their best films together starting with The Maltese Falcon (1941), this would be their last film together. The film would prove to be a vindication of sorts for Bogart, who was often underestimated as an actor. He would win his only Oscar for the role of Allnut, a role that had to be modified from its depiction as an Englishman, in the original novel, to a Canadian because Bogart had trouble pulling off the accent. While I'm not sure it was entirely deserved in a year where he competed against Marlon Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire), Montgomery Clift (A Place in the Sun) and Fredric March (Death of a Salesman), all arguably better performances, the role is easily Bogart's career best. Stealing the show throughout is no easy feat when acting opposite the actress with the most Oscar wins in history.
As of 2003, according to the 