All Aboard The Blu-Ray African Queen March 23rd

If there's one unexpected benefit of Blu-ray, it's the trend of older classics getting spiffed up and re-released in pristine quality. The latest to come down the pike -- or up the river -- is John Huston's The African Queen, chockablock with action, adventure, and romantic snark between Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The new Blu-ray and DVD versions will be docking on March 23rd, freshly remastered and carrying a cargo of brand-new bonus material.

Starring Bogart as often-tipsy boat captain Charlie Allnut and Hepburn as prim missionary Rose Sayer, The African Queen earned Bogie a Best Actor Oscar, netted nominations for Hepburn, Huston's direction, and the screenplay, and currently sits comfortably on AFI's 100 Greatest Movies list. It's a great flick, and I'm more than happy to have a new cleaned-up release as an excuse to watch it again.

Unsurprisingly, the new set comes in multiple different versions, including single-disc DVDs and Blu-rays or the snazzier collector's versions. The collector's edition looks like it will mainly just add a few collectible knickknacks, so the single-disc may be the way to go for all but the snobbiest of film snobs.

THE AFRICAN QUEEN DVD is presented in full screen format with English, French and Spanish Mono and English, French and Spanish subtitles. The Blu-ray is presented in 1080p High Definition with English, French and Spanish Mono and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. Special features are as follows:

Embracing Chaos: Making The African Queen -- This comprehensive documentary takes a look back at the production with commentary about the cast, the challenges of the filming locations and how the spectacular cinematography impacted the industry overall. Includes on-camera interviews with notable Hollywood icons, critics and crew members from the film including Martin Scorsese, Tony Huston, Richard Schickel and more, plus never-before-seen archival images and home movie footage provided by the estate of cinematographer Jack Cardiff.

The Commemorative, Limited-Edition DVD and Blu-ray box sets include the above along with:

• An audio disc with a recording of the Lux Radio Theater presents The African Queen radio broadcast
• A Senitype® film frame collectible reproduction
• Collectible postcards featuring reproductions of images related to the film
• A reproduction of Katharine Hepburn’s out-of-print memoir The Making of The African Queen or How I Went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall and Huston and Almost Lost My Mind