#284: Lifeboat
Alfred Hitchcock proves unsinkable once again
This review was originally posted to Twitter on June 30, 2020.
Initial release: January 28, 1944
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
There’s something about putting a bunch of people in an extremely small space for an extended period of time and seeing what happens. It makes for good drama, and you can do it in a lot of different ways. Alfred Hitchcock did a wartime film about exactly that. Welcome to the Lifeboat.
It’s sometime during World War II, though unclear exactly when — though likely after the us enters the war. A merchant marine ship has been sunk by a German U-boat, which was itself sunk soon after. A lifeboat, initially with a single passenger, soon begins collecting survivors. Slowly, this little crew begins to take shape, from the worldly reporter Connie, some of the merchant ship’s crew (including Joe, a black steward), a US army nurse, a wealthy industrialist, a woman and her dead baby, and, importantly, a German U-boat crewman. Though the English speaking survivors initially bicker over what to do with the German, they eventually decide to leave him alone. For his part, he seems innocent enough, just a little sailor caught up in a big war, but it’s soon clear that he’s more sinister than all that…
Alfred Hitchcock is considered one of the greatest filmmakers ever, and for good reason, but his technical skill in terms of shot composition saw a major test in this film, as the characters occupy a small boat and the camera almost never leaves the bounds of the craft. As such, the film treats us to lots of close-ups, long shots of the boat from bow to stern or the other way around, and occasionally manages to get most of the cast in view by simply cramming them into the shot as much as the frame will allow.
Of course, with a movie this short on opportunities for action, it’s really up to the cast to carry the film. Tallulah Bankhead as Connie is the headlining act in this drama, and she brings a world-weary vanity to her smooth-talking reporter who loses everything dear to her. But we also get William Bendix as Gus, an unlucky merchant marine crewman whose future of dancing with his beloved Rosie is dashed with his injured leg that must be amputated; Walter Slezak’s German sailor is a friendly, even jolly villain… but no less a bastard.
Hitchcock’s cinematography works overtime to sell a sense of isolation and claustrophobia; we’re on the wide open ocean, but everyone is trapped on one small boat, with barely enough room for everyone on it. In most respects I’d say Hitchcock succeeded.
Interesting fact: this film was controversial upon release for having a perceived sympathetic portrayal of the German survivor. After having seen the film, I’d say any argument that it’s sympathetic is thoroughly bullshit — the man is the enemy and the film doesn’t even hide it.
This is a solid character drama that despite being one of Hitchcock’s lesser known works is one of his more forward thinking ones, working within the tight, self-imposed restrictions to really show Hitchcock’s talent as a filmmaker, well before the 1950s and 1960s thriller stuff he became best known for.
