Lifeboat [Masters of Cinema] (Ltd Edition Dual Format Steelbook) [Blu-ray] [1944]

At the beginning we see a sinking ship and debris floating in the water before the camera settles on the lifeboat where the immaculate Connie (Tallulah Bankhead) is alone. The lifeboat soon fills up with characters, including Willy (Walter Slezak) the German captain of the submarine responsible for the sinking of the ship. The film follows the quest to safety in Bermuda. However, only Willy knows the way.....

The story provides suspense as we watch Willy gradually take over control of the lifeboat. He is assured and possesses all the necessary skills that are called upon including surgery, seamanship, strength and a peculiar navigational awareness.... Do we, the audience, trust him just as the other members in the lifeboat have to? He seems nice enough.

The cast are good with Tallulah Bankhead and Walter Slezak winning the acting honours. Hume Cronym as "Sparks" has a peculiar voice and John Hodiak as "Kovac" has an unfortunate array of teeth in his mouth - he reminded me of 'Bingo' from the "Banana Splits" whenever he smiled. It's quite off-putting.

It's an entertaining film, if a little long, but it's worth seeing again. I won't go into the finer details of German Expressionism versus Soviet Expressive Realism which Hitchcock manages to combine, but I will say that he makes his usual appearance.

I thought that I had seen most of Hitch's output, when Amazon directed me towards this neglected gem. I had never come across it, and drawn by the names 'Hitchcock' and 'Steinbeck' in a Masters of Cinema imprime, I figured what the hell and gave it the proverbial punt.
I am very glad that I did.
It's a wartime release, but like the excellent 'Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' (Powell and Pressburger), it does not fit the pattern of a standard flag waver. It would have been problematic at its release, not least in certain parts of America due to the sympathetic portrayal of the single black character in the boat. The characters are disparate and stereotypical, thrown together into the social melting pot of the boat by the 'master of suspense' himself (he still managed to make his customary appearance btw, although it is a little slimmed down even by his usual standards).
The performances are fine, helped by a spare Steinbeck style. Fans of Steinbeck will be rewarded in the way that the film deals with various themes that were of clear interest to the author elsewhere (small but dashed dreams, American treatment of the blacks pre-Civil Rights, etc.).
As noted by other reviewers, the film throws up some interesting moral questions, not least being what to do with a saved enemy sailor complicit in the sinking of your own boat, with its concommittent loss of life? The changing power dynamic in the lifeboat also makes for interesting viewing - you cannot help but wonder what you would have done in the same circumstances, which is a strength of the film.
I have now watched it a few times, and found it compelling each time, and repeat viewings are certainly rewarding.
The Blu-ray print is very good, with the audio as clean as you could expect. I have yet to see the two French wartime shorts included, so I cannot comment upon them, but I'm sure that they will shed further light on the evolving Hitchcock.
In sum, this represents a bit of a lost curio in the Hitchcock canon; it lacks the budget and production values of a 'Vertigo' or 'North by Northwest', but it more than stands on its own merits. Well worth a look (or three!).

A merchant ship is torpedoed and sunk by the Germans, leaving only a handful of survivors in the process. Finding a lifeboat to share, the survivors are thrown into conflict when one of the survivors turns out to be the captain of the U-boat that sunk their ship.

Lifeboat is a truly fine Alfred Hitchcock picture, it's a little undervalued, and most probably under seen due to not getting a worthy DVD transfer until the new millennium. Adapted from a John Steinbeck story, Lifeboat finds Hitchcock experimenting with a single set picture that is awash with propaganda and containing a cast that are across the bows, both endearing and totally interesting. Really tho, it's with the moral posers and quandary heart that Lifeboat becomes a great picture, different classes and oddly assorted persona's are forced to survive as one unit, but invariably a fly in the ointment could turn out to be a catalyst of sorts, not only for this group's possible survival, but in mental fortitude's and their respective capabilities under duress.

Very interesting film from the maestro director, with Tallulah Bankhead, Willian Bendix, John Hodiak and Walter Slezak turning in very enjoyable performances. Lifeboat is unusual in the sense of Hitchcock's other well known pictures, but it definitely finds him very much on form and very much laying down a marker for the genius that was to come. 9/10