Directed by:
Alfred HitchcockComposer:
Hugo FriedhoferCast:
Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, John Hodiak, Henry Hull, Heather Angel, Hume Cronyn, Canada Lee, Alfred Hitchcock (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
After a Nazi torpedo reduces an ocean liner to wooden splinters and scorched personal effects, the survivors of the attack pull themselves aboard a drifting lifeboat in the hope of eventual rescue. But the motivations of the German submarine captain (played by Walter Slezak) on the eponymous craft might extend beyond mere survival. Based on an unpublished novella by John Steinbeck (written on commission expressly to provide treatment material for Hitchcock's screen scenario), Lifeboat found the Master of Suspense navigating a course of maximal tension in the most minimal of settings with a consistently inventive, beautifully paced drama that would foreshadow the single-set experiments of Rope and Dial M for Murder. With a cast including Shadow of a Doubt veteran Hume Cronyn and the extraordinary, irrepressible Tallulah Bankhead, this "picture of characters", as François Truffaut aptly termed the film, oscillates dazzlingly between comic repartée and white-knuckle suspense a perfect example of "the Hitchcock touch". (Eureka Entertainment)
(more)Reviews (1)
Solid minimalist conversational drama from master Hitchcock, which takes place entirely on a boat, where an interesting mix of survivors find themselves after the sinking of the ship, and as a bonus a German from the submarine responsible for sinking the ship, which then also ran aground. Thanks to a great script, I was never bored, on the contrary, I was forced to think about how I would behave in a similar situation. The final slightly warlike scene is the perfect cherry on top. I also found amusing the classic cameo of Hitch himself, who managed to elegantly squeeze onto the boat deck without being one of the passengers.
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