Rating: 
Summary: Hitchcock reduced to working with a boat at sea/single set
Review: "Lifeboat" has my favorite cameo by director Alfred Hitchcock, mainly because it takes place in a movie that takes place on a small lifeboat adrift on the Atlantic with a handful of survivors from a torpedoed freighter: Willy, the captain of the attacking U-boat (Walter Slezak), which also sank; Constance "Connie" Porter (Tallulah Bankhead), a self-centered journalist; Gus Smith (William Bendix), a wounded crewman; Alice MacKenzie (Mary Anderson), a nurse; John Kovac (John Hodiak), a crewman whose ancestors were Czech; Charles D. Rittenhouse (Henry Hull), a shipping magnate; Mrs. Higgins (Heather Angel), a mother driven insane by the death of her baby; Stanley Garrett (Hume Cronyn), a radio operator; and George "Joe" Spencer (Canada Lee), a steward. Ironically, the Nazi is the only rational, practical person on the boat and Slezak's performance makes this troubling characterization even more powerful (Hitchcock insisted he was simply indicating the Nazi should not be underestimated). But it is Bankhead, the sophisticated commentator on the world at large who finds herself dealing with ordinary people in the middle of a catastrophe, who has the role of a life time (she won the New York Film Critics' Best Actress Award). Hitchcock received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. To most people today "Lifeboat" means a problem-solving game (do you share your limited food and water with the wounded man?) teachers throw at you to kill a class period once a year. But this film makes that game brutally real, where personalities clash and survival hangs in the balance. Not a typical Hitchcock film, but typically great Hitchcock and much better than "Rope," his other one-set film. Based on a story by John Steinbeck, the script is credited to Jo Swerling but was also worked on by the uncredited Ben Hecht.
Rating:
Summary: Hitchcock reduced to working with a boat at sea/single set
Review: "Lifeboat" has my favorite cameo by director Alfred Hitchcock, mainly because it takes place in a movie that takes place on a small lifeboat adrift on the Atlantic with a handful of survivors from a torpedoed freighter: Willy, the captain of the attacking U-boat (Walter Slezak), which also sank; Constance "Connie" Porter (Tallulah Bankhead), a self-centered journalist; Gus Smith (William Bendix), a wounded crewman; Alice MacKenzie (Mary Anderson), a nurse; John Kovac (John Hodiak), a crewman whose ancestors were Czech; Charles D. Rittenhouse (Henry Hull), a shipping magnate; Mrs. Higgins (Heather Angel), a mother driven insane by the death of her baby; Stanley Garrett (Hume Cronyn), a radio operator; and George "Joe" Spencer (Canada Lee), a steward. Ironically, the Nazi is the only rational, practical person on the boat and Slezak's performance makes this troubling characterization even more powerful (Hitchcock insisted he was simply indicating the Nazi should not be underestimated). But it is Bankhead, the sophisticated commentator on the world at large who finds herself dealing with ordinary people in the middle of a catastrophe, who has the role of a life time (she won the New York Film Critics' Best Actress Award). Hitchcock received an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. To most people today "Lifeboat" means a problem-solving game (do you share your limited food and water with the wounded man?) teachers throw at you to kill a class period once a year. But this film makes that game brutally real, where personalities clash and survival hangs in the balance. Not a typical Hitchcock film, but typically great Hitchcock and much better than "Rope," his other one-set film. Based on a story by John Steinbeck, the script is credited to Jo Swerling but was also worked on by the uncredited Ben Hecht.
Rating:
Summary: Great.
Review: 'Lifeboat' is a great film by the late Alfred Hitchcock. He is really truly a master of filmmaking and very few directors could make such a fantastic story from such a limited setting. Not many people know of the film, but one should definately check it out.
Rating:
Summary: Great.
Review: 'Lifeboat' is a great film by the late Alfred Hitchcock. He is really truly a master of filmmaking and very few directors could make such a fantastic story from such a limited setting. Not many people know of the film, but one should definately check it out.
Rating:
Summary: "Madame, you're sitting on your best side"
Review: A few survivors of a german u-boat attack spend act out their ambitions in a lifeboat (I really liked this one, even as a young kid...the best Alfred Hitchcock cameo ever)
Rating: 
Summary: A Metaphor for Society
Review: A ship is torpedoed in the Atlantic ocean. One lifeboat has a famous reporter in it, and the other survivors climb aboard. They are a diverse group that will provide dramatic tension. The last survivor is from the U-boat, which creates a discussion on his acceptance. One political question is: who is to steer the boat? Should the technically qualified U-boat skipper do it, or should the politically qualified crewman do it? The survivors make the right decision. Another question is whether a leg should be sacrificed to save a life (the lesser evil). The operation takes place and succeeds through the skill of the U-boat skipper. The recurring question is whether they are on the right course (a symbol of politics?). But a storm blows them off course (nature and events upsets their plans).
They lack food and water, but appear mot to suffer. Their talk about restaurants symbolizes their hunger. Their small talk reflects their backgrounds, and their differences. But Smith goes overboard, and the angry crew sends the skipper after him. Now they seem hopeless. But Connie chooses to use her diamond bracelet as a fishing lure, and they catch a fish (wealth to serve the people?)! The sighting of a ship causes the loss of the lure. At first it appears the enemy supply shop will rescue them. But a distant warship shells and sinks the supply ship. The film ends with the rescue of another enemy seaman. Nothing ages faster than a trendy play.
Rating: 
Summary: Hitchcock in a Tank?
Review: A very nice ensemble cast delivers the claustrophobia in this
"Lifeboat"Heather Angel and Henry Hull always seem to be least recognized in this drama although thw whole cast is seemless . Bill Bendix could walways play comedy or drama with equal terms.
I think a Dick Cavett story on Bankhead and Chico Marx may be in order. " Chico said " I want to ... You" and Bankhead , always the wit said " and so you shall young man" ! Slezak on the other hand was always an actor who used his rubber face to great effect. Watch out for waves and few script flaws but stay dry !
Rating:
Summary: Special effects excellent for their day
Review: Alfred Hitchcock directs an adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel of the same name. Survivors of a torpedoed merchant ship end up in a lifeboat with the Nazi U-Boat captain who sunk them. They become dependant on the German's skills and there the real interaction begins. Is he being forthright in his calculations of their course and location or is he luring them into a German trap? Special effects were very believable . Good story line and believable characters.
Rating:
Summary: rocking the boat
Review: An ambitious film for its time, "Lifeboat" capably depicts the despair of a very diverse group of people shipwrecked in a tiny boat on an immense ocean. During a wartime encounter between a British merchant-freighter and a German U-boat, both vessels are sunk and only nine survivors make it into the lifeboat. One is a German submariner. Human compassion prevails as he is permitted aboard -- besides, he is the only one with any ability to navigate. Tallulah Bankhead gives an impressive performance as the domineering, spoiled, Society reporter who takes command of her companions' fate. Skilled in German, only she can communicate with the taciturn "prisoner". Suspense mounts with the suspicion that the German is actually a Nazi officer who is directing the lifeboat into a trap. As the survivors are stricken with one disaster after another, accusations erupt into violence that even the indomitable Tallulah may not be able to control. But through it all, her lipstick and coiffure will remain perfect! This fine classic film is a very intense psychological study which ought to appeal to a new audience enfatuated with current televised "survival" series.
Rating:
Summary: A false dichotomy from the pen of John Steinbeck
Review: Chance brings these shipwrecked folks together on this Lifeboat. The players in this character study courtesy of John Steinbeck, by way of Hitchcock, include: a former crook trying to go straight, a girl who soon goes overboard once her baby dies, a seemingly useless rich industrialist, a simple regular quiet guy, an apprehensive nursegal, a superbly dressed lady (even on the lifeboat) who is a reporter, a German sailor, and 2 working class guys. Of the latter one concerns himself thinking of his girl back home while the other comes across as a pseudo-intellectual pretender. Ignoring the supporting cast, we are left with 3 points of interest herein: Kovac, the pretender; Connie, the society reporter (very ably portrayed by Tallulah Bankhead); and Willy, the wily Nazi whiz who seems skilled in everything. Sounds dull, doesn't it? Oh, pardon me. I'm forgetting the spice to liven up this water-borne play. Connie provides this by verbally pegging Kovac as a "fellow traveler", later calling him (albeit sarcastically) "tovarich." Definitons: "fellow travelers" were folks who supported & sympathized with Communism, without being card-carrying party members; and "tovarich" is Russian for comrade. Thus it becomes political; a triangular treatment of the Nazis, Stalin's USSR, and the monkey in the middle "West"---ie., a materialistic well-off lady; one who, moreover, actually interprets between the two. Story details: thanks to Kovac's stubborn anti-German antagonism he is able to bully the others into trusting him over the German, who argues that Kovac's "course" will lead them further away from land. Kovac doesn't know anything about sailing, but thanks to his "gut" inclination assumes he is in the right. After the German earns their trust by saving the other working-class guy's life, Kovac relents on pursuing his course; and begins passing the time playing high-stakes cards with the rich industrialist. How he is able to possibly cover the sums he is wagering, however, is ignored. I'm going to own one of your factories when we're done, he even tells the rich man. (And we are supposed to believe that this millionaire would gamble large sums with a working-class guy with no apparent assets?) Then later we find out that, actually, Kovac was right about what course to take (after it was too late) and that the German had duped them. Moral: never trust a Nazi & give the benefit of the doubt to "the Left." Even Connie, in the end, falls for Kovac; his brawn (he goes topless the entire film) and his evincing leadership being apparently enough for her. No, I'm NOT calling Hitchcock a Commie! I think he is generally brilliant---The 39 steps is one of my all-time favorite films; To Catch a Thief & Vertigo are also superb. I'm just saying that the script (by Steinbeck, a rumored "fellow traveler" himself) betrays a simplistic dichotomy---the idea the Left wishes all to believe exists between "progressiveness", as evinced by the Left and Fascism. Remember this film was made in 1944; when Stalin's Soviet Union was an ally; when the Soviet Union's economic system was still thought worthy of emulating by some. Even if you think me nuts, do reserve judgement & at least consider the points made herein next time you chance to see this film. Then decide. Cheers to intellectual discourse and keeping an open mind!
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