Lifeboat (1944)

Date Seen: 5/7/17

Score: 3/5

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock

PRODUCER: Kenneth Macgowen

STUDIO: 20th Century Fox

SCREENPLAY: Jo Swerling

STORY BY: John Steinbeck

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Glen MacWilliams

Hitchcock's clever cameo can be seen on the newspaper held by William Bendix

From left: John Hodiak, Henry Hull, Mary Anderson, Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, William Bendix

Walter Slezak and Tallulah Bankhead

John Hodiak and Tallulah Bankhead

From left: William Bendix, Mary Anderson, Hume Cronyn, Walter Slezak, Canada Lee, John Hodiak, and Tallulah Bankhead 

John Hodiak and Tallulah Bankhead

Tallulah Bankhead

A close up of Hitchcock's cameo 

Lifeboat is one of Hitchcock's limited-setting films, and one of his only war films. Released in 1944, the story, written by my personal all-time favorite writer, John Steinbeck, revolves around the survivors of a torpedoed ship who are marooned on single boat in the Atlantic Ocean. In total, there are nine survivors and a baby who make it onto the ship; eventually, after the mother drowns herself following the death of her infant, there are seven American and British civilians and soldiers, and one German merchant marine who survived the explosion of his own ship. If it sounds impossible for eight people to survive in one small boat for a period of several weeks, it's because it is. This is, like the majority of Hitchcock's films, a completely impossible concept, but an interesting hypothetical situation for sure.

The characters on the boat run the gamut from the wealthy and witty Connie Porter (Tallulah Bankhead) to the pragmatic nurse (Mary Anderson) to the goofy soldier Gus Smith (William Bendix). Most of the survivors seem a little too okay with being stranded on a boat, and not quite hysterical enough, but then there's Kovac (John Hodiak), a pessimistic, steely engine man who frequently throws a damp towel on any good cheer aboard the vessel. What's annoying is that he's never wrong, even if it might seem like it. While most of the boat's members are willing to let the German survivor (Walter Slezak) help them steer the boat to safety, Kovac vehemently disagrees with this plan of action, and consistently makes the case to throw him overboard.

Kovac's character is representative of the general allied opinion towards the Germans during World War II. No film studio- not even Fox, or WARNER BROTHERS- could make a film in which an American merchant marine falls short to a German solider. Despite the generally sympathetic lens through which Slezak's character is portrayed, the film takes a firm stance in opposition to Germany, and in particular, Nazi sympathizers. I wouldn't say this is necessarily a patriotic film- it doesn't make you want to take up arms, as many of the war propaganda films of the midcentury aimed to do- but for a Hitchcock picture it's surprisingly political and pro-Democracy. That being said, it's about as anti-political as any political movie could be, mostly focusing on the personal lives of the characters aboard the ship.

Tallulah Bankhead is, unsurprisingly, fabulous in this film. Lifeboat was her first, and one of her only, major screen roles, which is devastating, considering her beauty, wit, and charisma on the screen. Had this film not focused mainly on Bankhead, I would have turned it off. She's that good. Plus, it's interesting to note that Hitchcock loves to show glamorous women in boats, or at least women being fabulous in situations that do not call for such refinement, often to the amusement or, in this case, the chagrin of the men around them. Just as Tippi Hedren proudly steps into a boat while wearing her fur coat in The Birds (1962), Tallulah Bankhead is first shown sitting amidst the wreckage of a torpedo attack in a mink coat. While it is ridiculous to assume that any woman could keep her cool under such circumstances, Bankhead's performance in this film, unlike Hedren's in The Birds, never borders on hysterics, and remains as cool and crisp as a freshly minted hundred-dollar bill. While this does not lend any realism to the film, it certainly makes for the kind of entertainment you look for in a Hitchcock film.

Lifeboat is entertaining mostly because it's so ridiculous. It is well-known that Hitchcock was unconcerned with attacks on the plausibility of his motion pictures, even referring to such critics as "the Plausibles" in his interviews with François Truffaut. Still, one can't help but wonder while watching this film: where did they go to the bathroom? Sure, there's no way they could have lived very long once their food and water supplies washed overboard in a storm, and it's borderline farcical that Bankhead and Anderson could retain perfect hair and makeup, but the more pressing concern is how they could possibly all coexist without at least one discussion of cannibalism. While there is enabling of a death and one suicide, the film mainly depicts the stranded victims in good spirits, or at least able to live with one another. And really, would a woman as poised and refined as Bankhead's Connie Porter be so relaxed after being deprived of not only luxuries, but of basic human resources? Let me tell you, I would have been overboard so goddamn fast.

The end of the film is also pretty anti-climactic. It's laughable today how close their boat supposedly gets to another torpedo attack without being demolished or at least resulting in hearing loss, and the "rescue" at the end is not really enough of a rescue to be satisfying. I would have liked another scene following the rescue in which the loose ends are tied up, but I get it. It's a limited setting.

If anything, you should watch Lifeboat for Bankhead alone. Most of the humorous dialogue comes from her, but a few other characters get in some zingers. For a Hitchcock film, it's very off-brand, but it's worth seeing for an interesting look into some of the sociopolitical constructions of wartime Hollywood.