Lifeboat

Composite Score: 81.8

Starring: Tallulah Bankhead, John Hodiak, Walter Slezak, William Bendix, Mary Anderson, Henry Hull, Heather Angel, Hume Cronyn, and Canada Lee

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Writers: John Steinbeck, Jo Swerling, and Alfred Hitchcock

Genres: Drama, War, Suspense

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Box Office: $1 million worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                Lifeboat is Hitchcock’s adaptation of Steinbeck’s story about the survivors of a U-boat attack on a passenger ship in World War II. Its brilliant adaptation features creative analysis of humanity and our desire to survive and overcome the obstacles thrown against us. While watching it, I came to the realization that my knowledge of films pre-1960s is severely limited. The fact that such a film as Lifeboat could have come out in the 1940s (while World War II was very much still ongoing) blew my mind. The depths of human despair and depravity that the film showcases are things that I would expect to find in a modern awards-bait film, not a wartime film from the mid-40s. While not necessarily a perfect film, it is a great film and a quality outing from Hitchcock and all the film’s actors.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                This film is bleak. Released during the peak of World War II, its outlook on humanity is hardly a positive one and certainly not hopeful. From the opening shot of a sinking smokestack to the final clip of the film’s survivors looking on at an approaching American warship, Lifeboat makes sure that its audience knows that they are represented on-screen by some incredibly flawed pieces of humanity. From a drowned child to an increasingly crazed emergency amputee to the killing of a man who was hiding water from his fellow passengers, this film does not shy away from some very dark places. If you are looking for an uplifting World War II film about the good guys beating the bad guys, Lifeboat is not going to be your speed; maybe try Audie Murphy’s To Hell and Back or something along those lines instead.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                Just because the film is bleak does not mean that its messages are not still resonant. For one, it contains the truth that all humans are flawed creatures. In the film, the “protagonists” are a war photojournalist, a rich factory owner, a poor engine worker, and a homewrecking army nurse. These characters are intentionally imperfect to present a more measured reality, making sure still to condemn the Nazi officer that also travels with them for an extended period while also showing that imperfect humans like you and me (and in some cases even worse than us) will still work in tandem to overcome obstacles and take a certain type of victory. It is not the most hopeful view of people as individuals but, rather, a hopeful outlook of the potential for society and community to overcome hardship and evil, while still recognizing the inherently flawed nature of most humans. A reminder that no one is good, but when we work together as equals, we can still work some semblance of success in the world.

               Hitchcock’s twist in this one is highly satisfying, playing on the trope of the “good” bad guy. Throughout much of the film’s first and second act, the Nazi “prisoner” Willi (played by Walter Slezak) is played up to be just another person, struggling to survive. He even helps carry out a hygienic amputation on Gus’s infected leg to save his life. However, by the end of the film, he is revealed to be leading the group to a Nazi supply ship, hiding water from the rest of the ship’s passengers, and willing to sacrifice anyone that he deems less than fit for work to keep the ship going. Such a turn is refreshing in a world where so often we look for redeemable villains. As a watcher of the film, it felt off making the Nazi a sympathetic character while the War was still ongoing, so perhaps the twist should not have been as surprising, but that speaks to the skill of Hitchcock and Slezak in the set-up of the grift.

                A well-executed twist villain and a very real look at humanity and our capacity to work together help make Lifeboat one of the classic Hitchcock films and one of the Greatest Films of All Time. Its darker themes and tones keep it relevant but keep it from being a film that should be rewatched over and over again. Nonetheless, Lifeboat is certainly worth the watch and has no doubt earned its place on this site’s list – Hitchcock does it again.