A Buried Hitchcock Gem (Aren't They All?)

Rating: 8/10 (8 March 2010)

I'm a big fan of John Steinbeck, but I've never heard of this story. I'm also a fan of Hitchcock, and likewise - I had never heard of this hidden gem, so I came into this movie with certain expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised.
A very claustrophobic movie, as survivors from a German U-Boat attack are adrift at sea. A somewhat ensemble cast, this movie at equal points feels like Stagecoach and Inherit the Wind. Hitchcock achieves a general feeling of isolation in this movie, as almost every shot is a closeup of someone talking, making the audience feel cut off from the rest of the world the same way the refugees are.
Several people from disparate pasts join together, and things are complicated as a German soldier survives his way onto the boat. Racism and ethnocentrism is dealt with beautifully in this movie, as several Americans almost changed their tune as they say the German try and take charge, somewhat successfully. Although when the soldier was shot this movie did border on propaganda (it was 1944... so German's weren't exactly sympathetic figures.) A diamond in the rough of 1940's movies, worth the 96 minute runtime.