One of Hitchcock's Minor Masterpieces

Rating: 8/10 (26 February 2014)

Lifeboat (1944) is considered one of Alfred Hitchcock's minor films. Much like Vertigo (1958) there are well defined and brilliantly acted characters, like Dial M for Murder (1954) the setting is tight and confined, in this case a sole lifeboat and not a London apartment. Also like Foreign Correspondent (1940) and Saboteur (1942), the movie has a blatant and obvious political purpose. It's a propaganda film through and through, myopically grappling on the zeitgeist of WWII. But just like all the aforementioned films, Lifeboat is likewise a well made masterpiece.
The film begins just after the torpedoing of an allied ship by a German U-Boat (which was also destroyed). A single lifeboat carries an assorted crew including reporter Connie Porter (Tallulah Bankhead), millionaire Charles Rittenhouse (Henry Hull), crew members John, Gus, Joe and Stanley (William Bendix, John Hodiak, Canada Lee and Hume Cronyn respectively), Nurse Alice (Mary Anderson), solemn passenger Mrs. Higgins (Heather Angel) and a German U-Boat officer the rest dub Willy (Walter Slezak). At first the group is suspicious of their fellow German survivor. Will the group be able to get out of their predicament? As you can imagine in an adapt-and-survive tale like this there are a lot of man versus the elements moments which up the suspense. The group faces raging winds and storms, a lack of potable water, navigation without a compass and illness and injury. If solely taken for a survival story, Lifeboat may just be among the best the decade had to offer. The fact that the entire movie takes place in and around a mid-sized dingy is a testament to Hitchcock's singularly brilliant direction. Of course the well drawn characters were made whole by John Steinbeck who distanced himself from the film for its "positive portrayal" of the Nazi character.
The fact that many critics at the time dismissed the film for being too pro-Nazi is an attestation to the fear and hatred shared by the allies, particularly the British towards the Germans. In newsreels, magazines and comic books the enemy was seen as subhuman and bloodthirsty. In Lifeboat the character Willy was sneaky, untrustworthy and manipulative and for that he was considered not villainous enough? Who were they expecting; Beelzebub? Sauron?
I was half-expecting the survivors of the shipwreck to be more symbiotic. The other half was hoping that if and when things do get all "Lord of the Flies", when the survivors are rescued there'd be a moment of contrition. Neither of these things happens and we're left with a little too much chest-pounding for my taste; the voice of reason and law muted by mob rule.
Of course I am too far removed from the realities of the time. Hitchcock wanted to represent a group of squabbling allies who mobilize to confront a seemingly invincible foe; a microcosm of the larger conflicts of WWII. The animosities of the time were due to perceived stakes and luckily I have never had to experience the cruelties of the Third Reich first hand so who am I to talk? Transplanting a modern perspective on an aged piece of art is like putting a CD player in a 1965 Mustang; it diminishes the art.
Lifeboat ultimately is a masterpiece of the highest order. Engrossing, technically flawless and thematically brilliant, the movie about a band of survivors faced with the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean is yet another feather in Hitchcock's derby. More than that, it's a telling piece of cinematic history that accurately sums up the frightening uncertainty of a world consumed by war. Do yourself a favor and set sail for Lifeboat.
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