Lifeboat: Hold On to the Rafters ***1/2

Rating: 9/10 (14 September 2013)

Alfred Hitchcock 1944 thriller where a group of survivors literally cling to a life-boat after their ship has been torpedoed by German submarines during World War 11.
Quite a different and varied cast are on the boat. They're led by legendary Broadway star Tallulah Bankhead, who rarely made movies. She really captures the part of the writer who loses her worldly possessions little by little. As good as Bankhead was in the role, I wonder what Katharine Hepburn could have done for the part.
Bankhead is ably assisted by William Bendix, a tragic figure who again shows that he has Brooklyn written all over him. John Hodiak, a seaman who find Bankhead as a love interest, and Walter Slezak, a German officer, who is also one of the survivors.
After what has occurred, the picture shows little action but rather focuses on the interpersonal relations of the cast. There is talk of love, capitalism and just about everything else.