..so few people have seen this great work..

Rating: 10/10 (19 May 2006)

Again, I watched "Lifeboat" tonight - and, again, I read every commentary posted here. AND - again - I'm asking myself how the couple of folk who gave it a "phew" revue could be so assured it is a piece of junk, when were unfamiliar with the acting-skills of a film made so many years ago, nor they've never been in anything near the situation of surviving in a lifeboat. I wouldn't even go to sea in one of those mega-ships; don't even suggest a skiff ! Actually, though, lifeboats are larger than we generally picture - they had to accommodate a number of people. There are a couple of long-range shots of the boat which shows it is larger than we visualize.
Only one commentator gave the film's age - 60 years !; only one commentator wrote that director Alfred Hitchcock considered ONLY Tallulah Bankhead for the female-lead. Several mentioned that Ms. Bankhead was a terror on the stage, so we can certainly assume she gave a lot of input to Hitchcock on how she would build this character. Many wrote that she was not cast in many movies - our loss !! Because the entire film was based-on close-ups, this is a testament to her beauty and skill in acting.
I was taken aback again on how scrawny John Hodiak looked in the movie, as he was one of the big box-office hotties in that period. His acting was superb, but the body needed a lot of work for the bully he played.
We all know by now that he took-over as captain of the lifeboat, but was bested by the rescued, German U-Boat captain - sneakily condescending for his own safety - by Walter Slezak - skillful ! As the movie was purposefully intended to show the reaction of dissimilar characters in a desperate situation, few people commented on the wonderfully-under-played role by a young-and-handsome sailor, Hume Cronyn. William Bendix was William Bendix, although he got higher billing than both Hodiak and Cronyn. Remarkably, no one commented on Canada Lee's question "I get to vote, too?", in those days a loaded line by a Black actor. I was engrossed in how these dissimilar people reacted to one another. I really didn't see this film as a huge, political statement. I only saw raw emotions - well depicted.
AGAIN - I wish to explain that I do not watch movies because of certain actors-actresses - although Bankhead was one of my favorites - I love the movie, as a whole. I was lucky to see it when it was first released and have NEVER lost interest in it. "Lifeboat" is a true-to-life, suspenseful thriller that never drags nor gets boring - it's got my 10-to-10....