Tallulah dominates the Lifeboat.....

Rating: 8/10 (14 July 2008)

What happens when you plonk Tallulah Bankhead ("Darling!") into a lifeboat with a bunch of other supporting players? Well, Hitchcock's great, very entertaining Lifeboat is the result. Bankhead gives a terrific performance as Connie Porter, pretty much dominating the picture. Hitchcock was reportedly very fond of her, and shaped the film around her performance. After their boat is sunk by the Germans at the height of WW2, a bunch of weary, disparate survivors climb aboard a lifeboat and must face the elements, starvation, and each other, in order to survive. They make a crucial mistake in allowing a Nazi (Walter Slezak) aboard, and this drama unfolds as Bankhead has a rough and ready romance with an earthy John Hodiak (you know that they would jump each other if they just weren't on a darn lifeboat), William Bendix has his leg amputated, Heather Angel's baby is drowned and she jumps overboard to join it, among other things. An unusual Hithcock film, but a very satisfying one.