Lifeboat

Theatrical Release Poster

Walter Slezak

Mary Anderson

John Hodiak

Henry Hull

Heather Angel

Hume Cronyn

Canada Lee

**Lifeboat** is a 1944 American survival and drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock from a story by John Steinbeck. The film stars Tallulah Bankhead with William Bendix. Also in the cast are Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson and John Hodiak. Additional roles in the boat were from Henry Hull, Heather Angel, Hume Cronyn, and Canada Lee. It is set entirely on a lifeboat launched from a sinking passenger vessel following a World War II naval attack.

## Plot

Several British and American civilians, service members and merchant mariners are stuck in a lifeboat in the North Atlantic after their ship and a U-boat sink each other in combat. Willi, a German survivor, is pulled aboard and denies being the U-boat's captain. During an animated debate, engine room crewman Kovac demands the German be thrown out to drown. However, the others object, with radioman Stanley, wealthy industrialist Rittenhouse and columnist Connie Porter, who speaks German, succeeding in arguing that he be allowed to stay. Porter, initially alone in the boat, had managed to bring her luggage with her, and her primary concern at first is a run in her stocking. She is thrilled at having filmed the battle between the two vessels, but her movie camera is the first in a series of her possessions to be lost overboard in a succession of incidents.

Among the passengers is Mrs. Higley, a young British woman whose infant child is dead when they are pulled from the water after being saved by steward "Joe" Spencer. After being treated by a U.S. Army nurse, Alice, she must be tied down to stop her from hurting herself. The woman, still wrapped in Porter's mink coat for warmth, sneaks off the boat while the other passengers sleep, drowning herself in the night. Willi is revealed to be the U-boat captain.

The film then follows the lifeboat inhabitants as they attempt to organize their rations, set a course for Bermuda, and coexist as they try to survive. The characters start out being good-natured, cooperative, and optimistic about rescue. However, they descend into desperation, dehydration, and frustration with each other. The back stories of the characters are examined, and divisions of race, religion, sex, class, and nationality are brought to the surface. The passengers also cooperate through this stress, such as when they must amputate the leg of one of their boatmates, the German-American Gus Smith, because of gangrene.

Kovac takes charge, rationing the little food and water they have, but Willi, who has been consulting a concealed compass and reveals that he speaks English, wrests control away from him in a storm. One morning, while the others are sleeping, Smith, who had resorted to drinking seawater, catches Willi drinking water from a hidden flask. Too delirious to be taken seriously by the drowsing survivors, Gus is coaxed overboard by Willi and drowns. Upon waking, the others discover Gus missing and Willi is questioned. When they notice that the German is sweating, the other passengers discover the hoarded flask in his jacket. In a spasm of anger led by Alice, they descend upon him as a group, beat him, and throw him overboard. Rittenhouse strikes him multiple times with Gus' boot to prevent him from re-boarding and, utterly disillusioned by Willi's behavior, laments, "What do you do with people like that?"

The survivors are subsequently spotted by the German supply ship to which Willi had been steering them. Before a launch can pick them up, both it and the supply ship are sunk by gunfire from an Allied warship over the horizon. A frightened young German seaman is pulled aboard the lifeboat. The surviving passengers debate whether to keep him aboard or throw him off to drown as they await rescue by an approaching Allied vessel. The German sailor pulls a gun on the boat occupants but is disarmed by Joe. The seaman asks in German, "Aren't you going to kill me?" Kovac muses, "'Aren't you going to kill me?' What do you do with people like that?"

## Cast

* Tallulah Bankhead as Connie Porter
* William Bendix as Gus Smith
* Walter Slezak as Kapitan Willi
* Mary Anderson as Alice MacKenzie
* John Hodiak as John Kovac
* Henry Hull as Charles J. Rittenhouse
* Heather Angel as Mrs. Higley
* Hume Cronyn as Stanley Garrett
* Canada Lee as Joe Spencer

## Trivia

* Canada Lee was allowed to write his own lines.
* Aside from the opening and closing scene, there is no score in this film. The only music is the flute.
* Tallulah Bankhead would climb a ladder every day to reach the tank where the filming took place. She never wore underwear and regularly received an ovation from the film crew.
* The harsh conditions of the shoot took its toll: actors were soaked with water and oil, which led to two cases of pneumonia for Tallulah Bankhead, an illness for actress Mary Anderson and two cracked ribs for actor Hume Cronyn, according to his autobiography. Production was temporarily halted twice to allow for recovery of the cast.