The Times (16/Mar/1944) - Lifeboat: Mr. Hitchcock's new film
(c) The Times (16/Mar/1944)
- keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, John Hodiak, Lifeboat (1944), Mary Anderson, Tallulah Bankhead, Walter Slezak, William Bendix
Lifeboat: Mr. Hitchcock's new film
When this film was shown in America it met with some criticism on the grounds that the real hero of the lifeboat which pulls away from a merchant ship sunk and shelled by a U-boat is the captain of the U-boat, which is, in its turn, sent to the bottom.
Certainly there are moments when it seems that the representatives of the democracies ranging from the expansive Connie (Miss Tallulah Bankhead) down to the greaser Kovac (Mr. John Hodiak) are being shown in the shadow of their pre-war feebleness in order that the light may beat more fiercely on the superman qualities of the German captain (Mr. Walter Slezak). It is he who, by a kind of natural right, eventually takes command, and he continues to row, sing, and dominate when our side is down and out and rolling about the bottom of the boat. Mr. Alfred Hitchcock plays a subtle game, however, for it turns out that the captain is keeping up his strength and spirits by drinking water which he has secreted, taking vitamin pills, and setting a course by a concealed compass; in short, that he owes his supremacy to fraud and lies, and Mr. Hitchcock, to make up for the apparent contrariness of his approach, in the end rouses his crew to tip him overboard, and gives them his unqualified blessing for their belated action.
While Mr. Hitchcock does not altogether put his propaganda account right by his final act of violence, the film itself, considered in the abstract terms of the cinema, is an exciting and expert piece of craftsmanship. Occasionally his lifeboat rolls awkwardly in the doldrums, but for the most part it moves briskly and each one of the company has an interesting story to tell and a definite contribution to make to the design. Miss Bankhead's sophistication both screens and reveals a hard-headed courage. Miss Mary Anderson is simple and affecting as a nurse caught up in an unhappy love affair, and Mr. William Bendix gives another of his expert performances as a tough criss-crossed with sentimental streaks.
Lifeboat goes into the Odeon programme tomorrow.
