Thursday, May 6, 2010

365 Movies: Lifeboat Review


Lifeboat stars Tallulah Bankhead, John Hodiak, Hume Cronyn, Mary Anderson, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, and Canada Lee in this 1944, Alfred Hitchcock film. While abroad a ship, a torpedo hits, leaving several people scurrying over to a lifeboat for safety. Each person is so different from one another, such as Connie Porter(Bankhead), a rich, snobby writer who seems more interested in herself than anything else. There is also Kovac(Hodiak), a man who doesn't believe Willy(Slezak), a German deserves to be on boat, with the rest of the survivors. I really enjoyed the suspense and the feeling of vulnerability that the characters felt in the film. Most of the characters looked just like they were dehydrated and dying of hunger, except for Tallulah. While the rest of the characters are dirtied up, Tallulah is cleaned up. I know that she had her purse with her, but being stuck on a lifeboat, I really didn't understand why she looked like that. I enjoyed the relationship between Mary Anderson and Hume Cronyn, it was so sweet and endearing. I really think this is an underrated Hitchcock film, with a slew of outstanding performances in the film. John Hodiak was marvelous in this, but I didn't like him and Tallulah as a couple. That seemed kind of far-fetched to me.




Review for Tomorrow: Dial M for Murder

3 comments:

Clara Fercovic said...

I saw Lifeboat like two months ago for first time and I liked it very much. I've never seen Tallulah before, and she was very good in this one. I agree with you, her relationship with Hodiak's character was kind of weird, but I guess while being in a lifeboat adrift weird thing happen :) Anyway, good movie.
Greetings from Chile.

Unknown said...

I love this movie! Definitely an underrated Hitchcock movie.

Funny, I never even noticed before that Tallulah stays perky and clean when everyone else is getting run down! lol!

Artman2112 said...

i LOVE lifeboat! i think the point of the coupling of hodiak and bankhead was that she came from the same side of the tracks he did and it was that fancy bracelet that was the symbol of her ticket out of that life but at heart she's just like him.
flawless cast, with one of William Bendix's best ever performances!
as it is with Rope one HAS to at least give serious kudos to Hitch for having the courage to make such a challenging and unorthadox film, even if one doesnt care for the result. Hitch was a fearless filmaker! and his cameo is totally hilarious!