Lifeboat

Rating:
Summary: Character study full of tension
Review: During World war II, survivirs of a shipwreck pick up a German survivor from a U boat. These 9 people share a lifeboat and lost at sea, they must depend on the German's navigational skills. However, they are involved in a mental poker game. Is the German, who is to lead them to safety actually bluffing them as he takes them to be "rescued" by Nazis or is he grateful that they did not leave him at sea to die and, therefore trustworthy? This movie is chilling as the psychological drama develops. There is not a lot of action. Sometimes, what goes on in the recesses of the mind is more chilling than any gory, explicit horror film could possibly be. The setting is the lifeboat and the drama is based upon the interaction of the survivors on that boat. Ralph Belamy is great as a survivor who is injured and has his leg amputated on the boat. Is he safe when left to the mercy of the German? Watch this darkly suspensful movie and find out.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent thriller from the Master of Suspense
Review: Even though this film takes place exclusively in the single setting of a lifeboat, it still manages to keep you on the edge of your seat. I think a bit too much has been given away already in the previous reviews, so I'll just say get this movie and watch it. You won't be disappointed. Not Hitchcock's best, but still worth watching.

Rating:
Summary: A little boring, but good
Review: Hitchcock isn't at his best though this film is a classic. Tallulah Bankhead plays a woman who survived with 6 other people when the ship they were on was destroyed by a German ship. Soon, another man comes aboard. Walter Slezak plays the man who's really a German spy rowing them back to the Germans. The directing is superb, but somehow filming 8 people on board a boat for the whole movie gets a little boring. All in all it's a classic but it is boring in some places.

Rating:
Summary: Sea Survivors
Review: Hitchcock was a master. Some of his best movies took place in a small area such as an apartment, "Rope" and "Rear Window" are good examples. This movie takes place in a smaller area, a lifeboat. The character development is incredible. You get a rounded group like you might expect to find on a wartime freighter. A socialite reporter, working man's man, girl next door, elderly couple, sailor, et cetera. We feel as though we are on that boat with them. They must try to survive with limited supplies and determine who to trust. When someone is murdered they must figure out who the killer is amongst them. The fact that one among them is a survivor from the U-boat that sunk their ship makes the tension even higher. Psychologicially this is one of Hitchcock's best. Don't miss this if you can catch it on TV. Fans of series like "Survivor" and "Fear Factor" will probably get a kick out of this classic Hitchcock. I certainly hope to see this on DVD soon. As of yet it has not been released on DVD.

Rating:
Summary: LIFEBOAT is an involving, yet slower paced, Hitchcock film
Review: LIFEBOAT is a Hitchcock film I recommend. The events that happen are somewhat thrilling if you get into the film and the characters a sympathetic and human if somewhat cliched. It is a touching film if you are interested in this kind of thing. This is a somewhat different subject for Alfred Hitchcock and he does superior work with such a small acting space. Until the end, all the surroundings are of a lifeboat and in an ocean. The acting is excellent. Tallulah Bankhead is wonderful as the typical unattached journalist.

Rating:
Summary: Lesser Known Hitchcock
Review: Lifeboat isn't as famous as some of Hitchcock's other films, but it deserves to be seen today. It's a chance to see Tallulah Bankhead, who if anything, had a very interesting screen presence. She was an original. It's also a chance to see a very human portrayal of an African American character (Canada Lee) at a time when Hollywood rarely did that. There is also a lot of commentary about the Germans and the war, which given the time when this film was made (during the war), makes it all the more fascinating. The performances are good (including a very young Hume Cronyn), and Hitchcock manages to keep the action moving despite having so limited a space in which to do so. If you like Alfred Hitchcock, this is one you should see.

Rating:
Summary: You list this as a movie. It is but I want to buy the book
Review: Lifeboat This movie was Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, adapted from the story written by John Steinbeck. I enjoyed the use of emotional persuasion and how effective it was to the people on the lifeboat as well as the audience. This movie takes place during WWII. An American Steamer was torpedoed by a German U-boat, and the Steamer sunk the sub. There are eight survivors, a mix of passengers, ships crew and a German Captain. The survivors from the British ship want to get to Bermuda, that was where they were headed. The only one that knew how to handle a boat was the German. He said he would get them to Bermuda but he was really heading for a German supply ship. As major conflicts arise Connie, a high society "news reporter", belittles them and shames them into action. She starts off sarcastically sweet then her voice changes to be patronizing. Then her stance firms up and body language is very clear. She looks down on them. The ones that come ! to mind are: Gus, one of the ships crew who has a passion for dancing and his girlfriend Rosie, was wonded and he had to have his leg amputated as gangrene had settled in. All he could think about was how upset his girlfriend, Rosie, would be if he could not dance. He wanted to die. Connie told him if Rosie thought Gus had died instead of having the operation because he though Rosie would go out with some one else, how would she feel if he died "just because you had no faith in her". It shames him into having the operation. The German is rowing the boat at all times. He speaks only German and Connie speaks it as well. He tells Connie he is rowing them to Bermuda but he is going the wrong way and taking them to a German suppy ship. When they realize what he is really doing, he is beaten up. This is by far the strongest show of emotional persuasion in the movie. The Lifeboat survivors club the German officer to death and push him overboard then they bec! ome morose and act helpless and hopeless. They all sit th! ere defeated. She says "So what are we going to do little men? The German did the rowing, did he also do the thinking for us as well?" What are their options? They need to find the German supply ship the German was taking them to. They had no choice. She shamed them into action. Throughout it all Connie is in control. She loses most of her possessions except her lipstick, and occasionally her cool. She is the backbone of the Lifeboat survivors. When you find out she grew up in a bad section of Chicago and managed to get out and become very upper-class you know where her tenacity comes from. Because of this it gets her and the others through the entire lifeboat experience. I enjoyed the logical aspect as well, and by the way it was worked in with the use of the camera. In the beginning the camera focuses on the smoke stack, of a ship. Then the director pans across the water and we discover much debris from a shipwreck, a Red Cross box, New Yorker Ma! gazine, various gaming objects cards, chips, checkerboard and a tennis racket. When a dead man floats by we see his lifejacket and it is written in German. With this information it is easy to conclude that this is W.W.II, and both a British ship and a German sub have been sunk. There were passengers on board the ship of various social stature. We know the characters that join the lifeboat will also be diverse. As sad as the movie is, there is a lot of irony and some ridicule. For ridicule when they were in a storm and the food and water were lost the person in charge of the food was blamed . There was no way he could have prevented it. Most everything was washed overboard. They were all hungry and thirsty and could not get relief so they become angry and lash out. Another aspect of irony happened when Rittenhouse, a very wealthy American businessman, was playing cards with Kovack, a member of the crew, and Kovack had won it all; Rittenhouse attempted to gamble eve! rything back. The wind kicked up, Rittenhouse had the winn! ing hand to get all of his money back and the wind blew his cards away. He blamed Kovack that he lost because Kovack had made the cards. My favorite irony involved Connie's bracelet. When Kovack asks her about it she says she has used it to catch men or bait them to get out of South Chicago. Near the end of the movie she gives it up to be used to catch, or bait a fish. It was her good luck piece and she had it for 15 years. I could not understand the good luck part because she was shipwrecked and slowly lost everything she had brought with her, except her lipstick. Her movie camera, typewriter, mink coat and luggage and eventually the bracelet. Another example of irony is when they find the German supply ship, which is under attack by an American ship, is sunk right in front of them. Then a hand comes over the side of the boat and it is another German survivor. At the end of the movie the American ship is coming closer to the lifeboat Connie slips back into her up! per crust attitude stating she needed a facial, her hair and nails done. She has managed to hold onto her lipstick and applies it and says "After all, I have friends in the Navy." In conclusion I would like to recommend this movie to everyone. It is a great study in human nature in a do or die situation. It also gives you a change to see how people might survive together and what type of persuasion pushes them into action. END

Rating:
Summary: A Forgotten Film From The Master Of Suspense
Review: Lifeboat where do i begin? well for starters i guess it would have to be that this is one of my all time favorite Films from Alfred Hitchcock. But to most people they have never heard of Lifeboat. Yeah it was one of his early works but one of his best. Most people when they think of Hitchcock they think of Psycho ans The Birds and Vertigo. But this is better than the birds. It has a human story and ever increasing the tension. In a by gone era of hollywood when movies were grand in spectical not budget.

Lifeboat is about a freighter that is heading to New York. But is sunk by a German U-boat and in the opening scenes there is Tallulah Bankhead in a lifeboat all by herself with all of her belongings. Then one by one they pick up more survivors the tension increasing when they pick up a crewman of the U-boat. Only Hitchcock would make his backlot movie with fake clouds seem so real and make a the ocean look vast and barren. He also manages to elict good performances from Bankhead,Walter Slezak, Canada Lee and others.

I would highly reccomend that you check out this film from the master of suspense. this is not to be missed of put of. It is very suspensful i mean would you come to expect less from Hitchcock.

SEE THIS MOVIE I BEG YOU.

Rating:
Summary: Penetrating sociological study!
Review: Only the masterful abilities of Hitchcok could face and win with this interesting script about a set of shipwreck survivors who will have to wait for the rescue. A journalist and a convinced Nazi will carry the central nervous of the film. If you consider the demanded challenge to film around a boat ninety minutes you will have an approximate idea about what this surpassed goal meant to A.H.

One of my ten best favorite films of Hitchock ever!


Rating:
Summary: SAAD
Review: SAA