I saw LIFEBOAT for the first time this summer at the outdoor Bryant Park Film Festival and therefore didn’t need to watch it again when it aired on Reel 13 last week. This is not to suggest that it was painful to sit through. On the contrary, it was a revelation. Once again, a talented director takes on the challenge of directing an entire movie in a single location, in this case, a lifeboat drifting in the middle of Atlantic. Similar to Sidney Lumet in 12 ANGRY MEN from October, Hitchcock rises to the challenge and creates a taut, exciting, in-depth, human film. Granted, Hitch was aided by the intrinsic danger that comes along with floating in the Atlantic during WWII. In that sense, there are similarities and connections with Wolfgang Petersen’s 1982 film DAS BOOT, only LIFEBOAT might actually be more tense given that a) they are mostly civilians and b) they are totally exposed.
Actually, the performances in the film don’t help much. Mary Anderson is pretty useless as the young nurse. Hume Cronyn struggles, largely due to the implausible Cockney accent he adopts. William Bendix also would have better days, coming off here as wooden and forced. John Hodiak, as the stud on the boat, has absolutely zero charisma and his anger and bigotry has no layers to it. Tallulah Bankhead is surprisingly one of the more enjoyable performances, though I am skeptical how much “acting” went into it. Her screen persona slips into this character perfectly and does well for the struggle between the classes that develops on the little boat.
However, this is Hitchcock’s movie, driven almost entirely by the intelligent filmmaking. Granted, he had strong source material, working from a story by John Steinbeck, but it is the well-thought-out camera angles, detailed framing and on-point shot-to-shot editing that raise the film to another level. In a very short time frame and with significant shooting limitations, Hitchcock manages to make the boat a microcosm for global relations in the 40’s, deftly dealing with racism, xenophobia, nationalism, imperialism, the realities of war and the aforementioned class issue without beating us over the head on any one issue. In the Hitchcock canon, one often hears about NORTH BY NORTHWEST, PSYCHO, REAR WINDOW and Vertigo. Now, while I don’t suggest that LIFEBOAT is stronger than those masterpieces (it actually might be a little better than PSYCHO, though), it is in that class and though earlier in Hitchcock’s career, it needs to be included in the conversation as one of his finest achievements.
(For more information on this or any other Reel 13 film, check out their website at www.reel13.org)