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Starring Tallulah Bankhead. Let me just assure you that this is not the sequel to Titanic. I'm not sure if America, and the world, is ready for a Titanic sequel, although I've got a sinking feeling that one might be on the horizon. Set completely aboard a twenty foot, wooden lifeboat, Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, adapted from a short story by John Steinbeck, is about the plight of eight individuals who have become stranded in the middle of the Atlantic ocean during the midst of World War II--God I'd hate to be in their boat--after their transport ship was destroyed by a German U-boat, which, itself, later sank. To make matters more interesting, as if being adrift in the middle of the ocean, minus food and water, in a damaged row boat isn't compelling enough, one of the eight survivors on board is the captain of the German submarine, played with an excellently, wily venom by Walter Slezak. The seven Americans rationalize that if they refuse to help the Nazi commander, they would be lowering their principals to those of the Germans, and thus, in an effort to prove to be the more noble warriors, allow Slezak to remain on board. Faster than you can say "Gutt Gott im Himmel", Slezak is sneaking around, hoarding water, and concealing very pertinent information from the others, generally causing what trouble he can. The sets, camera work, and props of Lifeboat are extraordinarily well conceived for a film that was shot in the mid-forties. The chop and violent rage of the north Atlantic are well shown throughout the movie, and the graceful rising and falling of the boat in the waves is captured beautifully on celluloid in a technique that measures equally good through today's standards. The only drawback to this film comes with the acting. Quite simply, Lifeboat has no A-list stars. Not having a lead with a Cary Grant or a James Stewart like presence isn't necessarily bad in itself, but combined with the occasional over acting of the lesser known cast members including Hume Cronyn and William Bendix, it can at times become trying. Tallulah Bankhead is the leader of Hitchcock's ensemble cast, and she performs admirably, but annoyed me by somehow managing to put a "sweetheart", "darling", or "dear" at what seemed like the beginning and ending of every line she had. Lifeboat isn't a drama like Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans, or Wolfgang Peterson's Air Force One, with constant physical action, but an emotional and poignant look at the trying situation that these World War II survivors face. I don't want to go overboard with my praise of Hitchcock's direction, but it, above all other elements, is what truly anchored this film. Alfred Hitchcock's body of work is usually synonymous with mystery and suspense, but he has stepped away from this in Lifeboat, to create a film most different from any of his others. Lifeboat was an interesting journey down a not often traveled canal.
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