Lifeboat (1944)
Lifeboat (1944), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Miscellaneous notes in honor of the new Kino Blu-ray:
Possibly the best performances all the actors ever did.
Mrs. Higley, the mother with a dead child, is played by Heather Angel, last seen in The Undying Monster (1942).
Something about young Alice reminds me of Patricia Hitchcock. Mary Anderson is prettier but they sound alike.
I noticed this time how the floating wreckage anticipates the characters: playing cards, money, a lost doll.
The best scene: the amputation during a brisk squall. They've gotten Gus drunk, that being the only anesthetic they have. We see only a row of backs in the pitching boat, then someone turns and tosses down the empty shoe.
Gus's nemesis back home is Al Magaroulian, making time and dancing with his girl Rosie. Could we have an "Al & Rosie" home-front story, not at all what Gus suspects?
Connie's affectionate nickname for black steward Joe is "Charcoal". I'll bet he loved that.
Industrialist Ritt never does get Joe's name right. In the end he is surprised to find that Joe has a wife and family. He never thought to ask.
Much overlapping dialogue, a rare technique then.
Filmed in sequence so they could use the men's real beards.
Although shot in a studio tank it was a dangerous project and there was illness and broken bones.
The original idea was Hitchcock's. John Steinbeck gets screenwriting credit but several other people did major work on it after his first treatment.
Cinematographer Arthur Miller became ill and was replaced by Glen MacWilliams.
Hugo Friedhofer gets music credit but the feature itself is scoreless.
Some critics were savage at the time, saying the German officer was shown as too competent and the others as disorganized and helpless, until they become a pack of wild dogs.
Hitchcock said his point was that the allies were facing a disciplined enemy and had to get it together if they were going to win the war.
Historical note: the Battle of the Atlantic was all about sinking supply ships for England. The Allied deaths are estimated at about 72,000 sailors and merchant seamen and I don't know how many civilians. The Germans lost 30,000 among the U-boat crews.
Available on Blu-ray from Kino. Two commentary tracks.
