Tired Old Queen at the Movies: 'Lifeboat' (1944)

This week, Steve Hayes reviews Hitchcock's 1944 film, "Lifeboat."

The Tired Old Queen says: In typical fashion, director Alfred Hitchcock fashioned an atypical war story about a group of survivors of a German U boat sinking in his 1944 masterpiece, "Lifeboat" starring the remarkable Tallulah Bankhead. Shot aboard a lifeboat stranded in the mid-Atlantic and working from an original screenplay by John Steinbeck, Hitchcock assembled an international cast that included veteran character actors Walter Slezak, Henry Hull, William Bendix, Hume Cronyn, Heather Angel and Canada Lee. As the leading man to Miss Bankhead, Hitchcock cast rugged and handsome John Hodiak. Dousing them all with endless gallons of water, Hitchcock set about making a suspense-filled saga of survival, where the weak are shown to be the strongest and the strong give way to their weaknesses. The direction is taut, the performances by everyone are first rate and Bankhead is outstanding in a role that would earn her The New York Film Critics Award as best actress.