Hello there! Another week and only…. ONE film review. I’ve been extremely busy with an acting tour recently, but I did manage to squeeze in this one film! So let’s get right into the review!
Lifeboat (1944)
This film was made by the world known director, Alfred Hitchcock! And interestingly enough, the only film he made for the studio, 20th Century Fox. This was based off a John Steinbeck literary work, the author most known for stories such as The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. The central premise takes place in World War II (which was still going on at the time), and a Allies ship has just been sunken by a German U-Boat, leaving a bunch of both British and American passengers and crew members stranded on a lifeboat. They pull aboard a straggler from the sea, he turns out to be a German soldier. Not only that, but the very captain of the U-Boat that ordered the Allied boats destruction. So the main draw of this film comes down to a few factors:
- All of the action takes place on one main set, the lifeboat itself.
- The constant tensions between the Allied survivors against the German
- What isolation and desperation can do to people
Hitchcock as a director is often praised for being the Master of Suspense when it comes to film. There is an element of that here, but of course this is still early days compared to his later masterpieces such as Psycho and Rear Window but to name a few. What makes this film work are the characters. They’re all very different, have different and unique personality traits and how they all interlink with the German captain is very interesting to see in terms of development. There are a few twists and turns along the way, I won’t reveal any specific spoilers, but basically, when those moments happened, it still surprised me even though it really shouldn’t have! Where Alfred Hitchcock succeeds as a director is that no matter what the subject matter or style of film, he seems to find what makes it work and build it up to the maximum degree! So if you’re worried that a film set in just one place will be boring, that is completely not the case with this flick! It was seen as very controversial at the time, as America was at the peak of its involvement with World War II, and people criticised the film for sympathising with German characters. But alas, nowadays, it is considered an underrated gem in what was still a golden period in the history of Hollywood. If you like your history and you want to see some early Hitchcock material, then Lifeboat is definitely a film that is worth your time!
Well, sadly, that’s it for this week! Just the one film review, tried to make it a bit more fleshed out, but sadly time has been getting the better of me! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it, and hopefully next week there will be more than just the one film to talk about! Have a fantastic week, and I’ll see you next week!
Adam xx
The Sunday Film Review 