Lifeboat 1944

One set - on a lifeboat. Who but Hitchcock could make a film like this?

During the second world war a diverse group of people survive a U-boat attack and have to make to to Bermuda without a compass. In the attack the U-Boat also blew up and they have one of the survivors on board the lifeboat. After much bickering between themselves the German takes control of the lifeboat during a story and them wins everyone's confidence when he amputates the leg of a character thus saving his life.


The suspense is created by the question of whether the German is leading them to the safety of Bermuda or actually into enemy controlled waters. Hitchock was known for making a cameo in his films and he even manages to do it here. Although there is only the boat set and no place for Hitch to do his usual camera wipe and so a clever way of him appearing had to be invented. At first the idea was that Hitch would be one of the dead in the sea after the attack but that idea was dropped and the director was cleverly seen on an obesity advert in a newspaper. It's a great bit of self mockery and the newspaper is seen twice - once being read by a character and then again floating in the sea after the shipwreck.

Lifeboat is brilliantly acted and the master of suspense manages to keep the viewer glued to the screen. The Cinemareserve DVD, which comes housed in a classy metal box, is brilliant - the print of the film is perfect with crisp colours and no digital artefacts even in the darkest scenes. The audio is presented in a punchy stereo mix. And there are some great extra features - a commentary with Dr Drew Casper, an hour long talk with Hithcock and a new documentary that looks at the making of the film.