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Lifeboat (1944)

Nominated for the Academy Award for black and white cinematography, original story, and director.

As he did many times throughout his incredible career, Hitchcock was looking for a challenge with this film. The challenge here was filming a full length motion picture entirely in a set the size of a lifeboat.  And of course, he succeeded beautifully.

The story is about a small group of shipwrecked English and American passengers afloat a raft after their ship was blown out of the water by a Nazi U-Boat.  They eventually pick up the sole survivor of the damaged U-Boat who also happens to be the ship’s captain.  From there it becomes a question of morality versus nationality. Do they kill him or do they let him live? 

While the difficult decision is being pondered, a number of other issues come into play: an inevitable storm, the lack of water and food, an injured passenger’s infection, navigational difficulties, the closeness of the quarters, and of course the possibility of being rescued. The film is dark and challenging, and great from beginning to end. Hitchcock cleverly placed his cameo as a before and after series of photos on the outside page of a newspaper on the raft. The filmmaker actually lost a great deal of weight around the time of this film’s production, and the photos accurately depict this.

(Directed by Alfred Hitchcock)

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