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Movies / On DVD / Lifeboat
Lifeboat

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Lifeboat (1944)

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95 %
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Reviews Counted:20

Fresh:19

Rotten:1

Average Rating:7.8/10

Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Synopsis: LIFEBOAT is an intense thriller crafted around the psychological drama produced when eight unlikely companions are thrown together by drastic circumstance. The exceptional performances of its... LIFEBOAT is an intense thriller crafted around the psychological drama produced when eight unlikely companions are thrown together by drastic circumstance. The exceptional performances of its ensemble cast make it a classic, one credited with reviving Tallulah Bankhead's career. After a German U-boat torpedoes their ship, several survivors find themselves together in a lifeboat. Each is of a distinctly different background: Tallulah Bankhead's character, the radiant Constance Porter, is a famed fashion writer; others include tycoon Charles Rittenhouse (Henry Hull), marxist seaman John Kovac (John Hodiak), Stanley Garret (Hume Cronyn), a radio operator, a wounded furnace stoker, a nurse, a grieving mother, and a porter. The group is joined by the commander of the German U-boat (Walter Slezak), which was itself sunk in the exchange. Choosing to take him aboard as a gesture of humanity, and for the sake of his seafaring skills, proves to be a fateful decision. Production was done almost entirely in studio, using a range of specialized water sets and props to allow Hitchcock to achieve the camera angles he wanted while employing rear-projected seascapes shot off the coast of Florida. [More]

Starring: Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, John Hodiak

Starring: Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, John Hodiak, Hume Cronyn, Canada Lee, Mary Anderson, Henry Hill, Heather Angel

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Screenwriter: Jo Swerling
Story: John Steinbeck
Producer: Kenneth MacGowan
Composer: Hugo Friedhofer

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Oct 18, 2005

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Lifeboat

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Hitchcock's answer to the perpetual film school dilemma of making a movie on a boat as one of a filmmaker's biggest challenges, is a textbook example of how it's done right.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
06/09/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

"It's based on the story by John Steinbeck, who wanted to show the Nazis as single-minded brutes with no redeeming human qualities.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
05/11/09
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
10/16/08
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Only Hitchcock could pull off this compelling drama in such tight quarters!

comment Comment
02/06/07
John A. Nesbit
John A. Nesbit
Old School Reviews
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

That old master of screen melodrama, Alfred Hitchcock, and Writer John Steinbeck have combined their distinctive talents in a tremendously provocative film.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
03/25/06
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a technical tour-de-force.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
12/17/05
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

The characters are reasonably free of cliched personalities, so what happens between them is rarely predictable, and there are enough crises and tensions within the 96-minute running time to hold a viewer fully attentive.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
12/13/05
Douglas Pratt
Douglas Pratt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
11/07/05
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Hitchcock's shifting sympathies guarantee our guilty involvement with the characters until he builds to a climax of intellectual and spiritual excitation.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
10/24/05
Dan Callahan
Dan Callahan
Slant Magazine

boasts the filmmaker's trademark technical polish: His command over editing, framing, and optical effects deftly masters the challenges of a water-borne production

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
10/21/05
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Filmcritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
06/19/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

No review available.

comment Comment
08/25/04
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

No review available.

comment Comment
08/05/04
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

No review available.

comment Comment
03/12/04
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

One of Hitchcock's best

comment Comment
08/21/03
John Esther
John Esther
Pasadena Weekly

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
07/30/03
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
05/24/03
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
01/30/03
Mark Palermo
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

One of Hitchcock's most underrated efforts

comment Comment
09/13/02
Jon Niccum
Jon Niccum
Lawrence Journal-World
 
 
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