LIFEBOAT (1944) - The least Hitchcockian Hitchcock film?

LIFEBOAT (1944) - USA
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock

★★★★½

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Least Hitchcockian film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, at least from the ones I've seen yet. It's a bit funny because Hitchcock even introduces as a prelude to the film 'The Wrong Man' as that one is different from his all other movies, which led me to believe that The Wrong Man would be at the most deviation from his usual style. But now that I've seen this, I think this holds that title.

Obviously the factor that hints at that is that Lifeboat is not a mystery or suspense filler, unlike most of his other works. Basically, it's a Disaster/ Survival genre film. Only making the 'disaster' as a passenger ship getting hit and sunk by a Nazi U-boat. Naturally, this idea enables room for some war themes in the film, and this clever director does not hesitate to make full use of it.

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So yeah, the plot revolves around a group of survivors from a Nazi attack to a passenger ship, and they're hanging onto a lifeboat hoping for some light, or well, death.

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This is another one location pull-off, like Hitch's later works such as Dial M for Murder, Rear Window and Rope. Direction with characterization is pretty solid, enough to give each single one of them considerable space and distinctive development. People conflict with each other, help each other, and also, fall in love with each other. They go crazy sometimes, throwing out civilization. The masks people are hiding in beneath, they start falling off. 12 Angry Men directed by Alfred Hitchcock? There's some truth to that statement.

And well, Tallulah Bankhead dominates her character, even though there's no identifiable protagonist. And well, 'Lifeboat' features one of the greatest cameos of Master Hitchcock, appearing on a newspaper.

IMDb Rating - 7.6
Rotten Tomatoes - 93%
Letterboxd - 3.7/5

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