Hitch #32 - Lifeboat (1944)

This is getting out of hand - 2020 was full of being stuck in the house and we only watched two Hitch films Saboteur in June - which I then forgot to post about so we’ll have to watch again. And Lifeboat just before Christmas and I’m only just getting around to posting about that! Which is why, after being so good, we are all out of order - missing out…

• #30 - Sabouteur (1942) - because I was too lazy to write it up - which is odd because it wasn’t so bad
• #31 - Shadow of a Doubt (1943) - because all our DVDs were packed away ready for a move that COVID killed

and then just before xmas Film 4 showed Lifeboat … so we watched it.

Lifeboat (1944)

Lifeboat is of course famously the one where…

• it’s all set in a lifeboat
• Hitch still manages to make a cameo!

It’s a pretty good character piece - and has a weird but satisfying balance of light and dark. Some of the characters are a little carelessly used and one-dimensional but for the most part it works pretty well. Tallulah Bankhead though does most of the heavy lifting - and does it without breaking a sweat.

I’ve no idea if the Go-Betweens album Tallulah is named after Ms Bankhead - but I’m not sure I can think of anyone else it would be named after. So… Tallulah took a shower for an hour, and walked down the street feeling beautiful and clean…

Source: Film 4
Rating: 6/10
Hitchcock Zone: Lifeboat (1944)

Hitch's cameo - Lifeboat (1944)