Here is my final review (of 3) for this month’s Genre Grandeur – British Thrillers. This one is actually a Hitchcockian thriller and is one of my favorite British Thrillers – Lifeboat (1944)
Thanks again to Emma from Emmakwall.com for choosing this month’s genre
Next month’s Genre, chosen by Justine of Justine’s movie blog is Coming of Age movies. To participate, send me your review to coe@movierob.net by 22nd Feb. Thanks to Justine for a great choice.
Let’s see what I thought of Lifeboat…
“Can a snake help being a rattlesnake if he’s born a rattlesnake! That don’t make him a nightingale! Get him out of here! ” – John Kovak
Number of Times Seen – Between 5-10 times (video in 1991, cable, DVD, 16 Sep 2013 and 26 Jan 2015)
Link to original review – Here
Brief Synopsis – During WWII, an ecclectic group of survivors from a U-boat attack on a freighter try to figure out how to survive when they are all stranded in a lifeboat together
My Take on it – Very few directors in the 1940’s would have been able to accomplish what Alfred Hitchcock was able to do with this script.
To successfully take a story that all takes place in a small lifeboat with 8 survivors and keeps us interested for the entire 100 minutes of runtime.
He manages to give us so many details of the lives of the survivors and it helps us to understand each and every one of them, their history’s and potential personality traits that will either help or hinder the dilemmas this crew encounters without feeling claustrophobic despite being crammed into a small lifeboat.
By the end we know who stands up for what and also why they do it.
Loved seeing a very young Hume Cronyn in a supporting role.
Script was written by John Steinbeck and he masterfully created great characters.
Besides being my favorite British Thriller, this movie is also my favorite Hitchcock movie.
Bottom Line – Very suspenseful despite the fact that the whole movie takes place in a lifeboat. Great script and dialogue by Steinbeck. IMHO this is one of Hitchcock’s best movies. Highly recommended!
Rating – Oscar Worthy (no change from original review)
______________________________________
Check out my *updated* movie stats here
To see my reviews of Oscar Winning Performances check out this link
To see my reviews of all Oscar Best Picture Winners click here (now complete)
Here is a link to my movie index A-Z
I really like that the script was penned by John Steinbeck, one of my favorite authors. Great insight here man, I’ll need to check this out. Always love the limited-setting thrillers!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tnx Tom. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey man I’m planning on contributing to next month’s GG btw. Out of curiosity, do I need to send that to coe@movierob or coa@movierob? (I figured i’d ask since I saw you had posted the email as coE, but the genre is going to be called Coming of Age films, so I would have thought COA would make more sense. Just let me know.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Doesnt matter really both addresses will come to me. Oops 😉 very cool to hear!
LikeLiked by 1 person
OH MY GOD. I’ve never seen this and it looks incredible!! This is going right on my watch list 🙂
Can’t believe John Steinbeck wrote the script, I love his work!!!
LikeLike
Pingback: Movies Reviewed Index A-Z |
Pingback: Genre Grandeur January Finale – Dead Man’s Shoes (2004) – EmmaKWall |
Pingback: MovieRob Monthly Roundup – January 2015 |
Pingback: Genre Guesstimation – Lifepod (1993) |
Pingback: Psycho (1960) |
Pingback: The Toptober Tens #9 – Alfred Hitchcock Films |
Pingback: Did They Get it Right? – Best Picture – Oscars 1944 |
Pingback: Genre Grandeur – Lifeboat (1944) – Encore Review 2 – MovieRob |
Pingback: Temporal Top Ten – 1944 | MovieRob
Pingback: MovieRob’s Birthday Bash of Favorites 2020 (#14 of 47) – Lifeboat (1944) – Encore Review 3 | MovieRob