Just saw Lifeboat (1944) on PBS, first time I’ve seen it since this whole Mideast War Thing. Shameless WWII propaganda, and a bit simplistic, but very well done, and Tallulah Bankhead was a national treasure (only good movie she ever did, poor dahling).
Of course, I was mentally replacing the Nazi with an Al Qaeda operative and thinking, hmmmm . . .
Anyone else seen the film?
Ms. Bankhead got shafted by Hollywood. She excelled on the stage.
I’ve not seen the original, but I’ve seen the “remake” that the SciFi channel did, which was tolerable, but certainly nowhere near as good as what Hitch must have done with his film.
Oh, good lord, what’s next–ten people trapped on a stalled escalator in a department store?
Disagree that Lifeboat was the only good movie Tallulah ever made. She was pretty good in Tarnished Lady and it was a pretty decent little film.
I have some old radio broadcasts of a few episodes of The Big Show, Screen Director’s Playhouse and Theatre Guild on the Air, including a radio adaptation of Lifeboat (and All About Eve about which Tallulah went to her grave believing Bette Davis imitated her in playing Margo Channing).
I was flipping channels last night (doesn’t take that long when you don’t have cable!) and came across it. I tried not to watch, but it was the best thing on, so I got sucked in and watched almost all of it. They didn’t run the credits, though, so I need to look up the cast list to check on whether I remembered everyone’s names. Was that Martin Landau? The whole murder scene near the end seemed like a scene from a high school play for some reason. Nice to be spared the gritty realism of today. And Tallulah was wonderful, dahling. All in all, a good way to spend a blustery evening. And I loved that glass flask! Now that one really held a lot! (I have SO many customers complain about the size of the flasks we sell. The biggest is 8 ounces, and now I know why that isn’t big enough. 8 ounces will not get you drunk enough to endure surgery)
Oh. I was wrong! It was John Hodiak, whoever he may be.
But I’m very proud of myself, because even though I didn’t know it was a Hitchcock movie (since I didn’t even know what movie I was watching at first) I spotted Hitch’s little cameo appearance! Did anyone else?
His profile was in the ad in the newspaper the one character was reading…some ad for a reducing corset thingie for gentlemen
John Hodiak was a hottie with a brief career (he died of a heart attack at 41). Lifeboat was the high point of his career, though he did make 30-some films.
Never saw Tarished Lady . . . Have managed to struggle my way through Devil and the Deep (Tallu has to choose between Charles Laughton and Gary Cooper . . . hmmmm . . .), Faithless (in which she chews up and spits out callow little Bobbie Montgomery) and of course Die, Die, My Darling (was it high camp or low camp?). Poor Tallu, she deserved better. She would have made a great Margo Channing!!
I rather enjoyed this:
She was quite enjoyable in the radio adaptation (of IIRC the play, not the movie, because of rights issues), in large measure because there was much overlap in dialog and Tallulah apparently appropriated some of the best lines not originally hers for herself.
How in the name of bleeding Jesus did that link insert itself in Eve’s quote?
John Hodiak is hainting the thread! He’s a haint I tells ya!
You don’t suppose there’s an “outtakes reel” somewhere?
Hitchcock has several films that are “experimental”, like LIFEBOAT and ROPE. They have points of interest, and actually LIFEBOAT has held up pretty well, I think. I wouldn’t put it on my list of favorite Hitchcock films, but it would be ahead of MR AND MRS SMITH and TOPAZ, anyhow.
I’ve heard that story before, about Ms. Bankhead eschewing the knickers. Particularly relevant to this movie because of the shots they did through a glass bottom to the boat… If it isn’t true, it oughta be.
Every time I see Lifeboat I say to myself, “Damn, that’s Hume Cronyn!” He had quite the career.
Most of Hitchcock’s films from that era were, though, weren’t they? He was wringing his hands over Nazi saboteurs at least as early as 1936 (Secret Agent), and Foreign Correspondent, crikey, I wouldn’t be surprised if RAF recruiters were posted at theater exits when that one came out!
Well, it wasn’t just Hitchcock. The whole Hollywood establishment, for sure, was churning out war-based movies, for a variety of reasons: (a) the war engaged the national attention, and that was what sold; and (b) patriotism was viewed as a good thing; and © by making movies that helped keep people positive about the war, Hollywood felt they were helping win the war and thus legitimize their business.
Hitchcock was always interested in spy-type movies, even way back like 39 STEPS and THE LADY VANISHES, so the war gave him a very natural bunch of villains.
Absolutely. But the Brits throwing down with Hitler earlier than we did meant Brit directors like Hitchcock were sounding the warning bell cinematically for years before Hollywood was. 1935’s The 39 Steps, which you mentioned, brought John Buchan’s pre-World War I spy thriller into the '30s, and prodded people none too subtly about keeping an eye on those cagey Germans.