Lifeboat (1944)

With their transport torpedoed by a now also sunken Nazi U-boat, journalist “Porter” (Tallulah Bankhead) finds herself aboard the ship’s lifeboat afloat amidst the flotsam. She isn’t on her own for long, though, as others find her refuge and when German “Willi” (Walter Slezak) shows up that makes nine souls. They want to head to Bermuda, but nobody knows the way except, possibly, their prisoner - but they don’t want to believe him, nor surrender control of their voyage to him either - but with supplies running low, the sea becoming more hostile and hopes of rescue fairly remote, what are their options? What now ensues sees the survivors embark on a journey of self-discovery as they consider their current predicament and how they have lived and lied about their lives hitherto. This little microcosm of society becomes a little toxic, a little romantic, a lot suspicious and even adrift at sea there are still characters onboard determined to play games of oneupmanship - even if it’s just themselves there are deceiving. Obviously, this is all done in a tank on an LA backlot, so nowadays it doesn’t always look the most convincing but it’s really the story that makes this a compelling watch. Alfred Hitchcock drip-feeds us information, sometimes plausible and sometimes conflicting, and the audio effects also work well at creating a powerful sense of claustrophobia in the middle of an open ocean with a group of personalities you mightn’t trust with your dry cleaning let alone your life. Bankhead is on great form, as is Henry Hull and it all makes for an unique wartime adventure that if it is supposed to be propagandist in nature, offers a curious look at just how un-allied the allies could be.