I’ve been on a classic movie trip lately. I find them absolutely comforting. Lifeboat, produced by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Steinbeck, is absolutely wonderful and is for good reason required watching for certain college courses in film-making. I’d seen it about a decade ago and got a wild craving to watch it last night. The message hit me from a different angle this time and compelled me to write. Movies from this era are magnificent studies of the human character, the human condition as a whole. This one conveys that even when our empathy lands us in a cruel place, it doesn’t mean we should harden ourselves and withhold this singly human phenomenon--empathy--from peers lest the world go to Hell in a handbasket while we all vacuously watch. The message at first seems dismal, but what I believe we're seeing by the end of this movie is that the will to do good and to be good is indomitable.
In the midst of World War II a group of unlikely castaways are blasted from their freighter ship and collect themselves onto a small lifeboat as it drifts on the wide open sea. Among the brilliant cast is Tallulah Bankhead, a total treasure (even in her I Love Lucy episode she's awesome). She plays the voice of reason as the first fiery debate begins to divide the crew: an enemy German drifts to the boat and needs help. Of course, because they're Americans at war with Germany, most the crew wants to throw the man overboard and let him drown. The Englishman onboard, levelheaded and philosophical, reasons with them that what they propose is murder and this would make villains of them, too; it isn’t God’s way. (I wondered if their humanity would have suffered without this character! I love him and it comes as no surprise that the entire film couldn’t have thrived without him). They must take the German to justice, he says, because he’s a prisoner of war. Thus begins their adventure, a fight for survival to find shelter from the vast unforgiving sea with no supplies to sustain them, no compass, and an enemy in their midst.
Despite the tragedies and casualties that ensue, Tallulah Bankhead is a source of uplifting wry humor as they drift for endless days and nights, hungry and thirsty and mistrustful of the German, ever hopeful that they’ll find their way back to civilization--in their case, to the English-owned territory, Bermuda. It is due to her character that they come to rely upon the enemy’s directions, as she’s the only one who speaks fluent German to communicate with him. She’s a rather strongly defined woman in this role, which likely accounts for the not-so-strong first member of the crew to go overboard--the sad and fragile Mrs. Higley who was on her way to America with her infant. That they tossed her dead infant overboard proves too much and she jumps into the sea--either in an act of cowardice or sorrow--and while the crew is distracted with her sacrifice it’s revealed that the German isn't what he seems. He stows a secret compass from everyone, and while they thought themselves headed towards safety, he actually leads them into enemy territory.
As everyone readjusts, they get to know each other. John Kovak, the only one who never wavers in his suspicion of the German, valiantly strips the writer Connie Porter (played by Bankhead) of her ego. He accuses her of only wanting to popularize herself by writing a novel about the war. She challenges him by showing that she finds his distaste in her career choice ruggedly charming and that she is by no means a stranger to survival. She knows full well by observing people--the way that only a photo-journalist can--that the German is the only one of them who appears--somehow--capable navigating the sea. She knows whether they fear him or not, they’ll need to rely upon him. However, because Kovak’s comments linger with her, Connie quickly grows less concerned with herself and more with the care of others as she realizes that no one comforted poor Mrs. Higley before she died. Of course, she still maintains the attitude that I think only Bankhead could supply a character; she wryly insinuates that poor Mrs. Higley did jettison wearing the mink-fur coat that Connie lent to her. (I have read the report that Tallulah did not wear panties on the set, which, somehow isn't so hard to believe about this elegant lady).
At length one of the American survivors, Gus, suffers a gangrenous leg that needs to be amputated and the enemy happens to be the only person onboard with surgical experience. A storm of mistrust and anger brews over the prospect of the German performing the amputation, and we get to know poor Gus who loves his unfaithful girl back at home more than himself. Again, Bankhead is brilliant here, brilliant. She comforts Gus by lying to him that his girlfriend, a hot dancer, would want him to have the surgery despite that he won't be able to dance with her anymore. Connie only wants to help Gus; she prays afterward that God forgive her the lie. Bankhead’s comedy is ladylike, casual, subtle. She helps us to laugh rather than cry and shocks us by remaining lusty and quick-witted despite the circumstances. Even during the grimmest situation she's a ray of comedy that refocuses us on the human condition, the one that, by varying degrees, each of the crew members contributes to. This is John Steinbeck and Alfred Hitchcock and a superb cast at their finest.
If you haven’t seen it, I cannot reveal the ending of a truly great film like this (find it on Wikipedia if you must) except that its message is timeless and, while seemingly grim, is a positive declaration for the importance of never abandoning hope and never reflecting bad behavior no matter how badly it may have hurt, no matter the scars it might leave behind. Highly recommended.
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