Movies - Lifeboat

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	Movies - Lifeboat

Lifeboat is a 1944 World War II movie, directed by Alfred Hitchcock from a story written by John Steinbeck. The whole film takes place in a lifeboat.

A group of American and British citizens are stuck in a lifeboat after their ship is sunk by a Nazi U-boat. The German captain of the U-boat is in the lifeboat as well.

The movie starred Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, John Hodiak, Henry Hull, Heather Angel, Hume Cronyn and Canada Lee.

Of all Hitchcock's films, this is perhaps the one in which we would least expect to see a Hitchcock cameo since the action takes place entirely on a lifeboat. However, in one scene, one of the characters can be seen reading a newspaper. In the newspaper, an advertisement for Reduco Obesity Slayer is visible which features before and after pictures of Hitchcock's world-famous profile. Hitchcock later said that he received letters shortly after the film was released asking where they could obtain this miraculous, though fictitious, dieting aid.

Critical reaction

According to Hitchcock's daughter in a 2005 DVD release documentary, some critics, after initial rave reviews, gave the film poor reviews because of the so-called "positive" portrayal of the German character in the film. (Today, film reviewers think just the opposite. Critics call the film almost an American propaganda film.) Other film critics caught on to the critical damnation and many writers began giving the film poor reviews. 20th Century Fox executives, under pressure, decided to give the film a limited release instead of a wide release (like most of Hitchcock's films). Advertising for the film was also reduced causing the film to have a poor box office when released in 1944. Today, the film is considered a classic.

Remake

In 1993 the movie was remade as a science fiction TV movie titled Lifepod. Moving the action from a lifeboat to a spaceship's escape capsule, the remake starred Ron Silver, Robert Loggia and CCH Pounder. Silver also directed.

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Movies - Lifeboat

Critical reaction

Remake

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