1944 Dir: Alfred Hitchcock 97 mins
In the genre of Hitchcock’s “limited setting” films (think also Rear Window, Rope) this is an underrated classic. It’s set entirely on a lifeboat full of, at the beginning, nine WW2 survivors, including women, of several ships one of whom is a German, possibly the German U-Boat Captain who sank them, with the rest English or American. It is a story based on the slowly diminishing sense of trust, betrayal and survival. It all starts out perfectly civil but cracks appear along the lines of race, class and nationality and soon dehydration and starvation start to set in. In a devilishly sly plot twist (written by John Steinbeck) the German, who spends most of the film rowing, waits until the others are asleep and slowly kills off the weaker passengers in an emulation of the Nazi ideology whilst drinking and eating from a secret stash. It is a fascinating study of the human condition and stands the test of time, the sea being their initial enemy, until it slowly dawns on the viewer that their greater enemy is in fact themselves. It is also a masterclass in framing, Hitchcock managing to get several people in frame constantly whilst keeping several narratives running. GV
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