ID

FBW001214      Fiction

Country / Year

USA, 1943-1944

Original Title

Lifeboat

Other Title(s)

Das Rettungsboot [TV] (German)

Directed by

Alfred Hitchcock

Produced by

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp., Los Angeles, CA / New York, NY

Staff

Executive producer: Darryl F. Zanuck; Associate producer: Kenneth MacGowan; Assistent director: Saul Wurtzel; Script: Jo Swerling; Based on: John Steinbeck (Geschichte); Camera: Glen MacWilliams; Special optical effects: Fred Sersen; Editing: Dorothy Spencer; Sound: Bernard Fredericks, Roger Heman; Art direction: James Basevi, Maurice Ransford; Technical consultant: Thomas Fitzsimmons (National Maritime Union); Set decoration: Thomas Little, Frank E. Hughes; Costumes: Rene Hubert; Makeup: Guy Pearce; Music: Hugo Friedhofer; Musical direction: Emil Newman

Cast

Tallulah Bankhead (Constance Porter); William Bendix (Gus Smith); Walter Slezak (Willy, Captain, German Submarine); Mary Anderson (Alice MacKenzie); John Hodiak (John Kovac); Henry Hull (Charles S. Rittenhouse); Heather Angel (Mrs. Higgins); Hume Cronyn (Stanley Garett); Canada Lee (Charles "Joe" Spencer, Steward); William Yetter, Jr. (German Sailor); Alfred Hitchcock (Man in "Before and After" Ad)

Length

2648 m / 96'48''

Format

35mm/sw/1:1,37

Dates

- 11 Jan 1944: Premiere, New York, NY (Astor)
- 11 Jan 1944: Release date, New York, NY (Astor)
- 28 Jan 1944: Copyright LP12521
- 02 Aug 1974: First run, GFR, TV, ZDF
- 19 Apr 1985: Release date, GFR OmdU

Further Remarks

- Studioaufnahmen: Twentieth Century-Fox, Los Angeles

Abstract

A ship on its way from America to England is sunk ba a German submarine. Several passengers survive in a lifeboat. An eccentric journalist, an intellectual, young engineer, a nurse, Mrs Higgins who does not want to believe that the baby which she holdes close to her is dead, a badly injured sailor, a black man called Stuart, a wireless operator, and a rich industrialist. And then Willy is also pulled on board from the sinking submarine. Despite first reactions, the German is not thrown overboard. The journalist Constance, who can speak a little German, questions him. Willy, who is actually the captain of the submarine, is the only one who knows enough about navigation to direct the boat to the Bermudas. He amputates the ill sailor`s leg and in doing so saves his life. But one night Gus sees Willy secretly using a compass in order to head for a German supply ship instead of the Bermudas. When Willy, who can also understand English, senses that he has been found out, he knocks Gus over board. When Willy says that Gus commited suicide, the others do not believe him, and kill him. As the boat gets ever closer, the supply ship sinks. Once again, a German is saved by the lifeboat. He threatens the passengers with a revolver but is overpowered and is later to be handed over to the allied authorities.

Subject Terms

Anti-Nazi films (US); World War II

Holdings

- Films, Inc., Chicago, IL; 16mm
- Kinemathek Hamburg, Hamburg; 16mm
- National Film and Television Archive (NFTA), London; 35mm
- UCLA (Film and Television Archive), Los Angeles, CA; 35mm
- Library of Congress (LOC), Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division, Washington, DC; 35mm

Materials

- USC (University of Southern California), Cinema-Television Library and Archive of Performing Arts USC (Cinema-Television Library and Archive of Performing Arts), Los Angeles, CA; Production files
- AMPAS (Margaret Herrick Library), Beverly Hills, CA; Scrapbook
- AMPAS (Margaret Herrick Library), Beverly Hills, CA; Script
- AMPAS (Margaret Herrick Library), Beverly Hills, CA; Production files

Bibliography

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