Lifeboat

PHOTO 1 = Hitchcock's cameo in "Lifeboat"PHOTO 2 = Reduco, The Sensational New OBESITY SLAYER: In Just Four Months YOU TOO Can Be Slender! The Well-Known Director ALFRED HITCHCOCK says "In just four months I lost 73 pounds due to the splendid new Reduco System!""Lifeboat" (1944) was the seventh film in Hitchcock's Hollywood career, and the only war movie he ever directed (not to be confused with spy movies).The 2017 Kino Lorber Blu-Ray is a reissue of the 2005 DVD from Fox Home Video.All the bonus features from 2005 have been carried over to Blu-Ray:-- Audio Commentary by Drew Casper-- The Making of "Lifeboat" (20 minutes)-- Still PhotosPlus new Blu-Ray bonus features for 2017:-- A second Audio Commentary by Tim Lucas(Drew Casper called it "re-duck-o". Tim Lucas calls it "re-deuce-o", which seems more logical.)-- Hitchcock/Truffaut audio interview (with the still photos from 2005)The only losses from the old DVD:-- The Blu-Ray has the original mono soundtrack; the DVD also had a (fake) stereo soundtrack.-- The Blu-Ray has English SDH subtitles; the DVD also had Spanish subtitles.The new Blu-Ray transfer is an improvement over the old DVD.Not dramatic, but noticeable.POINTS OF INTEREST:-- Surprisingly for an action film, top-billing went to the actress Tallulah Bankhead (photo 3).The 42 year-old Bankhead had not made a Hollywood film since 1932's "Faithless" (aside from a cameo in 1943's "Stage Door Canteen"), preferring the Broadway stage.Top-billing her after a twelve year absence from Hollywood was a daring move, but it paid off in a bravura performance.She was cast in the film because Alfred Hitchcock wanted to use "the most oblique, incongruous person imaginable in such a situation".-- During filming, several crew members noted that Miss Bankhead was not wearing underwear.When advised of this situation, Alfred Hitchcock observed, "I don't know if this is a matter for the costume department, makeup, or hairdressing." (Source: IMDB)-- Only nine principal actors were used.Filmed entirely in an enormous water tank on the Fox lot.Actor Murray Alper (photo 4) had to withdraw from the film due to severe seasickness.Replaced by William Bendix.-- The confined set would seem to rule out the director's's traditional cameo appearance,but Hitchcock came up with a novel solution:@ 25:15 into the film, he appears in "before" and "after" pictures in a newspaper advertisement for "Reduco, the Obesity Slayer" (photos 1-2)--------------------------------------------------------------------ALFRED HITCHCOCK FILMOGRAPHY:Alfred Hitchcock directed 56 feature films (not counting short subjects).One film, “The Mountain Eagle” (1927) is lost."Blackmail" (1929) is counted twice - it was Hitchcock's final silent film, and was also filmed as his first talkie.All are at least on on DVD, with two exceptions:The silent version of "Blackmail", and "Mary" (1931, the German language version of "Murder!")34 films are on Blu-Ray (links are included)PART ONE: BRITISH PERIOD, 1925 - 19391925 The Pleasure Garden - silent1927 The Mountain Eagle - silent, LOST FILM1927 The Lodger - silent, BLU-RAY The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray], coupled with "Downhill"1927 The Ring - silent1927 Downhill - silent, BLU-RAY coupled with The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]1928 Easy Virtue - silent1928 The Farmer's Wife - silent1928 Champagne - silent1929 The Manxman - silent1929 Blackmail - silent UNAVAILABLE1929 Blackmail - sound version1930 Elstree Calling [musical comedy revue with four directors]1930 Juno and the Paycock1930 Murder!1931 Mary - German language version of "Murder!" with a separate cast UNAVAILABLE1931 The Skin Game1931 Rich and Strange1932 Number Seventeen1934 Waltzes from Vienna1934 The Man Who Knew Too Much (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (first version)1935 The 39 Steps (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]1936 Secret Agent1936 Sabotage1937 Young and Innocent1938 The Lady Vanishes (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]1939 Jamaica Inn [Blu-ray] - I don’t know why it’s so expensive.PART TWO: HOLLYWOOD PERIOD, 1940 -1 976(some of them were filmed in the UK, but for American studios)All but two have been released on Blu-Tay.1940 Rebecca [Blu-ray]1940 Foreign Correspondent [Blu-ray]1941 Mr. & Mrs. Smith NOT ON BLU-RAY1941 Suspicion [Blu-ray]1942 Saboteur [Blu-ray] *1943 Shadow of a Doubt [Blu-ray] *1944 Lifeboat [Blu-ray]1945 Spellbound (hitchcock) [Blu-ray]1946 Notorious (hitchcock) [Blu-ray]1947 The Paradine Case [Blu-Ray]1948 Rope [Blu-ray] *1949 Under Capricorn [Blu-ray]1950 Stage Fright NOT ON BLU-RAY1951 Strangers On A Train (BD) [Blu-ray]1953 I Confess (1953) [Blu-ray]1954 Dial M for Murder (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray) [1954] [Region Free] (2-D and 3-D versions)1954 Rear Window [Blu-ray] *1955 To Catch A Thief (1955) (BD) [Blu-ray]1955 The Trouble with Harry [Blu-ray] *1956 The Man Who Knew Too Much [Blu-ray] (second version) *1956 The Wrong Man [Blu-ray]1958 Vertigo [Blu-ray] *1959 North By Northwest (1959) (BD) [Blu-ray] *1960 Psycho (1960) [Blu-ray] *1963 The Birds [Blu-ray] *1964 Marnie [Blu-ray] *1966 Torn Curtain [Blu-ray] *1969 Topaz [Blu-ray] *1972 Frenzy [Blu-ray] *1976 Family Plot [Blu-ray] ** Fifteen Blu-Ray box:Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection (Limited Edition) [Blu-ray] (2012)or 2016 reissue: Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection (Limited Edition) [Blu-ray] (same contents)Fourteen Blu-Ray box (minus "North by Northwest")Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection [Blu Ray] (2012)This is a British import.The contents of the British and American Blu-Rays are identical.Unlike most British Blu-Rays, these are region-free and should play on any US player.* Fifteen Blu-Ray box:Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection (Limited Edition) [Blu-ray] (2012)or 2016 reissue: Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection (Limited Edition) [Blu-ray] (same contents)Fourteen Blu-Ray box (minus "North by Northwest")Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection [Blu Ray] (2012)This is a British import.Same bonus features, but it sells for less.Unlike most British Blu-Rays, these are region-free and will play on any US player.

Amazons the only place I could find this movie. Classic Hitchcock. Story by Steinbeck...great movie

Didn't pay attention when I ordered this, so I got one with Korean subtitles. But the movie is still great!

Written by John Steinbeck, "Lifeboat" is essentially about the American dilemma regarding international conflict--when everyone in the country comes from someplace else, what happens when we are at war with a nation whose immigrants have lived here for generations? And even more fundamentally, is our human need to trust each other simply a naive artifact of religions and constitutions that have no place in a world that can manufacture global war, global destruction, or is it indelible and worth preserving? What is more noble--to act as if another person will not harm you and treat him as you would treat yourself, or to be prepared first to fight, garnering all defenses, even if they are deceptive, selfish actions?The New York Times review published in 1944 questioned whether this movie was appropriate to show the American public in the midst of a world war and Steinbeck asked for his name off the credits. But watching it in 2015, perhaps more sensitively primed to ethical nuance after seven decades that included Watergate, the civil rights movement, the Bush era and traveling almost ten years now through the worlds of great writers like JJ Abrams and Christopher Nolan via all the superhero movies, and apocalyptic nightmares spawned from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"--I say, bring it on. Let's examine it, let's get down to the nitty-gritty. Steinbeck and Hitchcock were brave enough to do it then and for that reason alone, to witness two men putting their beliefs on the line way before it was fashionable or understood, you should watch it.On a lighter note, Tallulah Bankhead's character in that aforementioned NY Times review is solely referred to as a "parasite", or "parasitic"--the fact that she plays a journalist is clear to the modern viewer and that description, if it was written now, would strike us as wildly off-base and bizarre: ladies, in this regard, we truly have come a long way. "Lifeboat" is generally considered her greatest role and she certainly gets the Great Speech. But my favorite quote of hers comes from real life: after running into an ex-lover she was purported to say, "I thought I told you to wait in the car." I doubt even Steinbeck could've matched that line.

Soy fan del legendario director de cine Alfred Hitchcock, y cuando supe que la empresa Kino Lorber había restaurado en formato Blu-Ray su clásico de 1944 "Lifeboat" o Náufragos, la compré de inmediato. Se ve mejor que nunca, muy limpia y llena de vida. Llegó en perfectas condiciones y muy rápido

Toller Film. Blitzversand. Super Preis. Vielen Dank.

During World War 2, Alfred Hitchcock did many productions set around that political climate. To tell great stories set in that period and out of patriotism. To do his part in encouraging the public to involve itself during this conflict. Either at home or on the battlefield.And among the movies he did, Lifeboat is one of those patriotic adventures.A drama developed from an idea Hitchcock got, with a story conceived by John Steinbeck, and a script from Jo Swerling.In its simple concept, an imaginative storyline. During the war, two boats sink; one from the Allies, the other from the Enemies. Amidst its survivors – all of them stuck on a single lifeboat – reporter Constance Porter, six boat comrades named John Kovac, Stanley Garrett, Alice Mackenzie, Joe Spencer, Gus Smith, and Willi; Mrs. Highley and her baby, and a Nazi survivor named Willi. A man who might be the captain of the enemy boat that the Allies just sank.Through the weeks of survival on the boat, this team of people, with Kovac as Skipper, endures weathers & mental pressures while trying to survive. Among them hunger, thirst, despair, death, and fear toward the Nazi survivor. Who, as a navigator, may guide the crew into a trap. Especially as he claims to guide them in a specific direction, while looking at a hidden pocket compass which shows that he is guiding them the wrong way. So when will they find out the truth about this double-crosser? Will they get out of their sea nightmare or will they be doomed to a death at sea?In its concept, the film is an incredible huis-clos. Within a boat. Amidst an open space of water, wind, sun, and stars. Making it quite an oppressive and suspenseful atmosphere for the film. No way can they leave this boat, no way can they escape the others and their torments/clashes. For though there might be a few times of laugh, dramas of all sorts will happen. Including some hair-raising ones I won’t reveal here.In the cast, all the actors and actresses are excellent. Through various high winds and boats, they endure the work on that boat set. And as explained in the making-of, several of them either got ill or wounded during filming, which at times shut down the production. And of the main actress Tellullah Bankhead, everyone who worked on the film attested that she was difficult with the cast and crew.Except for the opening and ending credits which has a great music theme from Hugo W. Friedhofer, the movie has no soundtrack. A great idea since it makes the drama on Lifeboat more tense and realistic. Without any melodramatic melodies; nor any pleonastic tunes. Only the actors and their performance giving the most sincere ambience to the story. And for that, only an excellent director could make his actors perform with the amazing quality we see on Lifeboat. Furthermore, it shows how you can make a great movie without wasting time with a soundtrack. How you can use your silences and your actors to create a soundtrack as memorable as a great radio drama.Which is interesting since a radio adaptation was done of Lifeboat. And depending on the Blu-Rays or DVDS you get, that radio drama might be available on its special features. So watch carefully the edition you purchase, it might offer this great treat.Though the movie is talkative, the film offers nice camera effects. Including impressive weather moments; with the rain and wind blowing on the survivors. And in its concept, the potential for a theatre production is there. As to how it could be produced, it would be quite a feat for the artists who might be interested in doing it.For the script, the dialogues are excellent; and for each character, their personalities are perfectly expressed and different on screen. Some insolent, others ironic, another sarcastic. Various emotions on screen that make us realize how the life on this boat is a struggle maybe, but quite an experience for them all. And at 97 minutes, the story goes by in a great breeze. You never see time pass, and when the big dramas at the finale happen, you will be on the edge of your seat.To conclude, though the film never got the big success it should have got, Lifeboat is a great display of Hitchcock’s talent as storyteller and filmmaker. Again, it has great potential to be done as a play. But many also noted it to be one of his best movies.So if you are of Alfred Hitchcock and of war movies, give Lifeboat a try.

Otro clásico de Hitchcock que ofrece un drama vigoroso, una variada e interesante galería de personajes, constante suspenso y acción sostenida en el único ámbito de un bote salvavidas. El Blu-ray mantiene los niveles de calidad a que nos ha acostumbrado Masters of Cinema. Un chef d'oeuvre.

I was very disappointed last night when this movie did not play in our multiplayer. Unfortunately, I did not have the time to watch it prior to the return date. So please be aware.