Based on an unpublished novella by John Steinbeck (written on commission expressly to provide treatment material for Hitchcock’s screen scenario), Lifeboat found the Master of Suspense navigating a course of maximal tension – in the most minimal of settings – with a consistently inventive, beautifully paced drama that would foreshadow the single-set experiments of Rope and Dial M for Murder.

After a Nazi torpedo reduces an ocean liner to wooden splinters and scorched personal effects, the survivors of the attack pull themselves aboard a drifting lifeboat in the hope of eventual rescue. But the motivations of the German submarine captain (played by Walter Slezak) on the eponymous craft might extend beyond mere survival…

With a cast including Shadow of a Doubt veteran Hume Cronyn and the extraordinary, irrepressible Tallulah Bankhead, this “picture of characters”, as François Truffaut aptly termed the film, oscillates dazzlingly between comic repartée and white-knuckle suspense – a perfect example of “the Hitchcock touch”. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the Oscar-nominated Lifeboat in a Dual Format edition (Blu-ray and DVD), accompanied by Hitchcock’s two French-language wartime shorts, Bon voyage and Aventure malgache.

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Hitchcock goes to sea in this Oscar-nominated character piece. Tallulah Bankhead is among the survivors of a Nazi torpedo attack on a cruise ship, but tensions on board the rescue craft are as lethal as the German threat

Based on a John Steinbeck story, this taut, tense psychological thriller, set entirely on a lifeboat following the bombing of a luxury liner, anticipates the claustrophobic atmosphere of both Rear Window and Rope. A simple premise tightens the dramatic focus and the film explores the delicate balance of power among the survivors as they suffer the consequences of their own and one another's folly.

The personalities themselves are neatly drawn archetypes (posh, rough, rich, tender, former-thief and bloke.) Of these Bankhead dominates as a haughty society journalist and even in these straightened circumstances there are clashes over race and class. It's the arrival of Nazi Captain Willy (Slezak) that provides the dramatic impetus, inspiring both hope and danger.

Released in the penultimate year of the war, the film was subsequently derided as Allied propaganda. Certainly there are elements of that here. But other aspects compensate and the result of the survivors' rising hysteria suggests human beings are quite capable of screwing things up without the intervention of government.

Excerpt from Channel Four located HERE

Total Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps

Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 Video

Total Bitrate: 24.91 Mbps

Release Information:
Studio: Masters of Cinema

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1

Disc Size: 42,503,497,240 bytes
Feature Size: 27,357,431,808 bytes
Total Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps
Dual-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 Video

Edition Details:

• New high-definition 1080p transfers of Hitchcock’s little-seen French-language 1944 wartime films, Bon voyage (26 minutes) and Aventure malgache (32 minutes) officially licensed from the British Film Institute
• Optional English subtitles on all three films
• 20-minute documentary on the making of Lifeboat
• 12-minute excerpt from the legendary 1962 audio interviews between Hitchcock and François Truffaut, discussing Lifeboat and the wartime shorts
• PLUS: A 36-page booklet featuring new and exclusive essays on all three films by critics Bill Krohn, Arthur Mas, and Martial Pisani

DVD of the feature included

Blu-ray Release Date: April 23rd, 2012
Transparent or Steelbook Blu-ray Case
Chapters: 20

Release Information:
Studio: Kino
 

Single-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 Video

• Hitchcock / Truffaut Interview (11:54)
• The Making of Lifeboat (20:00)
• Trailers for Lifeboat (1:27), Compulsion (1:01), 23 Paces to Baker Street (2:15), and Five Miles to Midnight (3:19)

Blu-ray Release Date: March 21st, 2017
Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters:8