Most unsatisfying ending - Lifeboat (1944) Discussion

You can't have seen many movies.

What did you expect out of it?

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[–] steviehallandale 11 years ago

Whats with the negative, off topic, and wrong assumption?

I cannot imagine I was the only one who expected a triumphant, energizing, celebratory rescue

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[–] TrekFan1 11 years ago

I cannot imagine I was the only one who expected a triumphant, energizing, celebratory rescue

Why would you have expected that? Considering the bleakness of the film, I'm surprised it didn't end with fewer survivors. A "triumphant" and "celebratory" finale would have seemed rather out of place, in my opinion. Plus, Hitchcock didn't show the attack which left these people stranded in a lifeboat, so why would he show them being rescued from it? Besides, we already know they're going to be rescued, so there's really no need to show it.

Even if they did show the rescue, it would hardly be "triumphant," "energizing" or "celebratory" considering all they had been through: they were starved, weak, exhausted, dying of thirst, and they had just killed another human being, the guilt of which had already begun to grip them before the film ended.

You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

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[–] saturnchick 10 years ago

I cannot imagine I was the only one who expected a triumphant, energizing, celebratory rescue.

It would have been so out of place. Really, one has to wonder if any of the people onboard the lifeboat really deserved to be rescued in the first place.

Lie still. I've never done this before; and there will
be blood.

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[–] crooow-2 10 years ago

A rescue would have violated Hitchcock's goal of having the entire movie take place on the lifeboat . I suppose they could have showed a ship pulling alongside but even though Hitch wouldn't have wanted to show another character. The film centered on only those who were in the boat. Even the supply ship's longboat does not get close enough for you to actually she an individual character. They get rescued but just not on film.

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[–] tlm557 8 years ago

I'm sorry but you are wrong... this was much worse than any other bad ending I've seen.

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[–] nothermo 11 years ago

This movie was made at a time when the audience still had an imagination and no one was better at making you use it than Hitchcock. There was a big celebration, we just didn't see it. The warship picked them up, gave them food, water and medical care. They were then flown elsewhere, probably to a civilian ship, and taken home. They got their happy, tearful reunions with loved ones and took time to mourn the loss of the other people. Then they settled back into their normal lives, forever changed by their experience. That's a pretty good ending if you just choose to see it.

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[–] puirt-a-beul 10 years ago

What didn't you like about it?

I thought the ending suited the story. For most of their trip, they suspected Willi was leading them to the German supply ship, but went anyway because it was a way perhaps of surviving; then when they do end up at the supply ship, ironically it is shelled, just as their own ship was; and the survivor they pull from the water is a German who tries to kill them. I admire Bankhead's final line — I feel it caps the whole thing.

So, in fact, I can't think of a more fitting end to the story we were given. For them just to turn up in Bermuda, and everyone to say "hurrah, you survived!", would be exceedingly lame.

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

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[–] i_am_reinard 10 years ago

This is typically Hichcock movie.... The birds is also similar...

My life. Simplified.â„¢

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[–] BlondeVixen 10 years ago

<I cannot imagine I was the only one who expected a triumphant, energizing, celebratory rescue>

Seems you're in the minority. Like the others said, in their physical & emotional condition, it would've been odd to start singing, dancing, laughing & doing handsprings. Besides, that kind of ending was common in other films. Hitch didn't do "common".

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[–] marvanhogan 10 years ago

I was so enthralled with this movie that any ending was a tragedy. I am OK not seeing the mechanics of the rescue. I felt that humanity was rescued in the way the characters conducted themselves.

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[–] Popcorngal (4347) 3 years ago

It did leave viewers hanging. I hope they were rescued.

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[–] ajprice-1 10 years ago

It was an abrupt ending, but I have decided (after several viewings) that it is rather perfect. Now I can envision that the two characters DO marry, that the rich guy gives the black man a great job, that the socialite and the rough guy have a few satisfying months together. Nothing is impossible in "what comes next?" Hey...maybe the Allies will even win the war.

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[–] DracTarashV 10 years ago

The first time I saw the film, I thought it was going to end with the survivors getting "rescued" by the German supply ship.

Now that, my friend, would have been an unsatisfying ending.

Hey there, Johnny Boy, I hope you fry!

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[–] 10 years ago

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