We should kill POWs. I know it was made during the war, but judging it by today's standards (as we should...now) i cannot conclude any other way.
Compare it with Sahara starring Humphrey Bogart. Even though this movie is also WW2 propaganda, the contrast is striking.
First off, I haven't seen Sahara, so I cannot compare.
But I don't think the message of the film was "kill POWs." This film is a character study about how in the right circumstances, even the most enlightened and civilized of people are capable of barbaric acts. Right and wrong, educated and uneducated, high society and low society...all are meaningless in the lifeboat. You may find yourself no better than a Nazi when the food and water run out. That's the message I got from the film.
^^good points
"Did you make coffee...? Make it!"--Cheyenne.
The so-called "POW" murdered Gus. I'd say he forfeited whatever legal protections (whether real or imaginary) he had on the boat.
shareHe murdered Gus AND he withheld water from the others AND he was steering them to a Nazi supply ship to become prisoners themselves...Bankhead pushes it a bit by saying they are heading for "a concentration camp," but some of them may well be -- which = death.
Still, the attack on him is the rage of a mob to be sure, and as brutal as possible in Hays Code 1944(funny how little we see of Willie during the attack, just enough bloody much to imagine the rest). Only the black man stays out of it, but he can't stop the younger woman from joining Tallulah in the killing along with the men.
Walter Slezak's Willy is one of Hitchcock's classic "charming villains." He has a very pleasant face(between cute and, with the beard, outright handsome), a non-threatening roly-poly body(rather matching him up with Bronx Yankee William Bendix's Gus on the boat, as a "doppelganger") and all sorts of leadership and life-saving skills(before he kills Gus, he is the only one who can save Gus's life via surgical amputation; this U-boat captain was a surgeon in civilan life...he's a "Superman" as Tallulah calls him.)
Hitchcock could never give us a "totally evil villain" -- even near the end of WWII when the Allies didn't need a "slightly sympathetic Nazi." Some critics felt "Lifeboat" made the Nazi "the hero of the movie" and one gave the movie "Ten days to get out of town!"
Hitchcock was frustrated by this. He felt the message of Willy in "Lifeboat" was: "The Nazis are focussed and determined to win at all costs, the allies are squabbling. Fight fire with fire!"
THAT message comes uneasily from "Lifeboat," which always concerns itself with the age old question: "If the good guys are as ruthless as the bad guys...are they bad guys, too?"
A great unsung Hitchcock movie on all fronts..technical, script, acting AND overall thematic complexity.
We do like it when movies make things nicey-nicey black and white for us, don't we? So we can root for one side and scorn the other, feel good for one's behavior and shocked by the other.
Just like real life, right? We can just make all those calls about who is right and who is wrong and feel oh so good about ourselves, right?
We do like it when movies make things nicey-nicey black and white for us, don't we? So we can root for one side and scorn the other, feel good for one's behavior and shocked by the other.
Just like real life, right? We can just make all those calls about who is right and who is wrong and feel oh so good about ourselves, right?
Fingaroo: "Well, to be fair, the Nazis make it easy for us, don't they? I mean, with the little things they did, like those nasty gas chambers and crematoriums. You know, the Final Solution bit. And that matter of attacking Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and so on, thereby starting a war that killed 50 million people and left large parts of the world destroyed and destitute."
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Hence the whole point of the movie; should they hold this captain who was following orders responsible for Hitler's actions, even as he was the man who had torpedoed their very ship and sought to kill them in the lifeboat?
Can't recall the details, but have heard about an ally to the UK who parachuted into England and because he couldn't speak English, he was killed by the citizens. We would think those who killed him barbaric, wouldn't we?
If we were ever shown a situation with Lifeboat in reverse, with German citizens and an American captain of the sub that just torpedoed them, we would regard the German citizens killing the captain as an unfair, biased depiction, feeling they would be more sympathetic than we are seeing in the ficticious movie.
Hence the whole point of the movie; should they hold this captain who was following orders responsible for Hitler's actions, even as he was the man who had torpedoed their very ship and sought to kill them in the lifeboat?
If we were ever shown a situation with Lifeboat in reverse, with German citizens and an American captain of the sub that just torpedoed them, we would regard the German citizens killing the captain as an unfair, biased depiction, feeling they would be more sympathetic than we are seeing in the ficticious movie.
Fingaroo: "Well, once he was IN the lifeboat and their prisoner, then they are responsible--morally and probably legally--for his safety. As long as he behaves himself it would be unlawful to simply kill him."
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Well, he had the compass and the captain's skills, so he was hardly their prisoner, as well as he sneaked some water while they weren't looking. They foolishly believed he was in the same boat they were in, but clearly he wasn't.
Intriguing once Bankhead got him to reveal he was the captain after he had lied to them, they didn't do the Gus bit right then and there instead. Clearly it wasn't going to get any better. And obviously it didn't.
All in all, a very wonderful story.
It's certainly one of my favourite hitchcock films. i think if you look at the reaction at the time of the release and now is striking. people at the time looked borderline with sympathy towards the german u-boat captain. however, modern viewers are left with no sympathy towards the german u-boat captain. up until the end the u-boat captain was always a step ahead of the crew.
- Now, we're all sort of fellow travellers,in a mighty small boat,on a mighty big ocean!And the more we quarreland criticize and misunderstand each other,the bigger the ocean gets,and the smaller the boat.
- The boat's too small for me and this German!
- Me, I'm perfectly willing to abide by the decision of the majority. That's the American way.
- If we harm this man,we are guilty of the same tactics you hate him for. On the other hand, if we treat him with kindness and consideration, we might be able to convert him to our way of thinking. That's the, uh... That's the Christian way.
It seems they became closer to what they hated in the first place, even if they try to rationalize it afterwards
My two cents, bye
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