Capo
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Post by Capo on Jul 22, 2007 22:10:41 GMT
LifeboatAlfred Hitchcock 1944 USA Several survivors of a downed allied ship take in the captain of the U-Boat which sunk them.
A fine, tautly-handled piece in similar vein to (though not as powerful as) 12 Angry Men, in its single setting, dialogue-heavy characterisation, and the way in which its characters discuss their differences of opinion regarding the Nazi. It is the Nazi, too, who lends the film its complexity; leading the boat away from the safety of Bermuda in one moment but saving the crew in the next, he remains an enigma to us as much as he does to the characters - and all the better for that, because the climax and the twist in all of their narrative arcs makes for strong irony. The murder, two thirds through, is shot in such matter-of-fact fashion that, in its harrowing brutality, puts it up there with the oven scene in Torn Curtain.
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