Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1944)

Alfred Hitchcock, John Steinbeck and screenwriter Jo Swerling were criticized for the portrayal of the American and English characters of Lifeboat as "pathetic souls", and the Nazi U-boat commander, Willi, as "the only competent leader in a boat full of ineffectuals."

In his review of the film for the New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote: "Obviously Mr. Hitchcock and Mr. Steinbeck failed to grasp just what they had wrought." Not in the least. On the simplest level, Hitchcock's message is quite clear—the Allies had better get their, um … act together if they expect to defeat an enemy with a plan. But Crowther complained that with some careful editing, the Nazis could turn Lifeboat into a piece of propaganda against the Allies.

Perhaps the ending as scripted might have appealed to Crowther's need for a more blatant image suggesting the Nazis will be vanquished by the Allies. Recall that near the end of the film, the remaining survivors, having killed Willi, are at their most desperate when the Nazi supply ship arrives. Suddenly an American destroyer happens upon them and blows the Nazi supply ship right out of the water. As the survivors wait to be picked up by the Navy, they rescue a young German sailor from the water. The frightened, near-drowned sailor pulls a gun on his rescuers but is easily overpowered, and says in German, "Aren't you going to kill me?"

KOVAC

(mumbling)

"Aren't you going to kill me?"

(to Stanley)

What're you going to do with people like this?

STANLEY

I don't know… I was thinking of Mrs. Rigley… and her baby… and Gus -

CAMERA MOVES CLOSER to Mrs. Porter.

MRS. PORTER

Maybe they could answer that.

She looks into the flotsam-strewn water. CAMERA DRAWS BACK AND TILTS DOWN to pick up, as in the beginning, various items of wreckage from the blown-up German supply ship: A German sailor's hat with the name of the supply ship on it, a torn copy of a German newspaper, some empty oil drums, a couple of beer bottles with a German label on them, etc. And finally the ship's flag, floating among the debris. CAMERA COMES CLOSE to the Swastika and HOLDS on it as it begins to sink below the surface of the sea. As it sinks, the Swastika shimmers, becomes fainter, and is finally obliterated, as we

FADE OUT

F I N I S

Hitchcock chose not to book-end the images of the American ship torpedoed at the beginning with those of the Nazi supply ship and instead ended his film with a close-up of Tallulah Bankhead uttering those final words.