Sir Alfred Hitchcock's World War II movies are often lumped with his work for the Office of War Information as just so much Allied propaganda, but the fact is that in all his films from this era, Hitch's genius for creating tension from visuals and cutting, and putting together edgy characters, comes through. Veteran screenwriter Jo Swerling (Gone With the Wind, Pride of the Yankees, Made For Each Other) adapted a John Steinbeck story into a vehicle that also gave some of our best character actors a chance to shine. If the film did nothing else but provide an opportunity for Tallulah Bankhead to chew the scenery, it would still be worth the price of admission, but also providing glowing performances are Walter Slezak, Hume Cronyn, John Hodiak, Henry Hull, and the wonderful William Bendix. Pay special attention to the performance of Heather Angel as the poor unfortunate mother.How does Hitchcock pull off his famous cameo appearance in a film where the only characters are in a lifeboat adrift at sea? Originally, he wanted to float by as a corpse, but he was afraid he'd sink! Instead, look for him in the advertisement for the phony diet supplement Reduco, printed on the back of the newspaper Bendix is reading (a cameo you can't really see on video, but which is clear on the big screen!).The film was a wartime hit, garnered three Oscar nominations, and was the inspiration for a little-known (but better than average) 1993 futuristic TV movie, Lifepod, directed by and starring actor Ron Silver
