 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yee Gods, and Little Fishes! I've seen this film countless times in my life and never, ever, get tired of any aspect of the film. It's currently on The Criterion Channel and viewed it yet once more last evening. I still have to compliment Alfred Hitchcock at squeezing so much drama and so much humor in such a confined space. I believe the main reason I never get tired of the film is probably due to the performance of Tallulah Bankhead. She commands every scene she's in, and no one else could deliver the same lines of dialogue she has, with as much 'oomph'. In 1944, she won The New York Film Critics award for Best Actress in 'Lifeboat', but she failed to receive an Oscar nomination for this role. She claimed at the time it was probably due to the fact she was too independent, and not signed onto a contract by any studio.
During filming, the actors had to climb a ladder to get to the lifeboat set. Tallulah never wore underwear and delighted in shocking her fellow actors by climbing the ladder ahead of them. A woman reporter complained about this to Darryl F. Zanuck, who sent a man to talk to Hitchcock about the situation. Hitchcock was amused but refused to interfere and told the man it wasn't his department. The man asked, "Well, whose department is it?" Hitchcock mused for a moment and said, "Makeup, or perhaps Hairdressing."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
And the remark has sometimes been attributed to him or to Alfred Newman. But it sounds like Raksin to me.
I recall Raksin himself telling the story, about himself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
