Object #23 - Newspaper - Lifeboat (1944)

Dir. Alfred Hitchcock 

A Hitchcock film where I won't be talking about a MacGuffin, hoorah! This object is a pretty simple one. Alfred Hitchcock was famous for having cameos in his own films. If you're not familiar with a cameo (which I doubt, I mean come on!), then what it is is an appearance by a person of significance in a film, but not in an acting role (although this isn't a strict definition). Hitchcock, as director would appear in his films in the backgrounds of shots, in photographs, and in one of my favourites, while catching a bus. You can see a slew of them here. 

So in Lifeboat, the question is, how can Hitchcock cameo in a film that is set entirely on a single lifeboat? Well Hitch cleverly decided to use his recent weight-loss as a way to achieve it. In the film, several of the characters read from a newspaper that survived the torpedoing of their ship. When the newspaper is held up to the camera for a relatively brief moment, we see the above, an advert for 'Reduco', a weight-loss 'obesity-slayer'! Who stars in the Before and After picture? Hitchcock himself of course! I don't have much to say beyond how charming I find this entire idea!

Hitchcock is a genius of film-making, that's well known. He's also famous for being extremely witty, and it's for reasons like this he has that reputation. For a film-maker that clearly takes the process seriously, and inventively, it's so refreshing that he uses this inventiveness not only to further his own film-style, and influence many viewers and future film-makers, but to go to great lengths to include a simple cameo in his film. 

This is a man that clearly revels in the process of making films, and challenged himself many a-time. Lifeboat was the first of his one-set films, with further films such as Rope and Rear Window refining and improving the idea. Rear Window is certainly the best, although it 'cheats' by having literal viewpoints into other sets and character interactions. Rope was a little more inventive by being filmed in a few long shots, whereas Lifeboat has the conventional shot style of the time. That's not to do a disservice to Lifeboat, it's remarkable how it manages to have such interesting and varied shots in a film set entirely on a single lifeboat. 

The 'Reduco' idea was re-used by Hitch in Rope, avoiding him the difficulty of re-inventing another cameo idea in his next single-set film. It's a pleasing motif, and again shows his sense of style in having a recurring cameo. I love both of these films, Rope more-so than Lifeboat but that's only as I find the 'gimmick' of the film that much more enjoyable. Lifeboat's story was conceived by John Steinbeck, and his style is so much a part of Lifeboat, like it is in John Ford's adaption of The Grapes of Wrath. It just happens that I prefer Hitchock's style to Steinbeck's, although, come on, they're both masters of their respective mediums.

Did Steinbeck cameo in his own work...no? Well Hitchcock is clearly better! I'm kidding of course, but Hitch's cameo in Lifeboat remains one of favourite cameos of his, and a tangible image of the man's inventiveness, style, and humour.