Pretty dreary for a Hitchcock film, only redeemed by 1) a wonderfully world-weary performance from Tallulah, and 2) the accomplished way Hitchcock makes the camera work involving within the confines of a lifeboat.

I might have a soft spot for 'people trapped in small space' movies, but Lifeboat was pretty damn good. Sure, it has that whole anti-Germany angle, but it's understandable considering the period it was filmed. The premise is cool, there's a nice amount of tension and it never gets boring to watch these people, even if we've seen 'humans losing their humanity during stressful times'-type developments often enough.

The boat isn't convincing, but everyone else is; they create a harrowing, captivating story of survival. Loses points for a few unnecessarily slow parts.

Brilliant character driven masterpiece.

Solid acting by Cronyn, Bendix and the rest, though once again, it's the master who stands out by keeping the pace tight and the tension high while never moving from the one set.

Quite the propaganda piece for the US War Dept. Canada Lee impresses.

Pretty good movie with a very limited set. But too much propaganda.

Finally a film that addresses the criminally underexamined "Should-we-kill-this-Nazi-or-can-he-steer-our-little-boat-for-us" demographic.

drifted off on me, nice Hitch cameo tho' and Tallulah is quite a presence......

does manage a fair bit of suspense, though nowhere near what hitchcock achieved in Rope. the main problem is i don't find any of the characters very interesting. Tallulah Bankhead is the best, and she's still a far cry from some of the amazing heroines in hitch's later work.

Good plot and set of characters for such a limited space. I am not sure this one was the first in the genre of paranoid closure but what Hitchcock did surely deserves praises.

Hitchcock's direction falls as flat as his cameo, adding zero atmosphere or even a slight sense of danger - The cast seems hopelessly stranded in a studio, surrounded by rear projection and a director unable to stage the story properly and sound-people unable to do anything right... For shame, for shame!

Too propagandistic for it's own good (the ending is laughable), and it's true that the structure is way too archetypical. Nevertheless it's still an effective film, with good camerawork for such a limited setting and an overall credible story of survival.

86.875

Glistening silver sea-sprayed faces, off-kilter cuts and tin whistle German lullabies.

It's a bit manufactured, but overall I liked it. I don't feel it's propaganda, either - the opposite, if anything.