Ooh, moral posers as Hitchcock crafts experimental greatness.

Rating: 9/10 (1 February 2009)

A merchant ship is torpedoed and sunk by the Germans, leaving only a handful of survivors in the process. Finding a lifeboat to share, the survivors are thrown into conflict when one of the survivors turns out to be the captain of the U-boat that sunk their ship.
Lifeboat is a truly fine Alfred Hitchcock picture, it's a little undervalued, and most probably under seen due to not getting a worthy DVD transfer until the new millennium. Adapted from a John Steinbeck story, Lifeboat finds Hitchcock experimenting with a single set picture that is awash with propaganda and containing a cast that are across the bows, both endearing and totally interesting. Really tho, it's with the moral posers and quandary heart that Lifeboat becomes a great picture, different classes and oddly assorted persona's are forced to survive as one unit, but invariably a fly in the ointment could turn out to be a catalyst of sorts, not only for this group's possible survival, but in mental fortitude's and their respective capabilities under duress.
Very interesting film from the maestro director, with Tallulah Bankhead, Willian Bendix, John Hodiak and Walter Slezak turning in very enjoyable performances. Lifeboat is unusual in the sense of Hitchcock's other well known pictures, but it definitely finds him very much on form and very much laying down a marker for the genius that was to come. 9/10