Synopsis
During World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.
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Cast
- Tallulah BankheadConnie Porter
- William BendixGus Smith
- Walter SlezakWilli
- Mary AndersonAlice MacKenzie
- John HodiakJohn Kovac
- Henry HullCharles J. Rittenhouse
- Heather AngelMrs. Higley
- Hume CronynStanley "Sparks" Garrett
- Canada LeeJoe Spencer
- William Yetter Jr.Young German Sailor (uncredited)
Recommendations
- 100
Slant Magazine
Lifeboat is actually much more complicated than it first appears. Its emphasis on moral debates in dialogue can seem a little dry, but Hitchcock’s shifting sympathies guarantee our guilty involvement with the characters until he builds to a climax of intellectual and spiritual excitation. - 100
TV Guide Magazine
The entire cast is superb, but the standouts are Bankhead, as the spoiled, wealthy dilettante writer whose expensive furs and jewelry are worth more to her than the lives of her fellow survivors, and Bendix, as the compassionate but not-too-bright stoker whose gangrenous leg poses a threat to his dreams of returning home to dance with his sweetheart. - 90
The New York Times
That old master of screen melodrama, Alfred Hitchcock, and Writer John Steinbeck have combined their distinctive talents in a tremendously provocative film—indeed, a surprisingly unique one—titled Lifeboat. - 90
Variety
Hitchcock pilots the piece skillfully, ingeniously developing suspense and action. Despite that it’s a slow starter, the picture, from the beginning, leaves a strong impact and, before too long, develops into the type of suspenseful product with which Hitchcock has always been identified. - 83
The A.V. Club
The roots of reality TV can be found here, but unlike most reality TV, Hitchcock shows a genuine (though characteristically distant) interest in people. - 80
Empire
Along with the psychological intrigue there is romance and wit. And fans will enjoy Hitch's most amusing trademark cameo: photographed as before and after silhouettes in a newspaper ad for diet product Reduco. - 80
IGN
Where its successors might interpret or imitate its achievement of making a movie set in a confined space, Hitchcock evokes more important questions - many of them without answers - from his cross-section of characters, and creates an impressive and remarkably prescient perspective on our relationship with the world around us. - 75
LarsenOnFilm
This is one of [Hitchcock's] significant works, accented by wickedly effective insert shots and a handful of strong performances.
