Beyond the characters, this is a very challenging film from both a directing and cinematography standpoint.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 28, 2024

Intense poker, lipstick, and flirtations increase as beards grow and tables turn amid storms, hunger, delirium, and suspicion in a no win situation that remains gripping from beginning to end.

| Jul 25, 2023

Lifeboat is like roast beef without gravy, and whoever does not get enthusiastic about the movie will be bored to death.

| May 26, 2022

There are many reasons to watch Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, but chief among them is the opportunity to catch a rare film appearance by Tallulah Bankhead.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 10, 2022

The sure hand of director Alfred Hitchcock (notable particularly in the undercurrent of background conversations) has managed to keep a surprisingly light touch in the midst of dramatic excitement and pathos.

| Jun 10, 2021

Quite good as entertainment.

| Dec 9, 2020

An early and neglected masterwork of Alfred Hitchcock's, Lifeboat still holds water, and features a not to miss performance from the throaty and rapacious Tallulah Bankhead.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 12, 2020

Tallulah Bankhead returns to the world of cinema with an admirable performance in a difficult role. [Full review in Spanish]

| Sep 16, 2019

Saddled with as thin a premise as one could envision, Lifeboat ultimately comes off as a disappointing endeavor that boasts few elements designed to capture and sustain the viewer's interest...

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 31, 2016

...one of Hitchcock's significant works, accented by wickedly effective insert shots and a handful of strong performances.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 23, 2014

Here is the closest the director probably ever came to making an insightful statement about the dreadful world he and his peers lived in.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 17, 2014

Hitchcock's answer to the perpetual film school dilemma of making a movie on a boat as one of a filmmaker's biggest challenges, is a textbook example of how it's done right.

| Original Score: A | Jun 9, 2009

"It's based on the story by John Steinbeck, who wanted to show the Nazis as single-minded brutes with no redeeming human qualities.

| Original Score: B | May 11, 2009

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.

| Oct 16, 2008

Only Hitchcock could pull off this compelling drama in such tight quarters!

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 6, 2007

That old master of screen melodrama, Alfred Hitchcock, and Writer John Steinbeck have combined their distinctive talents in a tremendously provocative film.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 25, 2006

It's a technical tour-de-force.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 17, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 7, 2005

Hitchcock's shifting sympathies guarantee our guilty involvement with the characters until he builds to a climax of intellectual and spiritual excitation.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Oct 24, 2005

boasts the filmmaker's trademark technical polish: His command over editing, framing, and optical effects deftly masters the challenges of a water-borne production

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 21, 2005