Lifeboat's genre of war drama is not really the Hitchcock thriller staple, but he injects those elements he's familiar with into this survival/Lord of the Flies-style plot, wherein survivors of a torpedoed ship find themselves in the same lifeboat as one of the Germans responsible. Given that this entire movie takes place on the lifeboat, it is surprisingly enjoyable and almost never stale or boring, although it is very talky and heavily character-based. Luckily, the characters are fully fleshed-out in a naturalistic patchwork manner; they don't go around in a circle and talk about who they are, but their pasts have a way of popping up and exposing the characters and their motivations through conversation. Unluckily, the acting is far from extraordinary (although capable and not embarrassingly bad). There is also a suspense and mystery that Hitchcock brings to the piece. He heightens the tension almost methodically and constantly engages and involves the viewer throughout most of the movie. That being said, I must also say that the tension sags severely for about 10 or 15 minutes at that crucial point about two thirds of the way into the movie. It felt like Spielberg's Duel, where the tension he had worked so hard to build up so high was pointless, because they just go back to ground zero again.
What made me contemplate giving this movie a 4.9 was the thematic message Hitchcock presents. He exposes the darkness and distrust inherent in man and the brutal extent of the survival instinct. Throughout the course of the movie, every character reverts back to the basest and most primal human behavior. Everything society has ruled on as being acceptable or unacceptable is completely flipped on its head out here in the boat. A woman who prides herself on her place in society ends up losing every aspect of what she thought was her identity. A reformed criminal is forced to once more use the dishonest techniques that landed him in jail in the first place. A man participates in mob-based violence that he vehemently argued against at the beginning. And on and on, until everything these people have worked for is destroyed. The steady unraveling of the American dream makes this one of Hitchcock's bleakest films.
What lowered this film to a rating of 4 was its dated nature. The special effects were noticeable, and I never really felt like I was on a boat. The use of rear-projection was a little too obvious. The background was rocking up and down like crazy, and yet the shadows on the characters remained static. Please, I can only suspend my disbelief for so long. There was another huge problem for me. Some of the dialogue and acting simply fell flat. At times their actions and words were too exaggerated or unnatural that the just seemed silly to me as a modern audience member. Despite the problems listed here and in the first paragraph, I still think this is a great movie. I highly recommend it if the plot sounded interesting, if you like Lord of the Flies, or if you like Hitchcock.IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0037017/