Lifeboat
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
1944
*****
Sure Lifeboat is a propaganda film but when you consider its construction, content and comparison to other like films of the era, it is also quite balanced. To say it is bordering on xenophobic or even racist is a bit silly (I have read many reviews stating as such), there isn't anything wrong with anti-Nazism and to me, in the final scene, it actually shows the vulnerability of young Germans who followed orders and were convinced they were doing right. Bold move in 1944! The premise is fantastic though, Willy the German is a great villain and the every character plays his or her part brilliantly. There is so much more to this film than it to just simply be labelled a propaganda film, for me, it's probably one of Hitchcock's best, certainly one of my favourites of his.