20 Best Survival Movies Of All Time

Another survival piece revolving around the effects of war, Lifeboat is the oldest picture on the list. Released in 1944, the drama was directed by Alfred Hitchcock in his first attempt to shoot a film with as few settings as possible. Though films such as Rear Window and Dial M for Murder also find Hitchcock adopt this style, Lifeboat is the film which started it, setting a trend in the director's illustrious career.

The film follows eight survivors (led by a brilliant Tallulah Bankhead) of a German U-Boat bombing. Seven of the survivors are passengers of the torpedoed ship; the eighth is a man called Willi, a German who the others suspect is the U-Boat's captain, or at least a German soldier. The group attempt to work together to find safety, and confrontations between their different personalities ensue.

At the time, the sympathetic nature of the Willi was decried and met with controversy, and because of this Lifeboat isn't held in quite the same regard as other Hitchcock features, such as Vertigo and The Birds.

That, however, does not make it any less brilliant. In recent years, this criticism has of course died, and the flick is seen as perhaps Hitchcock's most underrated works. Thanks to some great acting, some solid and confident characterisation, and a small scope, Lifeboat remains on of cinema's most impressive and intense survival movies.