One of the most remarkable of a number of remarkable things about "Lifeboat," written by John Steinbeck and Jo Swerling and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, is that the characters in it are not reformed or even radically changed by their experience, which consists of being torpedoed and compelled to endure considerable hardship in a lifeboat before they are rescued. I'm afraid that in less competent, and in fact most, film-producing hands, this experience would have been represented as a rather salutary one and at least some of the people involved would have begun mending their ways by the end of the picture. I don't say that perilous circumstances do not sometimes lead people to resolve to lead better lives if God or somebody will only get them out of this mess, or that on rare occasions such bargains are not kept, but I agree with Mr. Steinbeck and...