While modern critics see the film positively, "Lifeboat" portrayal of a German character in what was perceived as a positive fashion caused considerable controversy at the time of its release, during the height of World War Two. Influential reviewers and columnists, including Dorothy Thompson and Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times", saw the film as denigrating the American and British characters while glorifying the German. Crowther wrote that "the Nazis, with some cutting here and there, could turn "Lifeboat" into a whiplash against the 'decadent democracies.' And it is questionable whether such a picture, with such a theme, is judicious at this time." In Truffaut's 1967 book-length interview "Hitchcock/Truffaut", Hitchcock paraphrased Thompson's criticism as "Dorothy Thompson gave the film ten days to get out of town."