Sebastian Palmer | 09 May 2015 12:55 p.m. PST |
Hi guys, Not strictly wargaming, I know, but I just watched Das Boot. I think this was the fifth time I've watched it, and this time all in one sitting, for the 1st time! I expect the film's been mentioned here many times before. I normally post elsewhere (Napoleonics and WWII land warfare). But it was just soooo good, I had to share my enthusiasm. So I posted a review on my blog: link If you read that, or feel inspired to watch or re-watch this amazing film, let me know here or on my blog. Verdammt! What a film!! Regards Sebastian
Pictured above is the guy whose memoirs the book and subsequent film were based upon, Kriegsberichter (war correspondent) Lothar-Gόnther Buchheim. |
jeffreyw3 | 09 May 2015 1:01 p.m. PST |
'95 Director's Cut has the best positional audio done in a film. |
Gone Fishing | 09 May 2015 1:15 p.m. PST |
It has been many years since I've seen it, but I remember it being an incredible, white-knuckle film to watch. The dominance and then eventual slaughter of the U-Boats is one of the more interesting, if horrific, aspects of the war. Somewhere I read that the German submarine service during WWII suffered the highest percentage casualties of any armed branch of any nation of the war; not sure if it's true, but it sounded believable at the time. Anyway, great film. |
Gone Fishing | 09 May 2015 1:33 p.m. PST |
Sebastian, just went to read your review. Excellent work! |
JimDuncanUK | 09 May 2015 1:36 p.m. PST |
82% personnel casualties for World War Two (1939-45) |
darthfozzywig | 09 May 2015 1:49 p.m. PST |
'95 Director's Cut has the best positional audio done in a film. Saw that in the theater – it was creeeeepy! |
Sebastian Palmer | 09 May 2015 2:25 p.m. PST |
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markmors | 09 May 2015 2:28 p.m. PST |
Back when this came out, I worked in a movie theater. People would come out and complain that the sound was so loud it was uncomfortable and the chairs "shook." Our assistant manager who was also the main projectionist was asked why the sound was so loud. He replied "I want them to feel like they're really in the submarine." |
Legbiter | 09 May 2015 2:51 p.m. PST |
I used to work in a lab that was a converted corridor. Inspired by our surroundings and the above film, from time to time for comedy value we would pretend to be under depth-charge attack. "Keine Angst, menne! Alles Klar?" |
Sundance | 09 May 2015 4:23 p.m. PST |
I was watching it one afternoon when my wife walked in and asked what was on. I told her and she said she'd never seen it so sat down to watch it with me. The air raid comes and goes, the men are dead, the boat is sinking at the pier and she stands up and says, "That's IT? That's the end of the movie?" She was outraged that it didn't have a happy ending! It was rather comical at the time. |
hocklermp5 | 09 May 2015 6:08 p.m. PST |
Whatever you do avoid the version dubbed in English. Also any version edited to less than four hours. Both simply gut this great film. |
NappyBuff | 09 May 2015 11:17 p.m. PST |
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Ottoathome | 10 May 2015 4:56 a.m. PST |
Great film. Truly great film. Too bad it played to almost empty movie theaters. During the big depth charge attack and the unending drum roll of combat I suddenly felt my chest pounding and my head going dizzy and I was going to pass out. I had forgotten to breathe. I turned to my wife to say something. She's not into war movies always gets bored. She was sitting there with her eyes fixated on the screen, here hands clenched in front of her mouth, mouth open, and tears streaming down her face. I have NEVER had a movie experience like that before or after. |
Cuchulainn | 10 May 2015 5:14 a.m. PST |
IMHO the best war movie ever made. Not much more to add to that. |
wrgmr1 | 10 May 2015 9:01 a.m. PST |
The Directors cut is a superb film. |
Sebastian Palmer | 10 May 2015 9:44 a.m. PST |
It's nice to see the film is still appreciated. My favourite version is the 282 minute TV mini-series version. It's not often that nearly five hours supine on the sofa have been so exhilarating! @legbiter… an interesting workplace! And yes, according to the DVD, of the 40,000 who fought in the German submarine war less than 10,000 survived. I'm very glad that Buccheim was amongst them, as the film that was made of his book (I must read it!) is just incredible. I wonder if or when the Germans will make an similarly superb film about the Ostfront? Downfall is another brilliant film. It's intriguing that Germans are themselves making such excellent films about such a troubled episode in their (and our!) history. Cheers Sebastian |
BelgianRay | 10 May 2015 12:08 p.m. PST |
Sebastian Palmer : it is my firm opinion that the best historical films are always made by the countries to which the history relates to, also less mistakes are then made. The evident exception being Hollywood…. |
jgibbons | 10 May 2015 5:34 p.m. PST |
Don't forget the British Merchant Marine suffered a higher casualty rate (as a percent) than any of Britain's armed forces if memory serves… 30,000 plus lost their lives… |
Murvihill | 11 May 2015 10:26 a.m. PST |
"I wonder if or when the Germans will make an similarly superb film about the Ostfront? Downfall is another brilliant film. It's intriguing that Germans are themselves making such excellent films about such a troubled episode in their (and our!) history." There is a German movie called "Stalingrad" that's sort of a microcosm of the whole Eastern Front. It's depressing though. |
Sebastian Palmer | 11 May 2015 12:37 p.m. PST |
Hi Murvihill, yeah, I have that Stalingrad movie. Trouble is – IMHO – part of the reason that's so depressing is that it's just a turkey of a movie. I haven't seen Fedor Bondarchuk's Russian Stalingrad, but I believe it's been given a critical panning. |
alphus99 | 11 May 2015 2:28 p.m. PST |
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Murvihill | 12 May 2015 9:46 a.m. PST |
I've seen the Russian Stalingrad too and liked it. But I have a very low standard for movies. |
alphus99 | 14 May 2015 3:17 a.m. PST |
Nice review, Sebastien, and great to see those production pics. I also have, "U-boat War" by Buchheim loads of pics and more text, and the book which the film is based on is worth a read. I also picked up a couple of memoirs of U-boat crews recently "the Longest Patrol" by Gregory Owen (writing for a veteran) and Herschfield by Wolfgang Herschfield. I'm currently writing a WW2 thriller sort of The Eagle Has Landed with Guy Fawkes and U-boats thrown in and the film proved great inspiration for the nautical sections, and these tomes, amongst other books, formed a really valuable research resource. I'll announce it on TMP when published (that'll be a while am 33,000 words into a 120,000 first draft) but if you're interested, keep in touch via Twitter: @thatAlistairCox twitter.com/thatAlistairCox Al |
138SquadronRAF | 14 May 2015 8:10 p.m. PST |
Don't forget the British Merchant Marine suffered a higher casualty rate (as a percent) than any of Britain's armed forces if memory serves… Nope that was Bomber Command aircrew. 55,000 dead out of 100,000 |
The Young Guard | 19 May 2015 11:31 a.m. PST |
Generation war was quite good as well. |
Left Bank | 19 May 2015 9:48 p.m. PST |
Generation war was excellent telly. While watching Fury I wondered more than once if the writers, directors and producers had sat down and watched Das Boot, I mean really watched it. Fury was a good film but still a way off of DB. |
Skarper | 06 Jun 2015 11:27 p.m. PST |
I rewatched this just the other night and have a few questions about U-boat operations. 1] Why on earth didn't they sail the U-boat into the sub-pens to disembark – thereby avoiding the risk of air attack? 2] Wouldn't they have slipped in and out of the bases in darkness? 3] Obviously no single engined allied a/c could reach the U-boat bases in late 1941. Did twin engined a/c attack these bases in daylight during this time frame? I'm not having a go at a very well made film – special effects are dated [it was 1981] and the acting a bit over the top but it works well enough. Makes a good contrast with the wooden Hollywood war film acting or the 2D 'stiff-upper lip' British clones. |
tuscaloosa | 08 Jun 2015 11:39 a.m. PST |
Try Jude Law's recent film "Black Sea" if you need more German U-Boat movie fixes after Das Boot. Fun, if not entirely realistic. Herbert Groenemeyer, star of DB, had quite a career as a pop singer afterwards. Even put out an album in English. |
Pontius | 09 Jun 2015 2:57 a.m. PST |
Skarper, If I remember correctly the Admiralty requested attacks on U-boat bases but Harris, head of RAF Bomber Command, considered attacks on the industrial strength of the Reich were more important. By the time the RAF did attack the U-boat pens the bombs were insufficient to penetrate the thickness of concrete. It was not until the 5 ton Tallboy was used could the pens be effectively breached. |
Skarper | 13 Jun 2015 10:58 p.m. PST |
Harris wasn't in charge of Bomber Command at the time the film is set – so it can't have been his fault. The U-Boat pens were a big target for the 8th USAAF in late 1942-mid 43. Trying to hit them at night would have been utter folly. Even in daylight damage to the pens was minimal and the 8th USAAF moved on to other targets. The RAF bombers in 1941 would have suffered terrible losses trying to bomb the U-boat pens in 1941 and would not have been able to find them at night. Tallboys were not in use until June 1944 and proved effective but by then Allied troops were in France and the U-boat threat much diminished. |
tuscaloosa | 17 Jun 2015 12:21 p.m. PST |
"Don't forget the British Merchant Marine suffered a higher casualty rate (as a percent) than any of Britain's armed forces if memory serves…" "Nope that was Bomber Command aircrew. 55,000 dead out of 100,000" These statements are apples and oranges. You have to parse exactly how you are defining the statement to reach a meaningful comparison. And yes, given the incredible loss rate for German U-Boot crew, I am amazed they could still get crew to man the boats towards the end of the war. Or get bomber crews to fly without more refusal to fly than they did. |
Skarper | 18 Jun 2015 10:05 a.m. PST |
It is amazing – mass psychology I guess. People do what everyone else does. The Germans would have come down pretty hard on anyone refusing to man a U-boat. The RAF just reduced their aircrew to the lowest rank and set them to some menial task. This happened quite a lot as I understand it. The Germans I am sure kept their loss rate very secret – not like the RAF were exactly open about theirs, but people would talk and could count. Also – the loss rate dropped as the war wore on – for the RAF and USAAF – but NOT for the Germans. Theirs mounted. I've been watching a documentary about the Hitler Youth on Youtube and it drives home just how indoctrinated the young people were. Those who were only children when Hitler came to power were just old enough to be called up in 1944. Somebody 8-9 years old in 1933 would not remember much else. |