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Summary: Best Sub movie
Review: This great film, which I originally watched in German, is fantastic. This has to be the best W.W. II Sub film ever made. We follow a german crew on a single mission..... Very intense and action filled. The Director's Cut DVD offers vast improvements via re-mastered sound and a crystal clear picture. There are 60 or so minutes of extra footage bringing the length of the movie to well over 3 hours
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Summary: an uplifting demonstration of human courage
Review: This is a film American audiences need to be more familiar with, because it had a tremendous influence on later films such as U-571. For those not familiar with foriegn films, this piece is not only long but also develops in a non-american fashion. The events move almost like the waves of the ocean themselves. While it is a movie about that battle of the atlantic, it is apolitical; your enlightened girlfriend probably wouldn't mind it. And thank God for one of the few movies not to demonize the German military! We all know the Nazis were an evil empire, but for that matter so were the Soviets and Japanese! Anyway, this work will take you through a long yet rewarding journey; and personally, it was the ending itself that earns this movie an additional star for me. Not that I like unhappy endings per se, but it was such a refreshing (and realistic) relief from the Hollywood formula. Try it!
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Summary: Spielberg couldn't have done better
Review: I am a lover of comedy and entertainment. This movie is NOT comedy. And I do not classify this movie as entertainment. This movie is one that shows (as close as one can on a movie set) what happens in REALITY. Each and every role could be an academy award nomination. A script which required a vast amount of knowledge of the subject. And the best hollywood effects (It was filmed in Munich, Germany at Bavarian Studios)which surprizes me. I have been through the original set which also amazed me because of the thoroughness and detail the sets displayed. Back to the issue. This sub commander could have been one of our own. His responsibilities an how he reacts to them makes us realize what goes on both sides of the fence. I was never in a sub, however I am now more aware and an feel for these men and women of today because of it. Good acting and actors, good plot, good effects.
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Summary: Das Boot
Review: Wake-up! The original four hour version (serial compellation)"is" Das Boot. How about a condensed (less than 30 minute)"Hunt For Red October"? Don't waste your money. Five stars? I am, disappointed--
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Summary: Get Your Sea Legs....
Review: In the same tradition of "All Quiet on the Western Front" DAS BOOT will be regarded as one of the significant war movies of the twentieth century. Wolfgang Petersen demonstrates that he is a master storyteller of what it was like to serve the losing side of a World War. DAS BOOT gives insight to what it was like to serve board a 218-foot unterseeboot in the German Navy during the Second World War. The Captain (superbly portrayed by Jurgen Prochnow) at the advanced age of 30 is the "Old Man" on the Boat. He knows all too well what lies ahead of his crew as they prepare to get underway. Interesting characters permeate this masterpiece. On this mission, German War Correspondent, Lieutenant Werner (Herbert Gronemeyer) accompanies the crew of the U-96. Wener does not even have a clue what he is about to experience. Next, the Chief Engineer (played by Klaus Wenneman), who besides having his duties and responsibilities has a wife back home who is seriously ill. There is Johan (Erwin Leder), the one man who knew the diesel engines inside and out. He is also the man who cracks during a depth charge attack. He later apologizes to his Captain and is worried about being court-martialed only to hear the reply, "go back to your post, Johan" Although the experienced men aboard the U-96 knew what they are up against with the Royal Navy, the rest of the crew soon learned mettle their valiant English foes are made of. The truth soon became evident that the propagandizing pronouncements of "Fat Pig" Churchill are nothing but silly distortions from Nazi politicians who are not on U-boats in the Atlantic. Although they leave the German Submarine Base at La Rochelle somewhat naive these men soon learned the cold truth what it meant be one of their nation's "hero warriors". Technically, this movie rises to the top of the submarine movies. The movie was masterfully filmed to give the viewer a true sense of what it was like to be a crewmember of an Unterseeboot. The viewer experiences to total U-boat experience, from the long arduous hours of mind-numbing boredom, to the raw fear of deafening reverberations of depth charge attacks. I consider myself to be somewhat informed having served aboard US Submarines in my younger days. I assure you that there is a vast difference between a 218-foot Type VIIb German U-boat of the 1940's and a 414-foot American Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine of the 1970's. I watched the dubbed Directors Cut several times, but I plan to purchase the subtitled version just as soon as I can get my hands on it. You'll get your sea legs as you watch this movie...
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Summary: Das Boot ist Das Untersee Movie
Review: I first saw Das Boot as a mini series on British TV. A colleague knew of my passion for submarines and recorded the series when I was working out of the country for several weeks. I shall be enternally grateful to him (thanks, Colin!). This DVD is the "Saving Private Ryan" of underwater war - it's portrayal pulls no punches. With the superb sound on the DVD you find yourself curling into a protective foetal position when you are under depth charge attack. You truly believe you can smell the sweat, the 'head', the rotting food and the chlorine gas when you are trapped on the bottom of the unforgiving sea. Listening in German, the language of the U-boats, is the only way - the tone and emotion of language can be universally understood. You don't need to know the words to understand their meaning. Read the English subtitles when you want to check your understanding. Like "Hunt for Red October" this is a superb movie that pleases submarine buffs, AND is a gripping thriller for those who are not especially into subs. Even when you've seen it before, the last scene still leaves you feeling stunned! Get this DVD, and live in the stark, realistic and noisy silent world of the men doing their job of war.
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Summary: Absolutely Faboulous. A must have!
Review: Das Boot has been one of my favorite movies for quite a long time. Wolfgang Petersen did a great job directing this movie, creating a sense of fear and claustrophobia, as well as camaraderie with the crew of the U-96. The sound is so gripping that I was fearing for my life when you could hear the sonar pings of british sub trying to locate our friends in the U-96. I didn't dare make a peep at that point for fear of giving them away. The only negative things I have to say about this version, is the subtitles. At some spots they are a bit inaccurate.
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Summary: Das Boot
Review: I saw the original much shorter version on the big screen years ago. I remember the opening title card first listed the number of German submarines deployed during the war. Then they displayed the number that returned from their missions. I don't rememember the number but I remember my jaw dropped. I also remember the end of the movie which took a sudden turn and left me a bit stunned and so all I felt like doing was sit in my theater seat and watch the credits roll through 'til the lights came on again. What goes on in the middle brought immense poignancy to what happened at the beginning and the end. Two hours or four hours, Das Boot is proof a great movie can never be too long. You will spend that time locked in the belly of a German Submarine as both the hunter and the hunted thanks to the brilliant work of Director Wolfgang Peterson and the amazing Academy Award nominated cinematography of Jost Vacano who moves through the narrow corridor of the submarine with a camera with the grace and speed of a jaguar. I had the pleasure years later as a production asst. of tossing a styrofoam plane back and forth with him for about a half hour. He speaks German mostly so I don't remember exchanging but a few words but it was cool. I could say a lot about the many intense moments and the great acting as well. But let me sum it up in this way. Someone commented the film was given 3 Oscar nominations but did not win in 1981. However The Internet Movie Database which lists almost every movie since the beginning of film has a viewer rating ranking. Of all the movies reviewed in the database Das Boot ranks in the top one hundred best rated films of all time at number 36. I have one more point to add. Das Boot is one film that is better to watch dubbed than with subtitles. The English dub is so good I actually had to tell someone last week after an hour of watching the film it was dubbed. She finally noticed it after another five minutes. The DVD is excellent with a much higher than average picture and sound clarity. When the bolts pop off in the sub with the Dolby 5.1 track running its quite a cool experience. There is a running directors commentary through the whole four hour runtime. Also a making of documentary and more. If I had a wish it would be that the shorter version would be available on the second disc. The longer director's cut is no better or worse than the shorter version, however when introducing someone to the film for the first time, everyone does not have four hours to devote to a film in one sitting no matter how good.
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Summary: GREAT WAR MOVIE
Review: GOOD MOVIE! it makes your stereo flex its speakers and crunch its woofers
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Summary: WWII from another point of view
Review: All of the great things that have been said so far are true. This is truly a great film. Besides the realistic nature of the film (the film makers found the original blue prints of the depicted sub and had the original manufacturer build a replica), I also found it fascinating to see a WWII film presented from the German perspective. Unlike most movies on this subject, the German crew of the sub are not Nazis...just soldiers doing their job, and trying to stay alive. Despite the film's length, it seems to go by pretty quickly...if you have any interest at all in this genre..definitely see this film.
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