I saw "Das Boot" for the first time at a midnight showing, in German with English subtitles. I was with my father, who was a US diesel submarine officer. I was worried that I would fall asleep because of the late start time. Just the opposite, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Afterwards, my father told me just how accurate the movie was, from food stored in every possible space, to all hands running to the forward compartments during crash dives. One of my best memories of my father from my teen years.
Most modern crews wont understand it, because this was mostly mechanical and you needed lots of people to run it and in combination with the really tight construction it is very cramped.
I saw "Das Boot" in cinema 1981 in Germany together with my father. It is a realistic war film and I like its music very much. Many years later I read the book, written by Lothar Günther Buchheim who was a lieutenant on a german submarine. My father met him once. But at those time Buchheim was an old and sick man. By the way: the young lieutenant (the "guest lieutenant Werner" played Buchheim). He was played by Herbert Grönemeyer. Later he became a famous singer and band leader who is very popular in my country. Greetings from Germany.
This movie shows: There is no heroes, no honor, no good in war. and no sense or victory. War is death, sorrow, violence and loss of humanity. Never forget abou that.A masterpiece.
From my veteran friends, the levels of drunken revelry haven't changed much... although the MPs are more likely to get you for using a firearm in a club like that.
They party like that because they know they have only a very small chance that they will survive the next patrol. As far as they are concerned, this is probably their last night alive and not in combat.
It says something about the movie that it almost unfailingly manages to captivate the viewers and make them feel with the crew. It gives me hope that a young person can watch a foreign language, 3½ hrs long movie in an era where many lack the patience to watch anything longer than a TikTok video. I remember watching it in the cinema in early 1982, just before my 17th birthday. I had read the novel, so I was prepared for the long stretches of the boredom experienced by the crew. Still, the shocking ending left me in a mood, and when I exited the cinema, it was dark, cold and foggy - it was as if I hadn't left the movie. The memory is still vivid 42 years later.
All you need is to look at this clueless blondie - she is same generation and she cant get the grip at all... Even worse, she has no idea wtf is going on in the movie, her comments are insanely stupid.
@@tylerdurden576 Hunt for Red October is Hollywood fiction. Boring and predictable. Das Boot shows you what war is like. What people have to endure. And remember, it was the evil Germans whose lives you feared for in this movie. And everyone had a tear in their eye at the end.
@@Muck006 Which is logical if it's a good, realistic war movie. From a humanitarian perspective, there is no winning side in war. It's cruel for everyone involved on both sides.
Jurgen Prochnow telegraphs such empathy and sensitivity in his roles-He was the original Duke Leto in Dune, and the emotions he could communicate with a shift of the eye, was greater than some actors could express with a page of dialogue
Yeah, the only way to fully "see" and experience this film. Watching on a big TV in a dark room with a good surround system can come close, or even headphones, but I totally agree with you.
I remember seeing it back in the 80s in the cinema and it was really good. I would love to see it remixed in Atmos or similar with overhead speakers. Just hearing the screws going over the top of the sub....
Imagine watching the original six part TV series of "Das Boot", almost six hours long! The movie is only a short version of this masterpiece! The series contains a lot more of waiting, waiting and more waiting and bordedom by the men in that claustrophobic U-Boot! This was painful, nerve wrecking to watch, very very intense.
The scene with the freighter on fire and they didn’t rescue any of the crew came from an incident where German submarines rescues British sailors and British aircraft attacked the submarines. After this, it was a standing order to rescue no sailors. Their luck was with the sea.
That was the Laconia, and it was filled with German and Italian POWs. After it was sunk, the U-boat surfaced, started rescuing survivors, and sent messages in the clear that they (including some other U-boats) were conducting a rescue. A U.S. B-24 found them, and it and a USN task force then attacked the submarines, resulting in the deaths of many of the Laconia survivors.
Well those Type VII U-Boats barely had enough space for their own crews, much less rescuing a handful of enemy sailors. Maybe at the end of the voyage when they were destined to return to port such an act could be possible, but not during a patrol.
Having been a sailor and spending a lot of time on the north atlantic, this is still one of the most best looking naval movies. Even though it's from 1981, it beats modern, CGI movie dipictions of the ocean. And then the realism and detail they go into. The shipyard that built the actual U-96 built the set of Das Boot. To the same specs as the original boat. Every screw, of gauge, every lamp is as it was on the real thing. And the real captain of U-96 trained the cast and was present as adviser.
Well, they used real rough seas in the North Sea for the storm scenes. The submarine model was controlled by a stuntman who was trapped inside it for hours (they had to screw the openings shut). He only ate rice and chicken so that he could puke easier and pump the stuff outside... and there were several instances where he almost died.
This is the best submarine movie ever made! It’s amazing how you forget that these were the “bad guys” the further you go in the movie. I’m a retired U.S. Navy submarine sailor and this is such an awesome movie! Remember how Thomsen looked when he came to the bar at the beginning. How red his eyes were and then the CO of this boat’s eyes were just as red when the were trapped on the bottom. So glad you reacted to this for a “best movie ever”! If you want some lighthearted submarine fun, please watch “Operation Petticoat” with Cary Grant and Tony Curtis or “Down Periscope” with Kelsey Grammer. You’ll love them, I promise!
Ich denke gleich mit @putik72. Their bosses were bad guys, and these were guys who were forced into great discomfort and danger. And Dawn did quite well with the German pronunciation of Boot, slightly different from English boat.
"Das Boot" is by far one of the greatest war, anti-war movies ever made. The ending was inevitable, no matter how much you wanted the crew to survive. The bottom line of the whole story is War Sucks, for everyone. Sides do not matter, only survival, and in this story, that means almost no one. Loved your reaction Dawn Marie, truth to power, best movie ever.
*_"There’s no such thing as an anti-war film."_* - _François Truffaut_ *_"There’s no such thing as a pro-war film."_* - _Steven Spielberg_ F'ed up is, I agree with 'em both.
Spot on. I've watched the movie multiple times and read a translation of the book. Both are decidedly anti-war, showing the ultimate futility of war for any side. No one wins a war. One side just benefits from the losses more than the other.
@@GeraldH-ln4dv All war is about sex. It has never been about anything else. That's why they keep blabbering on about girls. That was the only reason they joined up.
I'm so happy you felt the exact same way I did about this movie. It really shows that people are the same all over the world. Regardless of politics or religion. The comradery of the crew is what makes you feel like you're in the boat with them. This is an excellent movie, worthy of an eternity of viewing. May it never be lost in time
At that time, submarines were not able to dive deeper that the activation depth of a depth charge. Those could be set to a depth of up to 270m. Effective radius of the explosion is between 6 and 10 meters. Most submarines sunk because of damage from several charges as opposed to a direct hit. And as to why they didn't flee: below the surface, they could only operate at 8kn speed. Even on surface, they only reached 18kn top speed. The destroyers at that time could reach up to 35kn, so there was no running.
6-10 meters at great depth. At shallow depth, like periscope depth, some 10 meters below surface, the shockwave was still destructive even at 15 to 20 meters distance.
From the middle of the war onwards, submarines were more hunted than they were hunters. This only changed in 1945 with the introduction of Type 21 and Zaunkönig torpedoes. These developments came too late for the Reich to turn the war around
Legend has it that at the first screening of the movie in the US, when they showed the first title card "40,000 German sailors... 30,000 never returned.", the whole theatre broke out in cheering and applause. After the movie finished they all were humbled, silenced and some even cried over the fact that a movie was able to make them root for the 'enemy'. I think that is testament for how well the movie is made. One of the very best... Buchheim, the author of the novel on which the character of Lt. Werner is based, although having other differences with Petersen, the director, praised the movie for it's accurate depiction of how live was on a german u-boat.
YES! I'm a US Navy veteran whose grandfather served in WWII, yet I was empathizing with the U-boat crew. Plus, the moviemakers did such a wonderful job with the characters that, even 40 years after I served, I can look at characters in "Das Boot", and I can compare them to guys with whom I served. "Das Boot" is truly a MASTERPIECE! There will never be another movie like it.
The film is very moving for people. Many from the "other side" were angry after watching the film a good 40 years ago that it made them sympathise with the Germans, even though the latter were supposedly "the absolute monsters". Perhaps it is so good because it simply shows people hoping, suffering, fearing and dying miserably on both sides. And the bitter realisation remains: war has no winners - at least not on the battlefield...
I'm retired US Coast Guard. This movie triggered my PTSD when I saw it in the theaters. It puts you in the flooding confined space with the U-Boat crew. This movie and The Perfect Storm are the closest thing to what I experienced during rescue-at-sea missions. I am gratified by your reaction to the depictions of the heroism displayed by men in peril in the high seas and their determination to save their boat. The cast of this movie received the same psychological therapy as veterans who survived this sort of trauma would. They were also just as afflicted by the experience.
WOW, I DIDN'T KNOW THAT! Oh, and props from this US Navy veteran; though we may have given you guys shit, I have mad respect for what the USCG does. I mean, WTF else charges out into 40 foot seas on 40 foot boats? Who else goes out to sea when everyone else is either in port or on the way there? The USCG, that's who! One USCG veteran told me (in an exchange in the RUclips comments) that that was you all's idea of fun... 😁
Old movie that never gets old. Still a masterpiece. If you watch that movie open minded, no matter wich country you are from, it leaves you speechless and emotional disturbed. The message of the film is obvious and deep.
YES! As a US Navy veteran whose grandfather served in WWII, I wholeheartedly agree! "Das Boot" is a powerful movie. There will never be another movie like it. Oh, and though I own the director's cut DVD and have seen this movie countless times, the ending still gets me; it still brings tears to my eyes.
The masks worn by the sleeping sailors are NOT oxygen masks, this is a mistake in the subtitle translation. The original refers to “Kalipatronen”. Various explanations can be found on the internet under terms such as escape breathing apparatus, but in short: The exhaled air is filtered through soda lime (often calcium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide) and the CO2 contained in the air is bound / converted by a chemical reaction. The masks therefore serve to slow down the accumulation of CO2 in the air, as an excessively high CO2 content leads to respiratory distress and at some point becomes life-threatening. I have already seen some other reactions to this movie where viewers have asked questions at this point. For good reason, after all, allocating the little remaining oxygen to sleeping or non-working people makes no sense.
Excatly. The "escape breathing apparatus", Tauchretter is not like a scuba diver's oxygen mask. It's a crude once only apparatus, built for one special last ditch effort to save as many crew as possible. Commander opens the hatches to sink the boat, once hull if filled with water, crew activates their apparatuss and leaves the boat. Trick only works for a very limited time. As said in the movie, maximum depth is like 40 meters only.So if you're going down in any other place than the Baltic Sea ... goodbye. Even if you have enough air, the pressure's gonna squash you.
I think this film is in the top 20 worldwide films of all time. So true to life , even that claustrophobic feeling comes over you as the men are cramped up down on the Ocean floor knowing they could die any minute. Brilliant script n acting from the German guys and a super soundtrack
Blame the US, France, and the British for World War Two, based on how the Germans were dealt with and blamed for World War One-A war Germany did not start.
Here's a little fun fact: The actor at 15:08 with the crabs on his eyebrows is Hubertus Bengsch. He is the German dubbing voice for several English-speaking actors. In german Cinemas Richard Gere speaks with his voice. His voice can also be heard in the series Dallas, Dynasty, Quincy, CSI, or in films such as Ghostbusters, Terminator 2, Gremlins 2, Top Secret! or Apollo 13.
The actor Martin Semmelrogge, the guy you said "Why are you always smiling?" at 5:20 got just the face that teachers will jump on, to dump all suspicions on; always. That remained with him for his life. He was type-cast into the somewhat seedy or obnoxious characters. He also was indicted in several minor street law violations, such as driving without a license, but also some shoplifting and drug ownership. So yeah, in real life he really was something of a bad boy himself, so typecasting him in this one as a somewhat sleezy, cynical 2nd lieutenant was spot on. Edit 1: 6:05 fraternization of soldiers of any kind with with the enemy, such as engagments, was considered Rassenschande / race shame by the Nazi's and strictly forbidden. But even worse among the French population was the treatment any women had to suffer at the hands of La Resistance if they found out that a woman was in love or even simply had engaged in consensual intercourse for whatever reason. They were often hounded around their home towns, sometimes literally by trained dogs. Other times they were spat at, beaten, etc. After the liberation of France many such women had their heads shaved, often times had a swastika tatooed on their foreheads, or even branded with a swastika on a prominent body part as a sign of being a traitor and collaborator, no matter the circumstances. They often had no recourse but to change their names and move far away, often even emmigrating from France to escape this treatment. This lasted for many years. A very sad chapter of horrible aftereffects of this war. Destroyers were dedicated convoy guards and anti-sub hunter killers. The British had developed the active sonar to help detect and determine the depth of dived subs. But that was a highly sophisticated system, expensive, and not available on all ships (yet) at that time. Basically, once a destroyer noticed you as a sub, you had to submerge as quickly as possible, go as quiet as possible, not even speaking, and praying that they didn't have sonar. Once you start to hear sonar, you had roughly a 30% chance of survival if the destroyer was freshly rearmed. If however they had used a lot of their depth charges before in another engagement the sub's escape chances rose quickly as setting the depth charges to the correct depth was a lot of guesswork without sonar. Even then, while sonar was quick, it wasn't instantaneous, so a sub that was in a steep dive might go below the depth for explosion set on the depth charges. That's what the captain said in the first encounter scene: "Now it will get psychological, my gents." Both sides had to anticipate what the other was doing, guessing at their next actions to enhance their personal success chance. Still, destroyers put the fear of God into submariners as they were very, very quick and agile compared to their prey, the Uboats. A good destroyer could easily reach 30 knots, with the sub crawling along at TOP speed underwater at around 7 knots. However top speed very quickly drained the batteries of the submerged sub as well creating a lot of cavitation noises underwater. So the effective speed of a stealthed sub was closer to 0.5 knots or maybe even slower; or roughly drifting with ocean currents.
You at aprox. 20:00 : "They think they know where WE are." Already sucked in. No matter where you come from, halfway into the movie you identify with this German crew and want them to survive. One of the reasons why this is a masterpiece.
I think that “good period” for U-Boat crews was from 1937-1942. After that, you wouldn’t want to go anywhere close to a submarine as that usually meant death.
The movie is about the boat itself as much as it is about the crew. In the final scene the captain watched the boat sink at the pier, the boat died along with him.
Something You get about "Das Boot" when You're native German or well experienced in German language is the variaty of dialects. For example Johann ("das Gespenst") is definitely from Austria, Pilgrim (Tiefensteuerer) speeks a broad Hamburg lower class dialect, Bootsmann Lamprecht is from Hessen, Ario and Schwalle (both Dieselheizer) are from the Ruhr area and from Berlin. Even the officers are not pronouncing clear and the only crew member speaking correctly "Hochdeutsch" is the 1 WO, obviously the only upper class crewman. It's an interesting aspect, showing the variety of the crew members origins all out of Germany and even Austria, , although Germany has coasts only in the north.
What a great reaction! I´m german, and my Grandpa actually was one of these young boys back in 1941. So this movie always was special. I´ve talked to some friends from the UK and France, how they and the people reacted when the movie was released in 1981. Back then, many Vets were still with us. Mostly any one of them, esp the brits told me, that they went to the theatre, cheering and chatting, and when the movie was over, there was dead silence....This movie made a massive impact on how the Brits had a view on the former "Enemy"....btw, I love your scotish accident;)
As a US Navy veteran whose grandfather served in WWII, the movie had a similar effect on me. I proudly own the director's cut DVD (a MUST if you love this movie!) and have seen "Das Boot" many times. Even so, the ending still gets me; the ending still brings tears to my eyes...
@@markymarknj Thank you! We are all happy that former enemies are now close friends and allies, but we all should remember! as the british tend to say LEST WE FORGET!
@@fenrisulfur842 another reason Das Boot resonated with me is because I could look at characters in the film, and then point to guys I actually served with. On my first ship, we had an officer who was like the Second Officer in the movie; he had the same kind of irreverence about him. On my second ship, we had a guy like Frentzen, and he could really CLEAR a compartment with his farts; when he let one loose, you wished you had a gas mask! Plus, the filmmakers really nailed shipboard life. They captured the boredom, the apathy, the tedium, and the monotony interspersed with moments of terror. On the ship, the guys really talked like that with one another.
I love the Scots. I met great people and had a lot of fun. We understood each other from the very first moment. Linguistically we are closer than with the English, that's true. Greetings from Germany
I love how dramatically compelling Das Boot is. It always keeps you on edge in claustrophobic discomfort and horror. It makes you legitimately relate and root for a German U Boat crew fighting for the murderous and irredeemable Nazi war machine. Even a proud Scott like you falls hard for and cares about these characters. It’s an amazingly compelling film. Loved your reaction.
The "Nazi war machine" was SOLDIERS ... and only a small percentage of them were "evil ideologues". If your assumption were correct ... you'd have to "execute every american soldier" [slight exaggeration] for the last invasion of Iraq, which happened under false pretenses (which the "evil regime" in Washington KNEW were false). Nuance ... learn about it.
saw this Movie in Cinema, 1981, in full length of about 6h34m. It was as mindblowing as it is today. Best Submarine Movie ever...👍 they made a TV Serie out of it with 6 parts; never saw it in full lenght again in cinema.
For another German WWII movie, I would recommend Stalingrad from 1993. To me it feels very similar to Das Boot. So even if they were made over a decade apart, they are in my mind a pair of movies showing battle on two different fronts. Based on real events, it's anything but a feel-good-movie. But it's a really good one. I hope it'll make your list.
@@frankogravedigger I don't really see the reference there unless you are referring to the war in Ukraine from Putin's deluded POV, where it's an unprovoked attack by the fascist west on Mother Russia.
It's ages since I watched this movie, but I do remember it's brutal realism and the "happy" ending which in the last moments turn into a disaster. I think it is one of the most realistic war movies ever made with it's unnerving tension and it is truly a master piece. Now, next foreign movie you should do, and that's a black and white one, is The Seventh Seal, best swedish movie ever. And it'll give you a bit of comic relief, he he.
About that moment when they didn't rescue the people from the burning torpedoed cargo ship: The German submarines were under orders not to, after something called "Laconia Incident". Which was hell of an incident. A German U-Boat, U-156, had torpedoed a freighter and took the people on her deck and their lifeboats on tow. So many were wounded, the captain decided to cover the U-Boat with a red cross, broadcast his location and intention of saving human lives over achieving war goals and started to tow the survivors to safety, on surface. The U-Boat, clearly marked with Red Cross and towing lifeboats, was spotted by an American B-24 Liberator bomber. The bomber radio'ed for instructions and was told by US Air Force command to attack the U-Boat. They did, attacking with bombs and machine guns, killing multiple people on the U-Boat's deck. The captain tried in vain to signal that his intention was only to get these people to safety, but he was forced to crash dive in order to prevent the submarine from getting destroyed. These actions completely changed the German Navy's attitude towards saving Allied seamen, marine, navy, or otherwise, leading to this scene in the movie and multiple like in real life. The B-24 Liberator crew were never prosecuted for war crimes and received medals for bravery.
Hearing you comment on how terrifying the depth charge attacks are reminded me of when I saw this movie on release. It was in one of the old time theaters that felt like you were in a cave, but the sound system was amazing. You felt very ping from the SONAR, and each depth charge explosion felt like it was shaking your bones. Every person in the theater was crouching deeper and deeper into their seats, and you kept hearing audible gasps and cries of fear. And to think that this was about 1/1000th of the real fear those men faced.
The score was composed by Klaus Doldinger, one of Germany's most famous and respected jazz musicians. He also composed a lot of TV title theme songs, in particular the one for the crime series "Tatort".
Well done you taking on this classic film. There is a longer tv version of this that runs for 5 hours or more and has more character development which makes the bleak end even more impactful. Glad you noticed the superb music too! I really enjoyed this reaction.
The genius of this movie, and the book upon which it was based, is getting us so involved in the characters that we hold our breaths with them as they are hunted by the destroyers above. Credit to the author, the great director Wolfgang Petersen, and an incredible cast. We live that experience with them as if we are there. We mourned their loss at the end. And all of this even though the characters were part of the horrendously evil Nazi war machine.
the Captain's age was 30 and he was the oldest on board. Btw the real Captain of U-96 survived the war and became the Captain of Germany's first and only nuclear powered freighter
„Is this a horror movie?“ - Yes, and a quite realistic one. „There is no happy end in it“ - Yes again, nobody gains anything from a war and this movie is one of the best to show that in my opinion. Although it's about the "bad Germans", the movie manages to put us in the shoes of these people and make us feel for them, regardless of our nationality. And knowing that something similar is happening right now (Ukraine, Israel and many other places around the world) should make us think about how we can do a little bit ourselves to make the world a better place.
YES! And here's another thing to consider: the soldiers, sailors, and airmen in any war are just doing their jobs; they're trying to survive, stay in one piece, and get home to their families. As the movie showed, military personnel aren't always in favor of their government's policies, either.
That "man overboard" scene was an actual accident on the set, the actor broke some bones, and since they were rolling anyway, they simply kept the scene in (the part of bringing him down into the u-boar and showing his blooded face and all were of course added later, he got proper medical help)
U-Boats were one-trick ponies. They had ONE advantage; a surprise torpedo attack from just below the surface. They were VERY vulnerable, especially to Destroyers. They need to stay hidden, and keep running away, to fight another day. At the start of this tour of duty, they are the Hunters, hunting the British supply fleets, but when the Spitfire swoops on them, that's the British implementing a new-fangled RADAR. They were now very visible to the British. It's the hunters becoming the hunted.
It's Pratchett's take on the old saying that war is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of terror. That's how he experienced WWII: Weeks of utter lethargy, and then artillery attacks by the Waffen SS.
24:30 is a great depiction of a battefield condition known as "Shell Shock". Your mind and nervous system get so overloaded from the stress and fear of this near death situation that you are in that your conciousness snaps in half and the only thing that is left of you is a jibbering, shaking mess clinging to objects near you for dear life. It can happen to anyone regardless of your mental or physical fortitute...
The drama "Das Boot" brings the war so close that it literally takes the viewer's breath away. "Das Boot" tells of a steel coffin, of fear of death, of people who "went through terrible things in the name of a criminal ideology" (W. Petersen). The director earned six Oscar nominations for his film, and all the leading actors became stars. Truly a (deeply shocking) masterpiece.
Dawn Marie: "They're on fire and they are flooding at the same time..." Bronze plaque on the US Coast Guard Cutter Pt Brower (circa 1980): "A fire at sea can ruin your whole day."
YES! I'm a US Navy veteran whose grandfather served in WWII. I also own the director's cut DVD (a MUST for any "Das Boot" fan!) and have seen this movie many times. Even so, the ending still gets me; the ending still brings tears to my eyes.
25:53 As you saw there's no space on a submarine and when a German submarine mounted a rescue mission in I think it was the Atlantic, announced it on open channels asking for assistance the Americans send naval bombers to sink the submarine instead of assisting them. After that an order was given that no German submarine was to rescue any enemy crew under any circumstances because it was too dangerous.
As for how they recognized the other submarine: The captain was allowed to enhance the group insignia with his crest on the sail (the tower with the entrance hatch) of the submarine. When there was a change in command, the crest would be altered accordingly.
If you expected a happy ending, read again the text shown at the beginning. A happy ending for u-boat men was an unlikely event. And sinking a boat while coming into port was a prime opportunity - the boat couldn't dive to escape an air attack, and now the canal/lock is blocked until they can remove the wreckage.
Germans, due to them having been the bad guys, cannot make , are not allowed to make patriotic and heroic movies about war. This leads to them making the absolute best anti-war-movies out there. No heroes, no great stories, no fun, just dark, gritty realism..... War is hell for all involved....
yes we are allowed to make those kinds of movies. but if you're making a movie... about ww2... from the german perspective... there aint gonna be a happy end with everyone hugging and jumping ending in a freeze frame mid air... 🤣
@@GamingPiper That's what I am talking about... I didn't mean literally that it is "forbidden". It is more of an unspoken rule that Germans won't be making those "hurrah, war is great and heroic" kind of war movies like the Americans produce them.
@@GamingPiper öhhhhm ... we are the best in being the "bad guys" .... they have no idea how good we are .... in peace ... and doin our jobs in war ... up to them ....
A U-Boat max speed was 18 knots on the surface but only 7.6 knots submerged. Time underwater is trickier. At top speed they could operate only 2 hours but, at a crawl, they could stay under for about a day with no activity. Surface ships, except for clunky old freighters, could beat them if the sub was submerged. Warships were definitely quicker.
Yup, subs have changed a great deal since then (as has every other thing). If you ever see an old sub in a museum, it is shocking how they fought wars in these small rickety things. Braving odds & casualty rates that today nobody would ever accept.
Yepp, but underwater the sub was a lot more stable. Imagine going to sea in a 70 meters long, narrow ship that is prone to rolling, pitching, and turning wildly in even fairly moderate waves. Everyone in the boat couldn't see what was coming, if it was another swell or dip, they just had to feel it in the soles of their feet. Throw in horrible hygiene (water was far too precious to waste on showers or shaving), molding food, sweat, bad breath, burnt oil and diesel... you get the idea. Sea sickness was not affordable, but it obviously happened. But going subsurface meant that the type VII sub had to rely on its batteries as they didn't have the snorkels yet to supply the diesel engine with air for combustion, or to vent the sub. That was a very late war invention and didn't make any effective changes to the outcome of the war anyways. So speed was best on the surface but it obviously bore the risk of being detected far easier. The diesel engine was also needed to recharge the batteries. It was a weighing of pros and cons.
@@wyldhowl2821 North Korea has a surprising number of submarines, BUT they are mostly very tiny ones that wont be too effective (against warships that pay attention).
What you have to remember is that not every soldier avidly followed their 'great' leader's nationalist ideolgy. In fact some knew he was messing EVERYTHING up. You can tell by the captains thoughts he was sharing with his officers. In the case of the U-boat crew, they knew they were the garbage collectors, just doing their job. The movie conveys the human aspect of 'the other side' very well, and in particular, life on a U-boat. It genuinely was this brutal, and that was for the ones that survived it. Still the very best war movie in my opinion.
This was based on a best-selling novel, which I read when it came out in English translation in 1977. Excellent book telling it how it really was, and raunchier and harder hitting than the movie could be. Still have my paperback copy!
Mine is so well-read that it's falling apart :P The translator, J. Maxwell Brownjohn did a marvellous job. I also have a copy of the U.S. translation, and it's missing a whole section where Buchheim describes the colour of the sky.
When you said that you felt the joy in the Chief’s laughter….. That’s the power of a good story, good character development, and great acting. It’s probably my favorite moment in the whole film.
Something I've seen multiple times by English/American reviewers is that they don't understand the scene where one of the shipmates tells his colleague his girlfriend (who is French) is pregnant... In wartime (mainland Europe) it was in allot cases considered treason to even be involved with occupying soldiers in a friendly manner. In my own country thousands of women were shaved and ousted out in a big parade after the war or sometimes even worse because they've held relations with German soldiers.
You’re experiencing what we wartime veterans have always felt - the respect and admiration of fellow warriors, even if they’re on the side of the enemy. Enemy or not, opposing forces fight on behalf of their homeland, as any nation’s patriot would do. It’s a human thing.
Sorry, but that's mealymouthed nonsense at best and utterly inaccurate at worst. The German military wasn't defending their homeland they were conquering the homelands of others. This is why the Allied nations were fighting against the Germans.
@@Anon54387 There’s a lot you do not understand about the nature of war. You’re making the mistake of assuming everyone in the German military subscribed to the Nazi ideology. Most did not but followed orders because that is what soldiers do. The ones who wanted to expand German territory was the Schutzstaffel and Hitler’s government.
@@Anon54387Most of regular German soldiers were defending their country. Just regular men. At the same time soviets backed up by the US and UK, were attacking Poland from the east. Also Finland. Allied were pro soviet and pro communism it was totally OK for the UK and US to divide Europe in half with the soviets for the next 50 years. 50 years of oppression, murder, forced communism. That was just fine by the "allied". If you haven't experienced it and the aftermath, please be quiet and read a book. "We beat the wrong enemy." -Patton.
They really filmed this in a U-Boot set, no retractable walls, just the actors and a camera guy and Wolfgang Petersen somewhere directing. It is one of the best if not the best German movie.
I've toured the original set at Bavaria studios in Munich - it's incredibly cramped, just like you see in the movie - and I can't imagine how anyone could ever have directed such a project. There's only room for a cameraman and nothing more. Pure genius.
@@FHB71 Wow, I visited there too way back in my student days. I find the idea, not to mention the reality, of submarines horrifying. It's hard to imagine that all those young men were volunteers (it's pretty hard to FORCE someone to live and die like that against their will and still get good results from them).
Everyone had crabs because they had to hot-bunk. When you're on shift, the guy off shift sleeps. Then when your shift is over and his starts, you jump in his bed. So if one guy has crabs, the crabs spread to the sheets, then to the next guy and so on. As well as lack of personal space for storing clothes. When it's transmitted like that, they can get anywhere with enough coarse hair. Beards and eyebrows included
I LOVE this movie. One of the very best. One of these days I have to finally watch my Blu Rays of the miniseries cut. So pleased you're watching in German too. It adds something to the authenticity. I think the coolest bit of trivia for this movie is that Steven Spielberg was filming for Raiders of the Lost Ark at the La Rochelle submarine docks at about the same time as Wolfgang Petersen for Das Boot and basically asked him if he could borrow his prop U-Boat to film a few scenes for Raiders. EDIT: You asked how the water can get out, they pump it out using high pressure air or bilge pumps depending on the situation to force it out at higher pressure than the water outside. Then the valves are just non-return valves that slam shut when water is trying to flow the other way. Also, the Kriegsmarine weren't overly enamoured with Hitler's leadership by this part of the war I don't think. There's some parts of the movie where they can't really disguise their distaste.
It's pronounced boat, like in English. They were upset when they sank that ship because no rescue ships showed to save the people. They wanted to destroy the machines, not the people. There was a big difference between the Nazis and the regular German soldiers. This movie was based on an actual event.
Are those full or flank speeds for a Type VIIC U-Boat? I would have expected more like 20kts surfaced and 10kts submerges as maximum (flank) speeds since US and Japanese subs were in those speed ranges and the VIIC was certainly comparable in capability to its contemporaries, but as you correctly pointed out you could not maintain flank speed underwater for even 30 minutes before power dropped you down a few kts and if you continued at high speed your batteries would be done in just a couple of hours with full speed being only marginally slower yet using around 50% less power than flank.
FYI: You CAN actually watch it all day, since it was originally a multi-part film series with A LOT more content that was cut down into several different film release versions.
Germany wasnt really allowed to have a big navy, so they didnt have any "experienced submariners" either and when the Nazis decided to start arming and building these submarines, they obviously got new / young crews.
In reality, U-96 wasn’t sunk at the end of this mission. The last surviving crew member was the Chief, Friedrich Grade, he died in October 2023 at an age of 107 years. The captain, Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock also survived the war and later became captain of the only nuclear powered german ship, Otto Hahn. He died in 1986. The book Das Boot exaggerates the real events while the movie exaggerated the book. But even the real story is extremely captivating.
The book is a conglomeration of stories from many different submarines, because the writer was "the reporter" and heard the stories from others. It doesnt claim to be historically accurate to U-96, just to "the general life on board".
The end scene builds on the idea that the Captain and the boat are one and the same - during the film as the boat deteriorates so does he, as it gets repaired so does he. At the end, as the boat sinks for the last time due to bomb damage, he dies by its side from shrapnel wounds from the bombing. The captain goes down with his ship. Its an amazing film, but the full length TV series version is the best one.
The "winners" are the modern day generals and presidents who send men to die without ever being in danger. They dont see the dead and the brutality, at most they see a bunch of coffins.
Great movie that launched multiple acting careers especially here in Germany. And the extended TV series (3 100 minute episodes) that ran on german TV in February 1985 was a so-called "Street Clearer"! Loved it. Apparently the BBC also showed it over there in late '84. Btw, Herbert Grönemeyer who played the War Correspondent was already known as a singer/songwriter and later focussed on his musical career. In 1984 his Album "4630 Bochum" was the best selling Album in Germany. He also famously had a hit song about a Sausage with (spicy) Curry-sauce in 1982, "Die Currywurst" 😆 It's kind of a national fast food, Pommes (chips) & Currywurst is like fish&chips in the UK. Herbert is one of Germany's most famous and succesful Rock Stars and still going strong!
Grönemeyer hat in Interviews erzählt, dass er mit "Bochum" nur im Ruhrpott erfolgreich war - in anderen Großstädten wären teilweise nur drei Leute in eine Halle für 1500 gekommen. Deswegen suchte er nach weiteren Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten und nahm die Rolle an.
The tanker scene was a nod to the Laconia Order given by Doenitz after an incident with two german boats and a vessel named Laconia. They torpedoed it and after realising it was a troop transport and carried civilians and soldiers they emerged and got the survirvors in tow and on the hull, going on top of the sea. One of the captains send out a distress signal in english, promising to stand down to the british fleet for the rescue operation although not flying red cross colors, which wasn't allowed due to the nature of the vessel. Unfortunately, not only the british picked up the message but a US anti-submarine aircraft, too. They started to bomb the UBoats and the Boats had to submerge to save themselves while drowing hundreds of people tucked away on their hulls. The two captains were sanctioned by the german navy. The pilots of the aircraft were congratulated for their warcrime and ever since then any submarine commander would refrain from helping marooned sailors on the seas in a hostile environment. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconia_Order
Anyone who ever has the chance to visit Germany should come to Kiel. There, on a beach in Kiel Bay in Laboe, there is such a boat that can be viewed. Once you have done that, the narrowness becomes even more apparent and you experience this film even more intensely. The American submarines of that time were larger than the German boats. What they all had in common, however, was that they were not really submarines, but boats that could dive, but were essentially surface ships. You can tell that from their shape, which was optimized for surface travel. It was only at the very end that the Germans built the first real submarines, but they came too late and were no longer really used.
U 995 (KNM Kaura when it was in the norwegian navy after the war) is the last type VII. It is really small inside. When you are there visit marine ehrenmal on the other side of the road.
There is a US WWII submarine, the Bowfin, docked in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and visitors can go through it, too. It's incredibly small and cramped, particularly for so many people.
Unlike today's submarines that can remain submerged for months and months, a WWII sub was restricted to about 30 hours max. A WWII US sub, USS Balao did remain submerged for 48 hours. This was a remarkable feat at the time. WWII subs ran on diesel engines on the surface, for propulsion and to charge the batteries. There were vents in the hull for air to run them and for the exhaust to escape. BUT, these had to be closed when submerging, and the boat ran on batteries. Also, the air in the boat was all that they had. At periscope depth they had a snorkel to bring air in, and the existing air was forced, by fans, through "scrubbers" that were filled with chemicals to remove some of the CO2. Running on the surface with the hatches open was the best way to bring in fresh air.
@@huskytully3887 MY, MY MY!! Don't you want attention! As quick as you jumped on that, my guess is that Mommy didn't give you enough attention when you were little. I guess before you moved into her basement. YES! The Type VIIC U-Boat didn't have a snorkel. Not that it would have done them any good as the story went. I was thinking of US subs when I wrote that, and forgot to label it as that. SOD OFF!
Hello! Thank you very much reacting to this awesome Movie!!!! The German word 'Boot' sounds exactly the same like the English word 'Boat' So you pronounced it absolutely correct! Btw....I love your 🏴 Accent!
By this time in the war, the Allied Nations had gotten to be very good at sinking Japanese and German submarines and because of this there were only a dozen scattered around the Atlantic whereas before there were a peak of 116 operating in May 1943 which was a bleak prospect for the Allied Nations.
This movie takes place in late 1941 into 1942, when there were between 40 and 120 U boats on patrol in the Atlantic, and the numbers were still rising to a peak of about 160 in the Spring of 1943.
38:57 I don't think you understood that this submarine was seriously damaged at this point. It was actually ready for the scrapyard or a long stay in a shipyard. Without the immense skills of the L.I and his boys, the boat would have become a so-called "the boat will become a bronze grave". They didn't even know if the diesels could even be made to run again. They couldn't test them because the diesel is an internal combustion engine that absolutely requires oxygen, which was extremely scarce anyway. Furthermore, due to the water that had entered, the submarine was still far too heavy to be able to surface. The water first had to be transported out of the submarine. At this point the required pump was not yet ready for use. There is no "happy ending" with dreamy eyes and a kiss in war. A "happy ending" only exists in Hollywood, not in reality. War means death and destruction. A "happy ending" would have destroyed everything the film had told up to that point.
Most non-Germans here may not know that Herbert Groenemeyer (Leutnant Werner) is one of Germany's most successful pop singers, selling out stadiums to this day.
Not anymore since he’s onboard with the crappy left wing government in Germany that ignores the dangers of Islam and allows more illegal Islamic migrants in. Herbert doesn’t even live in Germany - he lives in a posh neighborhood in London.
I saw "Das Boot" for the first time at a midnight showing, in German with English subtitles. I was with my father, who was a US diesel submarine officer. I was worried that I would fall asleep because of the late start time. Just the opposite, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Afterwards, my father told me just how accurate the movie was, from food stored in every possible space, to all hands running to the forward compartments during crash dives. One of my best memories of my father from my teen years.
Most modern crews wont understand it, because this was mostly mechanical and you needed lots of people to run it and in combination with the really tight construction it is very cramped.
I saw "Das Boot" in cinema 1981 in Germany together with my father. It is a realistic war film and I like its music very much. Many years later I read the book, written by Lothar Günther Buchheim who was a lieutenant on a german submarine. My father met him once. But at those time Buchheim was an old and sick man. By the way: the young lieutenant (the "guest lieutenant Werner" played Buchheim). He was played by Herbert Grönemeyer. Later he became a famous singer and band leader who is very popular in my country. Greetings from Germany.
This movie shows: There is no heroes, no honor, no good in war. and no sense or victory. War is death, sorrow, violence and loss of humanity. Never forget abou that.A masterpiece.
373 German U-boats were build and
512 officers and 4894 enlisted men were killed.
There is always sense to war. And its inevitable in a free environment.
i would say the machinist and the engineer are heroes for what they pulled through to get the sub operational again...
At the beginning of the movie the nightclub scene seems shocking - by the end you look back and say "oh, that's why they were all acting crazy."
From my veteran friends, the levels of drunken revelry haven't changed much... although the MPs are more likely to get you for using a firearm in a club like that.
never thought about that but this so right - of course they party like idiots when they KNOW that they go back to THAT: ALAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARM
They party like that because they know they have only a very small chance that they will survive the next patrol. As far as they are concerned, this is probably their last night alive and not in combat.
It says something about the movie that it almost unfailingly manages to captivate the viewers and make them feel with the crew. It gives me hope that a young person can watch a foreign language, 3½ hrs long movie in an era where many lack the patience to watch anything longer than a TikTok video. I remember watching it in the cinema in early 1982, just before my 17th birthday. I had read the novel, so I was prepared for the long stretches of the boredom experienced by the crew. Still, the shocking ending left me in a mood, and when I exited the cinema, it was dark, cold and foggy - it was as if I hadn't left the movie. The memory is still vivid 42 years later.
All you need is to look at this clueless blondie - she is same generation and she cant get the grip at all... Even worse, she has no idea wtf is going on in the movie, her comments are insanely stupid.
Greatest submarine movie ever. In fact one the best movies period. the Tension and range of human emotion keep you on the edge.
No. The Hunt for Red October is the best submarine movie
@@tylerdurden576 Hunt for Red October is Hollywood fiction. Boring and predictable.
Das Boot shows you what war is like. What people have to endure.
And remember, it was the evil Germans whose lives you feared for in this movie.
And everyone had a tear in their eye at the end.
It is also one of the greatest ANTI-WAR movies.
@@Muck006 Which is logical if it's a good, realistic war movie. From a humanitarian perspective, there is no winning side in war. It's cruel for everyone involved on both sides.
@@MRausKR YES! Even I, an American whose grandfather served during WWII, empathized with the U-boat crew.
Jurgen Prochnow telegraphs such empathy and sensitivity in his roles-He was the original Duke Leto in Dune, and the emotions he could communicate with a shift of the eye, was greater than some actors could express with a page of dialogue
The movie "Das Boot" made Jürgen Prochnow internationally known. It's the reason why he was casted as Duke Leto in the 1984 Dune movie.
Er spielte später noch mal einen U Boot Kommandant in dem US billig Film Bierfest
@@knowshistory8740 He's a fantastic actor.
@@knowshistory8740 Good acting is 90% eyes!
Imagine watching this in a dark movie theater with surround sound...the depth charge attacks were unreal!
Yeah, the only way to fully "see" and experience this film. Watching on a big TV in a dark room with a good surround system can come close, or even headphones, but I totally agree with you.
I remember seeing it back in the 80s in the cinema and it was really good. I would love to see it remixed in Atmos or similar with overhead speakers. Just hearing the screws going over the top of the sub....
It was fantastic to see this in the theater with state of the art surround sound. Just a great film.
I'd love to watch this in a theater with subtitles
Imagine watching the original six part TV series of "Das Boot", almost six hours long! The movie is only a short version of this masterpiece! The series contains a lot more of waiting, waiting and more waiting and bordedom by the men in that claustrophobic U-Boot! This was painful, nerve wrecking to watch, very very intense.
The scene with the freighter on fire and they didn’t rescue any of the crew came from an incident where German submarines rescues British sailors and British aircraft attacked the submarines. After this, it was a standing order to rescue no sailors. Their luck was with the sea.
The RMS Laconia incident.
That was the Laconia, and it was filled with German and Italian POWs. After it was sunk, the U-boat surfaced, started rescuing survivors, and sent messages in the clear that they (including some other U-boats) were conducting a rescue. A U.S. B-24 found them, and it and a USN task force then attacked the submarines, resulting in the deaths of many of the Laconia survivors.
It was American aircraft not British that attacked
Well those Type VII U-Boats barely had enough space for their own crews, much less rescuing a handful of enemy sailors. Maybe at the end of the voyage when they were destined to return to port such an act could be possible, but not during a patrol.
@@cawimmer430
They took the lifeboats in tow.
Having been a sailor and spending a lot of time on the north atlantic, this is still one of the most best looking naval movies. Even though it's from 1981, it beats modern, CGI movie dipictions of the ocean.
And then the realism and detail they go into.
The shipyard that built the actual U-96 built the set of Das Boot. To the same specs as the original boat. Every screw, of gauge, every lamp is as it was on the real thing.
And the real captain of U-96 trained the cast and was present as adviser.
Well, they used real rough seas in the North Sea for the storm scenes. The submarine model was controlled by a stuntman who was trapped inside it for hours (they had to screw the openings shut). He only ate rice and chicken so that he could puke easier and pump the stuff outside... and there were several instances where he almost died.
@@untruelie2640 Exactly, and it shows :)
This is the best submarine movie ever made! It’s amazing how you forget that these were the “bad guys” the further you go in the movie. I’m a retired U.S. Navy submarine sailor and this is such an awesome movie! Remember how Thomsen looked when he came to the bar at the beginning. How red his eyes were and then the CO of this boat’s eyes were just as red when the were trapped on the bottom.
So glad you reacted to this for a “best movie ever”!
If you want some lighthearted submarine fun, please watch “Operation Petticoat” with Cary Grant and Tony Curtis or “Down Periscope” with Kelsey Grammer. You’ll love them, I promise!
Down Periscope is hilarious.
Yep! But this is the worst REVIEW ever!
It's a reaction, not a review.
Na dann kannst du mal sehen,mit diesen"bad guys",in jeden Krieg gibt es kein Schwarz und Weiß,sondern viele Grautöne.
Ich denke gleich mit @putik72. Their bosses were bad guys, and these were guys who were forced into great discomfort and danger. And Dawn did quite well with the German pronunciation of Boot, slightly different from English boat.
"Das Boot" is by far one of the greatest war, anti-war movies ever made. The ending was inevitable, no matter how much you wanted the crew to survive. The bottom line of the whole story is War Sucks, for everyone. Sides do not matter, only survival, and in this story, that means almost no one. Loved your reaction Dawn Marie, truth to power, best movie ever.
And war, ...well, war never changes.
*_"There’s no such thing as an anti-war film."_*
- _François Truffaut_
*_"There’s no such thing as a pro-war film."_*
- _Steven Spielberg_
F'ed up is, I agree with 'em both.
Spot on. I've watched the movie multiple times and read a translation of the book. Both are decidedly anti-war, showing the ultimate futility of war for any side. No one wins a war. One side just benefits from the losses more than the other.
@@GeraldH-ln4dv
All war is about sex. It has never been about anything else.
That's why they keep blabbering on about girls. That was the only reason they joined up.
Well said Bob
I'm so happy you felt the exact same way I did about this movie.
It really shows that people are the same all over the world. Regardless of politics or religion.
The comradery of the crew is what makes you feel like you're in the boat with them. This is an excellent movie, worthy of an eternity of viewing. May it never be lost in time
YES!
At that time, submarines were not able to dive deeper that the activation depth of a depth charge. Those could be set to a depth of up to 270m. Effective radius of the explosion is between 6 and 10 meters. Most submarines sunk because of damage from several charges as opposed to a direct hit.
And as to why they didn't flee: below the surface, they could only operate at 8kn speed. Even on surface, they only reached 18kn top speed. The destroyers at that time could reach up to 35kn, so there was no running.
Concussive waves in water is a hell of a thing.
@@Ozai75 Cavitation by depth charges is also nothing to cheer at, especially when the water rushes back into those bubbles...
6-10 meters at great depth. At shallow depth, like periscope depth, some 10 meters below surface, the shockwave was still destructive even at 15 to 20 meters distance.
From the middle of the war onwards, submarines were more hunted than they were hunters. This only changed in 1945 with the introduction of Type 21 and Zaunkönig torpedoes. These developments came too late for the Reich to turn the war around
Jürgen Prochnow is so impressive and charismatic as commander.
That's why he is a GOOD leader.
Agreed. Also loved Klaus Wennemann as chief engineer (he sadly passed in 2000).
@@R1ddic the one and only „Fahnder“
Legend has it that at the first screening of the movie in the US, when they showed the first title card "40,000 German sailors... 30,000 never returned.", the whole theatre broke out in cheering and applause. After the movie finished they all were humbled, silenced and some even cried over the fact that a movie was able to make them root for the 'enemy'. I think that is testament for how well the movie is made. One of the very best...
Buchheim, the author of the novel on which the character of Lt. Werner is based, although having other differences with Petersen, the director, praised the movie for it's accurate depiction of how live was on a german u-boat.
YES! I'm a US Navy veteran whose grandfather served in WWII, yet I was empathizing with the U-boat crew. Plus, the moviemakers did such a wonderful job with the characters that, even 40 years after I served, I can look at characters in "Das Boot", and I can compare them to guys with whom I served. "Das Boot" is truly a MASTERPIECE! There will never be another movie like it.
Buchheim himself was a German war reporter in WW2.
@@KarstenDenkler yes. Leutnant Werner was based on himself.
The film is very moving for people. Many from the "other side" were angry after watching the film a good 40 years ago that it made them sympathise with the Germans, even though the latter were supposedly "the absolute monsters". Perhaps it is so good because it simply shows people hoping, suffering, fearing and dying miserably on both sides. And the bitter realisation remains: war has no winners - at least not on the battlefield...
YES!
I'm retired US Coast Guard. This movie triggered my PTSD when I saw it in the theaters. It puts you in the flooding confined space with the U-Boat crew. This movie and The Perfect Storm are the closest thing to what I experienced during rescue-at-sea missions.
I am gratified by your reaction to the depictions of the heroism displayed by men in peril in the high seas and their determination to save their boat. The cast of this movie received the same psychological therapy as veterans who survived this sort of trauma would. They were also just as afflicted by the experience.
Semper Paratus, my brother!
Drowning is a phobia of mine, so while sub movies do not give me chills, The Perfect Storm and White Squall are another matter.
Das Boot and The Perfect Storm are both directed by Petersen
WOW, I DIDN'T KNOW THAT! Oh, and props from this US Navy veteran; though we may have given you guys shit, I have mad respect for what the USCG does. I mean, WTF else charges out into 40 foot seas on 40 foot boats? Who else goes out to sea when everyone else is either in port or on the way there? The USCG, that's who! One USCG veteran told me (in an exchange in the RUclips comments) that that was you all's idea of fun... 😁
Old movie that never gets old.
Still a masterpiece.
If you watch that movie open minded, no matter wich country you are from, it leaves you speechless and emotional disturbed.
The message of the film is obvious and deep.
YES! As a US Navy veteran whose grandfather served in WWII, I wholeheartedly agree! "Das Boot" is a powerful movie. There will never be another movie like it.
Oh, and though I own the director's cut DVD and have seen this movie countless times, the ending still gets me; it still brings tears to my eyes.
The masks worn by the sleeping sailors are NOT oxygen masks, this is a mistake in the subtitle translation. The original refers to “Kalipatronen”. Various explanations can be found on the internet under terms such as escape breathing apparatus, but in short: The exhaled air is filtered through soda lime (often calcium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide) and the CO2 contained in the air is bound / converted by a chemical reaction. The masks therefore serve to slow down the accumulation of CO2 in the air, as an excessively high CO2 content leads to respiratory distress and at some point becomes life-threatening.
I have already seen some other reactions to this movie where viewers have asked questions at this point. For good reason, after all, allocating the little remaining oxygen to sleeping or non-working people makes no sense.
Well it's Potassium Peroxide and binds CO2 for releasing Oyxgen as double profit!
Excatly. The "escape breathing apparatus", Tauchretter is not like a scuba diver's oxygen mask. It's a crude once only apparatus, built for one special last ditch effort to save as many crew as possible. Commander opens the hatches to sink the boat, once hull if filled with water, crew activates their apparatuss and leaves the boat. Trick only works for a very limited time. As said in the movie, maximum depth is like 40 meters only.So if you're going down in any other place than the Baltic Sea ... goodbye. Even if you have enough air, the pressure's gonna squash you.
I think this film is in the top 20 worldwide films of all time. So true to life , even that claustrophobic feeling comes over you as the men are cramped up down on the Ocean floor knowing they could die any minute. Brilliant script n acting from the German guys and a super soundtrack
And there you have WW2 from the German perspective: all that pain, all that death, all that destruction, all that effort, all for nothing.
not yet. people are waking up.
Blame the US, France, and the British for World War Two, based on how the Germans were dealt with and blamed for World War One-A war Germany did not start.
@@goaway152 what
@@goaway152 the last time the germans where "waking up" it didn't end well for the germans. Go and take a lesson in history class.
@@CoIntelPro23 Indeed. Now most Germans are more like "Nah, you can play war all you like, I ain't fightin' for nobody. Have fun."
Fun fact: the English dub of this movie has most of the actual German actors dubbing themselves in English! So it's much better than a typical dub.
but for my liking STILL not a patch on the original language and subtitles.
Here's a little fun fact: The actor at 15:08 with the crabs on his eyebrows is Hubertus Bengsch. He is the German dubbing voice for several English-speaking actors. In german Cinemas Richard Gere speaks with his voice. His voice can also be heard in the series Dallas, Dynasty, Quincy, CSI, or in films such as Ghostbusters, Terminator 2, Gremlins 2, Top Secret! or Apollo 13.
Yeah, he dubbed Harold Ramis in Ghostbusters 1 +2
The actor Martin Semmelrogge, the guy you said "Why are you always smiling?" at 5:20 got just the face that teachers will jump on, to dump all suspicions on; always. That remained with him for his life. He was type-cast into the somewhat seedy or obnoxious characters. He also was indicted in several minor street law violations, such as driving without a license, but also some shoplifting and drug ownership. So yeah, in real life he really was something of a bad boy himself, so typecasting him in this one as a somewhat sleezy, cynical 2nd lieutenant was spot on.
Edit 1: 6:05 fraternization of soldiers of any kind with with the enemy, such as engagments, was considered Rassenschande / race shame by the Nazi's and strictly forbidden. But even worse among the French population was the treatment any women had to suffer at the hands of La Resistance if they found out that a woman was in love or even simply had engaged in consensual intercourse for whatever reason. They were often hounded around their home towns, sometimes literally by trained dogs. Other times they were spat at, beaten, etc. After the liberation of France many such women had their heads shaved, often times had a swastika tatooed on their foreheads, or even branded with a swastika on a prominent body part as a sign of being a traitor and collaborator, no matter the circumstances. They often had no recourse but to change their names and move far away, often even emmigrating from France to escape this treatment. This lasted for many years. A very sad chapter of horrible aftereffects of this war.
Destroyers were dedicated convoy guards and anti-sub hunter killers. The British had developed the active sonar to help detect and determine the depth of dived subs. But that was a highly sophisticated system, expensive, and not available on all ships (yet) at that time.
Basically, once a destroyer noticed you as a sub, you had to submerge as quickly as possible, go as quiet as possible, not even speaking, and praying that they didn't have sonar. Once you start to hear sonar, you had roughly a 30% chance of survival if the destroyer was freshly rearmed. If however they had used a lot of their depth charges before in another engagement the sub's escape chances rose quickly as setting the depth charges to the correct depth was a lot of guesswork without sonar. Even then, while sonar was quick, it wasn't instantaneous, so a sub that was in a steep dive might go below the depth for explosion set on the depth charges. That's what the captain said in the first encounter scene: "Now it will get psychological, my gents." Both sides had to anticipate what the other was doing, guessing at their next actions to enhance their personal success chance. Still, destroyers put the fear of God into submariners as they were very, very quick and agile compared to their prey, the Uboats. A good destroyer could easily reach 30 knots, with the sub crawling along at TOP speed underwater at around 7 knots. However top speed very quickly drained the batteries of the submerged sub as well creating a lot of cavitation noises underwater. So the effective speed of a stealthed sub was closer to 0.5 knots or maybe even slower; or roughly drifting with ocean currents.
You at aprox. 20:00 : "They think they know where WE are." Already sucked in. No matter where you come from, halfway into the movie you identify with this German crew and want them to survive. One of the reasons why this is a masterpiece.
YES!
I saw this masterpiece as a young man and it's stayed with me for 43 years. Wolfgang Petersen is a genius. All the actors were incredible.
The only happy ending that a U-boat crewman got to see was the day the War ended.
75% didn't.
I think that “good period” for U-Boat crews was from 1937-1942. After that, you wouldn’t want to go anywhere close to a submarine as that usually meant death.
@@johannesvalterdivizzini1523 Exactly my point.
The movie is about the boat itself as much as it is about the crew. In the final scene the captain watched the boat sink at the pier, the boat died along with him.
Your pronunciation of “Das Boot” is very good.
Ja zis moofie isn't about footvear. Zumps up!
Something You get about "Das Boot" when You're native German or well experienced in German language is the variaty of dialects. For example Johann ("das Gespenst") is definitely from Austria, Pilgrim (Tiefensteuerer) speeks a broad Hamburg lower class dialect, Bootsmann Lamprecht is from Hessen, Ario and Schwalle (both Dieselheizer) are from the Ruhr area and from Berlin. Even the officers are not pronouncing clear and the only crew member speaking correctly "Hochdeutsch" is the 1 WO, obviously the only upper class crewman. It's an interesting aspect, showing the variety of the crew members origins all out of Germany and even Austria, , although Germany has coasts only in the north.
There is an Austrian crewman there, but it's not Johann. He's Bavarian.
At 13;28 i think the guy was counting how many charges the destroyer dropped because the destroyer could also run out of charges quite quickly.
What a great reaction! I´m german, and my Grandpa actually was one of these young boys back in 1941. So this movie always was special. I´ve talked to some friends from the UK and France, how they and the people reacted when the movie was released in 1981. Back then, many Vets were still with us. Mostly any one of them, esp the brits told me, that they went to the theatre, cheering and chatting, and when the movie was over, there was dead silence....This movie made a massive impact on how the Brits had a view on the former "Enemy"....btw, I love your scotish accident;)
As a US Navy veteran whose grandfather served in WWII, the movie had a similar effect on me. I proudly own the director's cut DVD (a MUST if you love this movie!) and have seen "Das Boot" many times. Even so, the ending still gets me; the ending still brings tears to my eyes...
@@markymarknj Thank you! We are all happy that former enemies are now close friends and allies, but we all should remember! as the british tend to say LEST WE FORGET!
@@fenrisulfur842 you're welcome. May we never forget...
@@fenrisulfur842 another reason Das Boot resonated with me is because I could look at characters in the film, and then point to guys I actually served with. On my first ship, we had an officer who was like the Second Officer in the movie; he had the same kind of irreverence about him. On my second ship, we had a guy like Frentzen, and he could really CLEAR a compartment with his farts; when he let one loose, you wished you had a gas mask!
Plus, the filmmakers really nailed shipboard life. They captured the boredom, the apathy, the tedium, and the monotony interspersed with moments of terror. On the ship, the guys really talked like that with one another.
I love the Scots. I met great people and had a lot of fun. We understood each other from the very first moment. Linguistically we are closer than with the English, that's true. Greetings from Germany
Moin Arno
@@Torfmoos Moin Moin
I love how dramatically compelling Das Boot is. It always keeps you on edge in claustrophobic discomfort and horror. It makes you legitimately relate and root for a German U Boat crew fighting for the murderous and irredeemable Nazi war machine. Even a proud Scott like you falls hard for and cares about these characters. It’s an amazingly compelling film. Loved your reaction.
The "Nazi war machine" was SOLDIERS ... and only a small percentage of them were "evil ideologues". If your assumption were correct ... you'd have to "execute every american soldier" [slight exaggeration] for the last invasion of Iraq, which happened under false pretenses (which the "evil regime" in Washington KNEW were false).
Nuance ... learn about it.
saw this Movie in Cinema, 1981, in full length of about 6h34m. It was as mindblowing as it is today. Best Submarine Movie ever...👍 they made a TV Serie out of it with 6 parts; never saw it in full lenght again in cinema.
For another German WWII movie, I would recommend Stalingrad from 1993. To me it feels very similar to Das Boot. So even if they were made over a decade apart, they are in my mind a pair of movies showing battle on two different fronts.
Based on real events, it's anything but a feel-good-movie. But it's a really good one. I hope it'll make your list.
👍
And "Downfall" in german "Der Untergang".
Or simply watch the war raging in Europe right on your own doorstep.
@@frankogravedigger I don't really see the reference there unless you are referring to the war in Ukraine from Putin's deluded POV, where it's an unprovoked attack by the fascist west on Mother Russia.
The Italian movie about El Alamein is also good
It's ages since I watched this movie, but I do remember it's brutal realism and the "happy" ending which in the last moments turn into a disaster. I think it is one of the most realistic war movies ever made with it's unnerving tension and it is truly a master piece.
Now, next foreign movie you should do, and that's a black and white one, is The Seventh Seal, best swedish movie ever. And it'll give you a bit of comic relief, he he.
It had to end this way. Afterall, it is a German film. It's a cold hard bucket full of reality in the face.
About that moment when they didn't rescue the people from the burning torpedoed cargo ship: The German submarines were under orders not to, after something called "Laconia Incident". Which was hell of an incident. A German U-Boat, U-156, had torpedoed a freighter and took the people on her deck and their lifeboats on tow. So many were wounded, the captain decided to cover the U-Boat with a red cross, broadcast his location and intention of saving human lives over achieving war goals and started to tow the survivors to safety, on surface.
The U-Boat, clearly marked with Red Cross and towing lifeboats, was spotted by an American B-24 Liberator bomber. The bomber radio'ed for instructions and was told by US Air Force command to attack the U-Boat. They did, attacking with bombs and machine guns, killing multiple people on the U-Boat's deck. The captain tried in vain to signal that his intention was only to get these people to safety, but he was forced to crash dive in order to prevent the submarine from getting destroyed.
These actions completely changed the German Navy's attitude towards saving Allied seamen, marine, navy, or otherwise, leading to this scene in the movie and multiple like in real life. The B-24 Liberator crew were never prosecuted for war crimes and received medals for bravery.
Hearing you comment on how terrifying the depth charge attacks are reminded me of when I saw this movie on release. It was in one of the old time theaters that felt like you were in a cave, but the sound system was amazing. You felt very ping from the SONAR, and each depth charge explosion felt like it was shaking your bones. Every person in the theater was crouching deeper and deeper into their seats, and you kept hearing audible gasps and cries of fear. And to think that this was about 1/1000th of the real fear those men faced.
The score was composed by Klaus Doldinger, one of Germany's most famous and respected jazz musicians. He also composed a lot of TV title theme songs, in particular the one for the crime series "Tatort".
He hit a HOME RUN with the movie soundtrack!
"the never ending Story".
Well done you taking on this classic film. There is a longer tv version of this that runs for 5 hours or more and has more character development which makes the bleak end even more impactful. Glad you noticed the superb music too! I really enjoyed this reaction.
That Scottish charm and enthusiasm make for a great reaction as usual.
She has a great sense of humor. Most other reactors don't bring much in the way of personality to their reactions.
The genius of this movie, and the book upon which it was based, is getting us so involved in the characters that we hold our breaths with them as they are hunted by the destroyers above. Credit to the author, the great director Wolfgang Petersen, and an incredible cast. We live that experience with them as if we are there. We mourned their loss at the end. And all of this even though the characters were part of the horrendously evil Nazi war machine.
the Captain's age was 30 and he was the oldest on board.
Btw the real Captain of U-96 survived the war and became the Captain of Germany's first and only nuclear powered freighter
„Is this a horror movie?“ - Yes, and a quite realistic one.
„There is no happy end in it“ - Yes again, nobody gains anything from a war and this movie is one of the best to show that in my opinion.
Although it's about the "bad Germans", the movie manages to put us in the shoes of these people and make us feel for them, regardless of our nationality.
And knowing that something similar is happening right now (Ukraine, Israel and many other places around the world) should make us think about how we can do a little bit ourselves to make the world a better place.
YES! And here's another thing to consider: the soldiers, sailors, and airmen in any war are just doing their jobs; they're trying to survive, stay in one piece, and get home to their families. As the movie showed, military personnel aren't always in favor of their government's policies, either.
Imagine being the camera operator, sprinting after your actors in those narrow corridors. Trip once and you faceplant your lens into the floor.
Perhaps so, but Jost Vocano was a GENIUS for filming this way! It really highlights how tight and confined WWII submarines were.
@10:35 : No Marie, Destroyers CAN go under water. It's getting back to the surface that's usually the problem...
The real life commandant who inspired the role was just 29.
It's great to see this movie getting more and more reactions.
That "man overboard" scene was an actual accident on the set, the actor broke some bones, and since they were rolling anyway, they simply kept the scene in (the part of bringing him down into the u-boar and showing his blooded face and all were of course added later, he got proper medical help)
The worst/best thing about this film is the feeling of claustrophobia inside that boat.
U-Boats were one-trick ponies. They had ONE advantage; a surprise torpedo attack from just below the surface. They were VERY vulnerable, especially to Destroyers. They need to stay hidden, and keep running away, to fight another day. At the start of this tour of duty, they are the Hunters, hunting the British supply fleets, but when the Spitfire swoops on them, that's the British implementing a new-fangled RADAR. They were now very visible to the British. It's the hunters becoming the hunted.
In addition to this it was nice to know what the germans were planning ... due to having cracked the Enigma codes (after capturing one).
Same goes for a tank or a plane.
Terry Pratchett once described war as long periods of boredom punctuated by even longer periods of being dead. Seems about right.
Sir Terry was right about a great many things!
@@gozerthegozarian9500 So very true.
GNU Pterry 🥹
It's Pratchett's take on the old saying that war is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of terror. That's how he experienced WWII: Weeks of utter lethargy, and then artillery attacks by the Waffen SS.
Who is Terry Pratchett?
There is no happy ending in war. For nobody. Never.
24:30 is a great depiction of a battefield condition known as "Shell Shock". Your mind and nervous system get so overloaded from the stress and fear of this near death situation that you are in that your conciousness snaps in half and the only thing that is left of you is a jibbering, shaking mess clinging to objects near you for dear life. It can happen to anyone regardless of your mental or physical fortitute...
The drama "Das Boot" brings the war so close that it literally takes the viewer's breath away. "Das Boot" tells of a steel coffin, of fear of death, of people who "went through terrible things in the name of a criminal ideology" (W. Petersen).
The director earned six Oscar nominations for his film, and all the leading actors became stars.
Truly a (deeply shocking) masterpiece.
21:17 ASDIC: sends death chills through German U-Boat crews
ASDIC: Modern girl: sends a broad smile across her face
Priceless.
Dawn Marie: "They're on fire and they are flooding at the same time..."
Bronze plaque on the US Coast Guard Cutter Pt Brower (circa 1980): "A fire at sea can ruin your whole day."
Fire on a tiny submarine is as "oh, poops" as it gets.
Thucydides (c.460-c.400 B.C): "A collision at sea can ruin your entire day"
This movie is awesome, but the ending is the most heartbreaking. Everything they went through just to be killed..on dry land at a port.
YES! I'm a US Navy veteran whose grandfather served in WWII. I also own the director's cut DVD (a MUST for any "Das Boot" fan!) and have seen this movie many times. Even so, the ending still gets me; the ending still brings tears to my eyes.
The captain survives and becomes a competitive beer drinker.
25:53 As you saw there's no space on a submarine and when a German submarine mounted a rescue mission in I think it was the Atlantic, announced it on open channels asking for assistance the Americans send naval bombers to sink the submarine instead of assisting them. After that an order was given that no German submarine was to rescue any enemy crew under any circumstances because it was too dangerous.
the Laconia incident 1942
@@Trafalgar3390 Exactly. Was too lazy to Google the spelling...
As for how they recognized the other submarine: The captain was allowed to enhance the group insignia with his crest on the sail (the tower with the entrance hatch) of the submarine. When there was a change in command, the crest would be altered accordingly.
You also see them flashing the lights at each other. Presumably they identified themselves by Morse.
If you expected a happy ending, read again the text shown at the beginning. A happy ending for u-boat men was an unlikely event. And sinking a boat while coming into port was a prime opportunity - the boat couldn't dive to escape an air attack, and now the canal/lock is blocked until they can remove the wreckage.
Same at "stalingrad" movie from 1993
Germans, due to them having been the bad guys, cannot make , are not allowed to make patriotic and heroic movies about war. This leads to them making the absolute best anti-war-movies out there. No heroes, no great stories, no fun, just dark, gritty realism..... War is hell for all involved....
yes we are allowed to make those kinds of movies. but if you're making a movie... about ww2... from the german perspective... there aint gonna be a happy end with everyone hugging and jumping ending in a freeze frame mid air... 🤣
@@GamingPiper : ) so which one is a german made war movie with a patriotic tone and soldier heroes?.... I am curious.
@@Fabsterman none, we lost all of them. But it is not forbidden or illegal to make one
@@GamingPiper That's what I am talking about... I didn't mean literally that it is "forbidden". It is more of an unspoken rule that Germans won't be making those "hurrah, war is great and heroic" kind of war movies like the Americans produce them.
@@GamingPiper öhhhhm ... we are the best in being the "bad guys" .... they have no idea how good we are .... in peace ... and doin our jobs in war ... up to them ....
A U-Boat max speed was 18 knots on the surface but only 7.6 knots submerged. Time underwater is trickier. At top speed they could operate only 2 hours but, at a crawl, they could stay under for about a day with no activity. Surface ships, except for clunky old freighters, could beat them if the sub was submerged. Warships were definitely quicker.
Yup, subs have changed a great deal since then (as has every other thing). If you ever see an old sub in a museum, it is shocking how they fought wars in these small rickety things. Braving odds & casualty rates that today nobody would ever accept.
Yepp, but underwater the sub was a lot more stable. Imagine going to sea in a 70 meters long, narrow ship that is prone to rolling, pitching, and turning wildly in even fairly moderate waves. Everyone in the boat couldn't see what was coming, if it was another swell or dip, they just had to feel it in the soles of their feet. Throw in horrible hygiene (water was far too precious to waste on showers or shaving), molding food, sweat, bad breath, burnt oil and diesel... you get the idea. Sea sickness was not affordable, but it obviously happened.
But going subsurface meant that the type VII sub had to rely on its batteries as they didn't have the snorkels yet to supply the diesel engine with air for combustion, or to vent the sub. That was a very late war invention and didn't make any effective changes to the outcome of the war anyways.
So speed was best on the surface but it obviously bore the risk of being detected far easier. The diesel engine was also needed to recharge the batteries.
It was a weighing of pros and cons.
@@wyldhowl2821 North Korea has a surprising number of submarines, BUT they are mostly very tiny ones that wont be too effective (against warships that pay attention).
What you have to remember is that not every soldier avidly followed their 'great' leader's nationalist ideolgy. In fact some knew he was messing EVERYTHING up. You can tell by the captains thoughts he was sharing with his officers. In the case of the U-boat crew, they knew they were the garbage collectors, just doing their job. The movie conveys the human aspect of 'the other side' very well, and in particular, life on a U-boat. It genuinely was this brutal, and that was for the ones that survived it. Still the very best war movie in my opinion.
This was based on a best-selling novel, which I read when it came out in English translation in 1977. Excellent book telling it how it really was, and raunchier and harder hitting than the movie could be. Still have my paperback copy!
Mine is so well-read that it's falling apart :P The translator, J. Maxwell Brownjohn did a marvellous job. I also have a copy of the U.S. translation, and it's missing a whole section where Buchheim describes the colour of the sky.
37:05 there is a german saying -> God asked the stones "Do you want to become submariners?" The stones answered "No Lord, we are not tough enough"
When you said that you felt the joy in the Chief’s laughter….. That’s the power of a good story, good character development, and great acting.
It’s probably my favorite moment in the whole film.
Something I've seen multiple times by English/American reviewers is that they don't understand the scene where one of the shipmates tells his colleague his girlfriend (who is French) is pregnant... In wartime (mainland Europe) it was in allot cases considered treason to even be involved with occupying soldiers in a friendly manner. In my own country thousands of women were shaved and ousted out in a big parade after the war or sometimes even worse because they've held relations with German soldiers.
You’re experiencing what we wartime veterans have always felt - the respect and admiration of fellow warriors, even if they’re on the side of the enemy. Enemy or not, opposing forces fight on behalf of their homeland, as any nation’s patriot would do. It’s a human thing.
Sorry, but that's mealymouthed nonsense at best and utterly inaccurate at worst. The German military wasn't defending their homeland they were conquering the homelands of others. This is why the Allied nations were fighting against the Germans.
@@Anon54387 There’s a lot you do not understand about the nature of war. You’re making the mistake of assuming everyone in the German military subscribed to the Nazi ideology. Most did not but followed orders because that is what soldiers do. The ones who wanted to expand German territory was the Schutzstaffel and Hitler’s government.
@@Anon54387Most of regular German soldiers were defending their country. Just regular men. At the same time soviets backed up by the US and UK, were attacking Poland from the east. Also Finland. Allied were pro soviet and pro communism it was totally OK for the UK and US to divide Europe in half with the soviets for the next 50 years. 50 years of oppression, murder, forced communism. That was just fine by the "allied".
If you haven't experienced it and the aftermath, please be quiet and read a book.
"We beat the wrong enemy." -Patton.
@@Anon54387 Oh, that's just BS. I understood exactly what he was saying. You don't have sense enough to understand.
@@Anon54387You do not understand the nature of war. The German military were following orders. Most did not agree with the mission.
best Submarine Movie ever made😍
They really filmed this in a U-Boot set, no retractable walls, just the actors and a camera guy and Wolfgang Petersen somewhere directing. It is one of the best if not the best German movie.
I've toured the original set at Bavaria studios in Munich - it's incredibly cramped, just like you see in the movie - and I can't imagine how anyone could ever have directed such a project. There's only room for a cameraman and nothing more. Pure genius.
@@Venejan I was in an actual one in Kiel, it was claustrophobic.
@@FHB71 Wow, I visited there too way back in my student days. I find the idea, not to mention the reality, of submarines horrifying. It's hard to imagine that all those young men were volunteers (it's pretty hard to FORCE someone to live and die like that against their will and still get good results from them).
Everyone had crabs because they had to hot-bunk. When you're on shift, the guy off shift sleeps. Then when your shift is over and his starts, you jump in his bed.
So if one guy has crabs, the crabs spread to the sheets, then to the next guy and so on. As well as lack of personal space for storing clothes. When it's transmitted like that, they can get anywhere with enough coarse hair. Beards and eyebrows included
I LOVE this movie. One of the very best. One of these days I have to finally watch my Blu Rays of the miniseries cut. So pleased you're watching in German too. It adds something to the authenticity.
I think the coolest bit of trivia for this movie is that Steven Spielberg was filming for Raiders of the Lost Ark at the La Rochelle submarine docks at about the same time as Wolfgang Petersen for Das Boot and basically asked him if he could borrow his prop U-Boat to film a few scenes for Raiders.
EDIT: You asked how the water can get out, they pump it out using high pressure air or bilge pumps depending on the situation to force it out at higher pressure than the water outside. Then the valves are just non-return valves that slam shut when water is trying to flow the other way.
Also, the Kriegsmarine weren't overly enamoured with Hitler's leadership by this part of the war I don't think. There's some parts of the movie where they can't really disguise their distaste.
It's pronounced boat, like in English. They were upset when they sank that ship because no rescue ships showed to save the people. They wanted to destroy the machines, not the people. There was a big difference between the Nazis and the regular German soldiers.
This movie was based on an actual event.
How fast can this thing go?
17.6 kts surfaced (32,6 km/h)
7.6 kts dived (14,1 km/h)
Are those full or flank speeds for a Type VIIC U-Boat? I would have expected more like 20kts surfaced and 10kts submerges as maximum (flank) speeds since US and Japanese subs were in those speed ranges and the VIIC was certainly comparable in capability to its contemporaries, but as you correctly pointed out you could not maintain flank speed underwater for even 30 minutes before power dropped you down a few kts and if you continued at high speed your batteries would be done in just a couple of hours with full speed being only marginally slower yet using around 50% less power than flank.
@@larrybremer4930 That's for the VIIC, yes. The U.S. "Fleet" boats were larger and had much more horsepower. The VIIC had roughly 3,000shp.
@@larrybremer4930
This is with "AK", full speed ahead.
FYI: You CAN actually watch it all day, since it was originally a multi-part film series with A LOT more content that was cut down into several different film release versions.
The old man know he had kids on his boat. The original OLD MAN. Captain Heinrich Lehman Willenbrock of U-96 was 29 at this time.
Germany wasnt really allowed to have a big navy, so they didnt have any "experienced submariners" either and when the Nazis decided to start arming and building these submarines, they obviously got new / young crews.
@@Muck006 And with a crew of only 50-ish bodies, the commanding officer was invariably just a somewhat senior lieutenant.
Expendable.
@@Cancun771 Kapitänleutnant / Lt.Commander
Dawn, you could give this movie 4 stars for "Most realistic war movie ever."
In reality, U-96 wasn’t sunk at the end of this mission. The last surviving crew member was the Chief, Friedrich Grade, he died in October 2023 at an age of 107 years. The captain, Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock also survived the war and later became captain of the only nuclear powered german ship, Otto Hahn. He died in 1986. The book Das Boot exaggerates the real events while the movie exaggerated the book. But even the real story is extremely captivating.
The book is a conglomeration of stories from many different submarines, because the writer was "the reporter" and heard the stories from others. It doesnt claim to be historically accurate to U-96, just to "the general life on board".
The end scene builds on the idea that the Captain and the boat are one and the same - during the film as the boat deteriorates so does he, as it gets repaired so does he. At the end, as the boat sinks for the last time due to bomb damage, he dies by its side from shrapnel wounds from the bombing. The captain goes down with his ship.
Its an amazing film, but the full length TV series version is the best one.
I know what braggarts are. That's why they call me the Genius and I am not bragging.
1:40, he was in this scene actually drunk. The actor's name was Otto Sander.
Its like their U-Boat got them home and then died as did many of crew in the air raid. In war, there are no true winners, only survivors.
The "winners" are the modern day generals and presidents who send men to die without ever being in danger. They dont see the dead and the brutality, at most they see a bunch of coffins.
"this is not my country, why am i crying?" xD because we are all flesh n bones same same
Great movie that launched multiple acting careers especially here in Germany.
And the extended TV series (3 100 minute episodes) that ran on german TV in February 1985 was a so-called "Street Clearer"!
Loved it.
Apparently the BBC also showed it over there in late '84.
Btw, Herbert Grönemeyer who played the War Correspondent was already known as a singer/songwriter and later focussed on his musical career.
In 1984 his Album "4630 Bochum" was the best selling Album in Germany.
He also famously had a hit song about a Sausage with (spicy) Curry-sauce in 1982, "Die Currywurst" 😆
It's kind of a national fast food, Pommes (chips) & Currywurst is like fish&chips in the UK.
Herbert is one of Germany's most famous and succesful Rock Stars and still going strong!
Grönemeyer hat in Interviews erzählt, dass er mit "Bochum" nur im Ruhrpott erfolgreich war - in anderen Großstädten wären teilweise nur drei Leute in eine Halle für 1500 gekommen. Deswegen suchte er nach weiteren Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten und nahm die Rolle an.
The tanker scene was a nod to the Laconia Order given by Doenitz after an incident with two german boats and a vessel named Laconia. They torpedoed it and after realising it was a troop transport and carried civilians and soldiers they emerged and got the survirvors in tow and on the hull, going on top of the sea. One of the captains send out a distress signal in english, promising to stand down to the british fleet for the rescue operation although not flying red cross colors, which wasn't allowed due to the nature of the vessel.
Unfortunately, not only the british picked up the message but a US anti-submarine aircraft, too. They started to bomb the UBoats and the Boats had to submerge to save themselves while drowing hundreds of people tucked away on their hulls.
The two captains were sanctioned by the german navy. The pilots of the aircraft were congratulated for their warcrime and ever since then any submarine commander would refrain from helping marooned sailors on the seas in a hostile environment.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconia_Order
One of the best reactions to one of the best movies ever.
Anyone who ever has the chance to visit Germany should come to Kiel. There, on a beach in Kiel Bay in Laboe, there is such a boat that can be viewed. Once you have done that, the narrowness becomes even more apparent and you experience this film even more intensely. The American submarines of that time were larger than the German boats. What they all had in common, however, was that they were not really submarines, but boats that could dive, but were essentially surface ships. You can tell that from their shape, which was optimized for surface travel. It was only at the very end that the Germans built the first real submarines, but they came too late and were no longer really used.
U 995 (KNM Kaura when it was in the norwegian navy after the war) is the last type VII. It is really small inside. When you are there visit marine ehrenmal on the other side of the road.
There is a US WWII submarine, the Bowfin, docked in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and visitors can go through it, too. It's incredibly small and cramped, particularly for so many people.
Unlike today's submarines that can remain submerged for months and months, a WWII sub was restricted to about 30 hours max. A WWII US sub, USS Balao did remain submerged for 48 hours. This was a remarkable feat at the time. WWII subs ran on diesel engines on the surface, for propulsion and to charge the batteries. There were vents in the hull for air to run them and for the exhaust to escape. BUT, these had to be closed when submerging, and the boat ran on batteries. Also, the air in the boat was all that they had. At periscope depth they had a snorkel to bring air in, and the existing air was forced, by fans, through "scrubbers" that were filled with chemicals to remove some of the CO2. Running on the surface with the hatches open was the best way to bring in fresh air.
Rubbish ... - 'Das Boot' had no snorkel. It was in 1941 'auf Feindfahrt'. The first German submarines with snorkels were launched in early 1944. 🫡
@@huskytully3887 MY, MY MY!! Don't you want attention! As quick as you jumped on that, my guess is that Mommy didn't give you enough attention when you were little. I guess before you moved into her basement. YES! The Type VIIC U-Boat didn't have a snorkel. Not that it would have done them any good as the story went. I was thinking of US subs when I wrote that, and forgot to label it as that. SOD OFF!
@@HemlockRidge Row, Row, Row your boat ... 🙄
Hello!
Thank you very much reacting to this awesome Movie!!!!
The German word 'Boot' sounds exactly the same like the English word 'Boat'
So you pronounced it absolutely correct!
Btw....I love your 🏴 Accent!
She pronounced it right.
If that's how you say the english word "boat" then something's wrong 😉
no, you cant hear each other from boat to boat in heavy sea, but the boats have different markings, and with the lights they "speak"
This movie is the most realistic U-Boat movie ever.
Ridiculous. That is exactly the opposite of reality!
Oh wow. Dawn Marie finally reacting to Das Boot. Feels like a pay day. Thank you, before even watching.
By this time in the war, the Allied Nations had gotten to be very good at sinking Japanese and German submarines and because of this there were only a dozen scattered around the Atlantic whereas before there were a peak of 116 operating in May 1943 which was a bleak prospect for the Allied Nations.
This movie takes place in late 1941 into 1942, when there were between 40 and 120 U boats on patrol in the Atlantic, and the numbers were still rising to a peak of about 160 in the Spring of 1943.
38:57 I don't think you understood that this submarine was seriously damaged at this point. It was actually ready for the scrapyard or a long stay in a shipyard. Without the immense skills of the L.I and his boys, the boat would have become a so-called "the boat will become a bronze grave".
They didn't even know if the diesels could even be made to run again. They couldn't test them because the diesel is an internal combustion engine that absolutely requires oxygen, which was extremely scarce anyway. Furthermore, due to the water that had entered, the submarine was still far too heavy to be able to surface. The water first had to be transported out of the submarine. At this point the required pump was not yet ready for use.
There is no "happy ending" with dreamy eyes and a kiss in war. A "happy ending" only exists in Hollywood, not in reality. War means death and destruction. A "happy ending" would have destroyed everything the film had told up to that point.
Most non-Germans here may not know that Herbert Groenemeyer (Leutnant Werner) is one of Germany's most successful pop singers, selling out stadiums to this day.
Not anymore since he’s onboard with the crappy left wing government in Germany that ignores the dangers of Islam and allows more illegal Islamic migrants in. Herbert doesn’t even live in Germany - he lives in a posh neighborhood in London.
Second is Heino. 😅
Heino is King, Grönemeyer is woke leftwing puppet
I was at one of his concerts just two days ago. It's still insane. And he and his band are still fantastic live performers.
He's selling out his own people, because Gronemeyer is woke like Robert DeNiro and Madonna and a few other freaks in the entertainment business.
No, he’s not eating onions and he’s not foaming at the mouth… He’s got a mouthful of hard boiled eggs