Reading the book, again, after the movie

[BigWalleye]

6

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

That is a fantastic read! Thanks for the link.

However,

There are actually ten pages missing from various parts of that chapter. Still, it's an enlightening description of what went on between admirers and critics of the book, movie and TV series.

Yeah! Skimmed the chapter and thought it was all there. Mea culpa. Didn't intend to mislead. IIRC, there is nothing in the omitted parts that changes the narrative.

Another interesting book is Timothy Mulligan's "Neither Sharks nor Wolves: The Men of Nazi Germany's U-boat Army". Mulligan has mined every surviving archive to assemble a profile of the men who actually manned the U-boats. Where they came from, what their backgrounds were, ages, length of service, favorite kind of wurst. (Well maybe not the last one!) This is a composite picture of the real U-boat sailors. Truth in reading: It gets a little dry toward the end, and you know how it's gonna end. But it gives you an idea of who those cartoon figures in the 3D screens really were. It is available, and for a normal price.

[LGN1]

Hi,

there is also a book by Buchheim himself about the making of the movie. It contains both historical photographs and pictures from behind the scenes. It also contains some pages about the reactions to his book (e.g., letters from readers) and the movie. It's quite informative.

There are quite some scenes in the movie that he didn't like at all. For instance, he writes that no crew reacted as hysterically to a depth-charge attack as in the movie. He also complains about the 'banana dance' scene and the attack with the oil cloth. He says that such instances could have never happened in real-life. And he didn't like the war correspondent at all. He says that the movie doesn't need him because there is the camera.

And finally he complains that the crucial incident with the Spanish liner 'Reina Victoria' is omitted in the movie. He considers this incident as one of the most important parts of the book.

Regards, LGN1

[Sailor Steve]

Interesting observation from the author. Of course there's also the controversy from u-boatmen who didn't like the book either. I agree about the lack of professionalism from the crew. On the the other hand I like the narrative in the 'Uncut' version. Also I can see why they left the Reina Victoria scene out. As much as I liked it I can see where some of the captain's dialogue might be a little provocative in a movie. They also made major changes to the 'tanker' scene, apparently to include a similar sentiment but with a less antagonistic tone.

[vanjast]

Finished the book..

Originally Posted by LGN1

And he didn't like the war correspondent at all. He says that the movie doesn't need him because there is the camera.

I think the director wanted to give the audience a 3rd person view, which works fairly well, IMO. The camera alone, would have made it a 1st person view, which would have reduced it to a mere film, instead of a 'recorded documentary' of a non-submariner/observer (the author).

Originally Posted by LGN1

And finally he complains that the crucial incident with the Spanish liner 'Reina Victoria' is omitted in the movie. He considers this incident as one of the most important parts of the book.

I agree with him here, as this shows how mistakes are made in the height of battle where even the Captain is at his 'wits end'. And all because the 1st Lieutenant didn't look up in the ships catalogue.

Interestingly in the book, I don't see the names of the Captain or the 1st Lieutenant ?

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by vanjast

Interestingly in the book, I don't see the names of the Captain or the 1st Lieutenant ?

He intentionally did not give names to any of the four senior officers. This was copied in the movie.

[vanjast]

Any known reason why ? - Family, Military..etc

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by vanjast

Any known reason why ? - Family, Military..etc

I think it's because some of the things in the book are fictional, or are based on events that happened to other men than the prototypes for the book, so much so that he even gives the boat a fictional name, 'U-A'. The boat he rode on was indeed U-96, but the real captain, Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, certainly did not die during the war, since he served as a technical advisor on the movie in 1982. The real U-96 was sunk in an American high-altitude bombing raid on Wilhelmshaven in March 1945.

The book is best taken as a glimpse of what life was like on a u-boat. For a more literal account read Buchheim's U-Boat War. I feel the same way about the movie. It's fiction, strongly based on fact. The detail of the interior of the boat, the descriptions of the boredom, the way it sucks you into being a part of that life, those are the accurate parts. The story itself is still fiction.