A little-known fact: most of what the young Nazi was reading aloud was actually the genuine text of lectures made by Wolfgang Luth, a famous U-boat commander with pro-Hitler sympathies.

So it was in a way propoganda because the literature obviously relfected or at least supported to a degree the young Nazi's political beliefs.

YEah ive got the book and movie. I wish they would make another Das boot type movie as good as das boot.

Ive seen U571 which was over the top crap.
one called "Below" - which was ok with a horror twist. The US sub crew were actually all dead. More like submariners never die they just keep on patroling type of conclusion.

And another i saw recently about a US sub crew on a uboat as prisoners where they get all friggin sick. Another BS movie.

We need a new DAS BOOT movie.

Hmmm maybe i should ring up my friend here in NZ Peter Jackson and ask him to make one :)

I think Das Boot should stand alone. Any new tries at a "new" Das Boot would bastardize our memory of it. Maybe a better idea would be to do what they did after "Saving Private Ryan": make a mini series like "Band of Brothers". A mini series about either a single U-boat as it goes through the war or maybe about a particular flotilla or a certain member of the U-boat wing of the Kriegsmarine as he sees captains come and go and gets transferred and meets new comrades would be exiting. Though I would imagine they'd want to include something about Doenitz. That could be good too though. Alot of room in a less binding mini series I think. More time to explore other facets of the U-boat war. Every episode could even be about different important events in the war (such as Gunther Prien's attack on Scapa Flow or the capture of the first U-boat). I like that idea.

Yeah a mini series would be a great idea. And Steven Speilburg would be great as the director. He has made some good realistic war movies. Private ryan, Schlinders List and Band of brothers series.

Yes but I found that most of the story in Saving Private Ryan after the initial beachhead assault was kinda stupid. I think Band of Brothers and Shcindler's List were good because the script was adapted from real events so they were believable. I think a U-boat mini series with Spielberg directing would be good provided they go after a storyline based on real events instead of making something up that would "appeal" to alot of people and therefore make it suck.

Isn't it ironic that whenever directors choose to go for mass appeal, it only seems to make things suck?

Nope. Its because they appealk to the braoder puplic's interests so as to pull in more people for the sake of box office revenues but this means that the story is shallow because the appeal is shallow. For guys like us who are into serious war stuff and historical accuracy and true depictions of these events we just get pissed off but then we are a sad minority. Its good business but bad film-making.

No comment :o

Lothar Günther Buchheim ranks as one of my favourite writers. He was the "Wunderkind" par excellence among german war correspondent, an extremely gifted painter, photographer and writer. If you can, you should of course read the german original of his work, otherwise he would miss the literature qualities of his work. His style is very graphic, and he is mixing foul language and laddish humour with highly intellectual passages, which is special. I would even say his style is extremely "masculine", I am afraid only very few women will be able to read the book and not feel disgusted sometimes. If you feel you know "Das Boot" too well, you should read "Die Festung". More than 1000 pages of goodness in the 1944, I felt very close to this man when I read the book.

Highly recommended.

I will search for that book. Sounds good.


I think Steven Speilburg if he did make a Uboat movie as good as Das Boot, he would go for the truth, not some made up story. Hes rich enough to take risks. Maybe do a movie on Prien how he got into the harbour and sank a BB then follow his patrols right up to his sinking.

Ok, I'm convinced. I'll go head over to Amazon's site and get the book. Now I can't wait. Thanks for all the great book reviews.

Personally I don't think any movies made by Hollywood types will be able to come up with anything that can compare. While Spielberg is a great director and Schindlers List was a great movie, I doubt we'll see anything close to that level of intensity and realism for a long time. It's all about $ and I'm sorry to say the public at least in America is too shallow to pay out big bucks for anything that we in this community would consider worthwhile.
It's like comparing simmers to the 13 year old shoot em up play station crowd. Thats where the money is.

Bucheim's books
 

If you like Das boot and have read the novel as well, I highly recommend you to get the trilogy from Bucheim :

1 - U-Boot-Krieg
2 - U-Boot-Fahrer : Die Boote, die Besatzungen und ihr Admiral
3 - Zu Tode gesiegt : Der Untergang der U-Boote

They all have plently of interesting photographs from the war (taken by Bucheim) and you even get to see the real u-96 crew. Only the first volume has been translated in english, the rest is in german.

Here's the urls :
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASI...766053-5886124
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASI...766053-5886124
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASI...766053-5886124

There is an even older book of pictures about u-96 :

Jäger im Weltmeer

written by Bucheim as well

Anybody know if the dubbed English version of the DVD features the actual actors voices, or whether post production actors were used? I haven't seen Das Boot for 20 years, and at that time I watched the German version with English subtitles.

Das Boot has been out for 20 yeats?? I thought it was a movie of the 1990s

Das Boot was filmed 1980, in cinema 1981. The 6h TV version was shown for the first time 1985 in German television.