awesome film, but my wife who has been watching me play SH3 for while now, complained about the tactics used.

I also didn't much rate the ending. Kinda contrived. For me I would have just left it with him looking at the even younger recruits he's expected to take out next time.

Attention! Das Boot on telly!!!
 

Attention! All hands to battle-stations!

Das Boot - THE TV SERIES will be on air for the next six fridays from 10-11 pm on WDR station Germany. So for all the Germans out here, set your recorders!

I will tape the series on my hard disk recorder and compile a dvd, if anyone's interested I can make a copy.

Happy hunting!

I agree Das Boot is a great movie and I have the mini series on DVD and the Directors Cut on VHS. However, I believe the film has often been criticised by former u-boat personnel for being a bit over the top, especially the depth charge scenes where the crew scream in terror, which apparently was not the case in real life. In fact I remember seeing a documentary sometime ago and a former u-boat crewman said that they remained quiet throughout a depth charge attack and often carried out small tasks that helped take their minds off of what was happening to them. Of course, it goes without saying that they were terrified.

Nemo

You're right! Thanks for the reminder!:D :D

And it's the old tv mini series, the one I was searching for so long.:up:

Keine Ursache, Thniper! :D

Unfortunately that's the way the book also ends (except he doesn't mention who gets it and who doesn't, outside of the captain himself).

Myself, I always complain about the underwater external shots. I'd rather not see the depth charges and torpedoes going off, or the sub hitting the bottom; just their reactions.

IMHO it's the best ending this movie could ever have, showing in a symbolic way the futility of war.

For the external shots: you should keep in mind that not everybody is an expert in submarine warfare, so I see them more as 'explaining the situation to the common man'. I know many people who actually don't know what a DC is and what it may do to a submarine.;)

Sometimes I joke that it's because Germans invented opera, so of course it has an operatic ending.:rotfl:

Good point; I never looked at it that way.:sunny:

About the depth charges in "Das Boot", I wanted to post here what I am about to put, but many times forgot or slip my mind. Hope this thread is the right place.

I readed in a book, wrote by the Leutnant (Ing) of U-190, Werner Hirschmann, and quote:
"On 27 August, we were hunted by an enemy surface force of four destroyers and pinned down for more than 3 hours while they tried to establish our exact location by Asdic. This time they came closer and launched four depth charges.
At this point, I would like to make a comment about the films that portray life on submarines during the WW2, including the famous German epic "Das Boot". (...)
When depth charges explode, people inside the boat must be falling all over each other, if not desperately hanging onto something to keep themselves upright,while the boat rolls throught 30-degree arcs.
In reality that submarine isn't moving a fraction of an inch as it is a mass of a thousan tons, surrounded by an almost solid mass of whater. In my experience, an exploding depth charge felt like a blow with a giant hammer on an immovable object - valve shafts break, fuses blow, light fixtures shatter, but the boat doesn't move.
The chaos, the panic, the screaming portrayed by the crew in Das Boot was entertaning and interesting but had no connection with reality."

The (...) in the book, he is refering that sub movies have to be entertaning and dramatic, since life on a submarine was usuallt as visually interesting as watching paint dry.
After the part that a wrote here, the author says that none of the engineering officers in real life would have the talent and abilities ouf the chief enginner in the film. Mr.Scott syndrome? (this one is mine).

I liked the book and has many photos and details about training and life in and out the u-boat. But many book's also have.

Those people at Amazon are fast. Less than 2 days.

I've got the DVD in this mornings post, thats fast.

Now I just need to get rid of the wife and kids for 5 hours:rotfl:

Thanks for posting that, Rhodes. It reminds me of the discussion on the General Topics board a while back, about battleships moving sideways when they fire their guns. I've heard such things before, that the boat doesn't really move much; but I have also heard that the concussion can distort bulkheads and knock the crew off their feet, just as the big guns can have the same effect on the ships firing them.

On the other hand, I like the mod that makes the boat roll about when under attack. I guess the perception is important to all of us.

I think the chief engineer (LI) has to KNOW everything about his boat but not necessarily to DO everything by himself (concerning repairs, etc.).
He actually would have instructed other crew members to perform certain tasks he would not bother with.
So here the movie is deviating slightly from the truth.;)

Sailor Steve, :up: and yes, I agree with your last paragraph. I also like when the boat rolls under attack, in the game and in the movie.
I over looked this phrase, is the next after "the boat doesn't move. One may have the understandable inclination to duck, but no one has to wonder why."

Thniper, if you want I can put here the paragraph about it.

@Rhodes:
Yes, I'd like to read it!:up:

Oh yeah? Buy the book ;) :p

Here it is:

"In addition,none of us engineering officers in real life would have had the talent and the abilities of the chief engineer in that film - truly a superman of our profession - otherwise we would have lost very few boats during the the war, and I, for one, am still puzzled as to how he got that damaged boat back to the surface. While the film was true to life in many of its aspects, especially the depiction of everyday life on a U-boat and also with respecto to the caracters portrayed, most of the battle scenes were overdramatized and defy any logic."

I think this end the das boot references in the book, but I can be sure.

By the way, the name of the book:

Thanks, Rhodes!:up:

I will see if I can buy this one in a bookshop in Germany, because I don't trust online shops!;)

Going to read the book next weekend on holiday just outside my tent, beer within reach :p

Good reading! :up:

My god, I was about to come over to "the deep south" to smack you silly!

You can get this off Amazon.ca ( Canada )as well.

RDP