So I finaly got to see Das Boot.....
 

I was finaly able to rent a copy of Das Boot, and it's great!

My first impression, because I didn't realize that it was a two sided disc and so I ended up watching the second half(they were getting DCed big time), was "OMG! that looks just like my sonar room!". I think I annoyed my wife a bit(who didn't want to see it, but got engrossed into it) because I kept telling her over and over how the sub in the movie and in SH3 matched so well. It really blew my mind...

Not to mention that when I realized I had missed the whole first half and started to watch it, I couldn't recognized anyone, cause they were all shaved!! :rotfl:

A couple of questions about it though, Shouldn't the depth charges take a bit longer to explode? It seems that even thought they were at 150+ depth, the DCs just pounced right on 'em.

Also, what is the deal with that one officer that they all picked on? The one that seemed to be clean shaven throughout the whole film? It seems they didn't like where he was from or something, but I could never really figure out exactly the conflict was.

Ive never seen the movie myself until just the other day.The remade version that is.

They were playing it on either Showtime or HBO or one of the big movie channels cant remember which one right off hand.

I thought it was a well done movie and kept me interested.It was a great movie in terms of realism which is something you dont see in movies about WW2 very often(Battle of the Bulge anyone..LOL).

Definately a must see movie for anyone interested in the German Uboats or submarines in general.

Das Boot! Das Boot! Das Boot! YAAAYYY!!!! :)

About the "clean&shaved" guy, they don´t like him ´coz he´s so anxious all the time and he admires Hitler and so on. He likes to be part in the war, the rest just want to survive.

^^ That´s how I think it is.

Yea, they didn't have alot of "time" for the First Officer. He was a dedicated Nazi...unlike the captain and the rest of the officers. He also mentioned at one dinner that he was from Mexico City and when someone remrked about what a long way away from home he was he relpied that it was natural for him to serve as he was a German. He then made the CRITICAL mistake of mentioning he was the (step) son of the owner of a plantation owner..."the bosses' son" and seemed to be very proud of that. Given that most Germans had recently survived a grueling depression just before the war started (6 million unemployed) he didn't exactly enamour himself with the other officers.

Ah....so that's what that scene was about....what was the music that they had played right then, and how did it fit in?

I had noticed that in a couple of scenes, he was in the background reading to another crewmember, and it did sound a bit ....propagandish....

Re: So I finaly got to see Das Boot.....
 

Answer: Hollywood :)

Re: So I finaly got to see Das Boot.....
 

I was thinking someone just pushed Num+ at the wrong moment.... :rotfl:

The one guy (who got the greasy rag in the face near the beginning) was there as an observer, to take pictures for the propaganda machine (I think).

The other slick faced little boy was the Nazi "make sure they're all thinking right" officer who NObody liked. The photog eventually sort of fit in if I remember right.

Then there's the novel "The Boat" by Buchheim, after which I think they made the movie. Both are great in my opinion. :up:

yes, they made the movie based on the Bucheim´s book, the photographer in the movie (Werner) is Bucheim.

Not sure about the music. Do you mean the Tipparary song, when all the crew started to sing? If so, that is a British navy song. At a later meal (I think) the captain asks the First officer to put it on the grammaphone. That was to "rib" him as he would be the one to find and play it...being the upright Nazi he was it would bother him to do so.

Yea..I noticed the propaganda stuff too.

As to the depth charges, Hollywood is indeed the correct answer. They also all explode so close to the boat that any one of them would have sunk it immediately. They just HAD to get it on camera! Personally I would have preferred no underwater external shots at all, just their experiences inside, not knowing anything until it happened.

But again, that's the movies.

Usually the book is much better and way more in depth than its movie version. Is that the case here? I've watched the movie countless times but never read the book.

I would say the book and the movie were great. It's been a while since I read the book, but since getting SH3 I may just re-read the book - for sentimental reasons - :cry:

Like Blackhawk Down... The movie was about as "right on" as I've ever seen a movie made from a book.

I think the book is better than the movie, though the movie is the best U-boat movie, I think the book goes more in depth and has ALOT more detail. Just got done reading Iron Coffin by john Mannock Good U-boat book too...... I like to read when traveling to patrol areas ;)

I'd say that the book would be more true to the personal experience of Bucheim but that the movie is a creature unto itself. Its like Apocalypse Now. Its based on the book "Heart of Darkness" but many of the details are changed (book was in Africa whereas the movie was in Vietnam etc...) but it still remained true to the spirit and the aura of the book. Movies cant possibly have all the detail of a book just because anything more than 4 hours (which is aboiut as long as Das Boot is) tends to lose its audience.

Both book and movie are excellent and each has particular qualities unto themselves. Id say the movie is as true to the book as is possible while still adding a new level of immersion. Thats hard to do.

As for the expedited DC attacks well thats also because of time compression. If they tried to model every moment of a U-boat patrol accurately then we wouldnt even make it out of port before it ended. SOme concessions have to be made for the sake of "watchability".