Quote:
Originally Posted by Panser
As an aside, my copy of the DC has an amusing error in it:
In the scene where Thomsen has collapsed on the toilet floor in the brothel, even with German audio on he gets up and declares (in English) "I AM NOT IN THE CONDITION TO ****!" before continuing in German  |
Don't know if I'm misunderstanding you, but I'm not sure the English dialogue is an error - I think it was either written in the script for him to say it in English, or else the actor just decided to do it that way and they left it as is because Petersen liked it. (On the DC commentary they do allude to the fact that the actor's drunkenness in the scene was not all acting, lol, so who knows?) Either way there are other instances in "Das Boot" where Der Alte also speaks English, especially (it seems to me) to emphasize a point to someone.
I could be wrong but I think English language was an educational requirement for Kriegsmarine officers at the time? So I don't find it particularly unusual that Thomsen uses English in that scene.
I do find it funny that I get English subtitles for a line very clearly and effectively spoken in English, lol. Although on one version - can't remember which - they actually don't appear, IIRC, until after he's already completed the line and is tossing off the sarcastic "Sieg Heil" to end the scene.
There are things I like about each version over the other - the DC certainly is handy when I want to sit down and watch the storyline to completion in one go but don't have enough time for the uncut version. Also there are some scenes in the uncut version I could do just as well without - my biggest dislike (and it's still a small one) is the introduction of Ullman's French girlfriend as a flesh-and-blood person instead of just another far-off loved one to be worried about and longed for. She's the only one "left behind" at home or back in port by any of the men that we actually see and hear in person - everyone else is just a face in a picture or the subject of a conversation among the officers and men of the Kriegsmarine, and to me the absence of "face time" for the viewer with those faraway loved ones does something to increase the poignancy of the situation. It seems to emphasize even more the isolation of the officers and crew from things most of us take for granted and their distance from the comforts of home and life on land.
Also I'd really prefer the nightclub scene to play out without being interrupted by scenes of Ullman and Francoise, even if they have to be in there somewhere. I find it really jarring to be yanked from one to the other and back again - maybe it was done for some kind of effect but it just doesn't work for me.
On the other hand, there are SO MANY great extra scenes in the extended version that to complain about a few at the very beginning seems like the worst kind of nitpicking, even from a certified veteran nitpicker like myself.
I especially love all the extra interaction we see between Der Alte and different members of the crew, especially when he's shown in more parts of the boat than just the control room, o-messe, and his own quarters. Makes him seem much more involved than might be obvious from what gets shown in just the DC. Of course in a boat that small it would be hard NOT be involved in darn near everything that goes on, lol, but it's nice to see it. The little conversation with Johann back in the engine room about good seamen and careful seamen and how "they" want heroes no matter what the cost is, to me, priceless.
But oh how I wish they'd been able to work in the scene from the book that Petersen said he wanted to include but didn't or couldn't - Der Alte in the galley cooking up potato pancakes for the entire crew. Now that would have been awesome.