Watched Das boot DVD today.

[Penguin]

Ah, a Das Boot thread, nearly missed this one

Originally Posted by ABBAFAN

Haha, I'd forgotten the scene were Thomsen is in the bogs at the Uboat base at the beginning of the film pissed up and says ;I am not in a postioin to ****!'.

I wonder why the filmmakers had him say that in english.

Many sailors were previously in the merchant fleet (like Der Alte) and as those international travellers, thus most of them spoke some English and it was en vogue among them to do so.
I read stories of German captains from the 30s-50s, they used quite a lot of english expressions in their tales. Many expressions where the sailor of today uses a (nautic) german word for have been in English.

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Which version was it?

I don't recall him playing a bigger part in the book, either.

True to an extent.
The famous Churchill speech of Thomsen was in the book delivered by a guy called Trumann. This was also the guy who tried the tablecloth stunt, which was performed in the movie by the 2nd WO.
However the movie is missing on scene, when Thomsen tells a story of a depth charge pursuit and an underwater attack. This scene plays in the afternoon, with Thomsen sitting in a big leather chair - this would have looked great in the movie!
In the screenplay that Buchheim wrote after the american authors screwed up, "U-96 Szenen aus dem Seekrieg", he added a scene at the beginning where Thomsens boat enters the port with several injured onboard. His boat has a dented con tower, made by a destroyer's ram attempt.