''Das Boot'' (, English: "The Boat") is a 1981 West German
war film
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war fi ...
written and directed by
Wolfgang Petersen
Wolfgang Petersen (14 March 1941 – 12 August 2022) was a German film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was nominated for two Academy Awards for the World War II submarine warfare film '' Das Boot'' (1981). His other films include '' The ...
, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring
Jürgen Prochnow
Jürgen Prochnow ( ; born 10 June 1941) is a German-American actor. His international breakthrough was his portrayal of the good-hearted and sympathetic U-boat Captain "Der Alte" ("Old Man") in the 1981 war film ''Das Boot''.
He is also known f ...
,
Herbert Grönemeyer
Herbert Arthur Wiglev Clamor Grönemeyer (born 12 April 1956) is a German singer, musician, producer, composer and actor, popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Grönemeyer starred as war correspondent Lieutenant Werner in Wolfgang Pete ...
, and
Klaus Wennemann
Klaus Wennemann (18 December 1940 – 7 January 2000) was a German television and film actor.
Wenneman was born in Oer-Erkenschwick, North Rhine-Westphalia. He is perhaps best known for his leading roles as the Chief Engineer, (the LI), in ''D ...
. It has been exhibited both as a
theatrical release An art release is the premiere of an artistic production and its presentation and marketing to the public.
Film
A film release is the authorization by the owner of a completed film to a public exhibition of the film. The exhibition may be in theat ...
and a TV
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
(1985). There are also several different
home video
Home video is prerecorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD, Blu-ray and streaming me ...
versions as well as a
director's cut
A director's cut is an edited version of a film (or video game, television episode, music video, or commercial) that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit in contrast to the theatrical release. "Cut" explicitly refers to the ...
supervised by Petersen in 1997.
An
adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
of
Lothar-Günther Buchheim
Lothar-Günther Buchheim () (February 6, 1918 – February 22, 2007) was a German author, painter, and wartime journalist under the Nazi regime. In World War II he served as a war correspondent aboard ships and U-boats. He is best known for ...
's 1973 German novel of the same name based on his experiences aboard , the film is set during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and follows ''U-96'' and its crew, as they set out on a hazardous patrol in the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
. It depicts both the excitement of battle and the tedium of the fruitless hunt, and shows the men serving aboard
U-boats
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare rol ...
as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country.
Development began in 1979. Several American directors were considered three years earlier before the film was shelved. During production,
Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock
Fregattenkapitän Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (11 December 1911 – 18 April 1986) was a submarine commander in the ''Kriegsmarine'' of Nazi Germany during World War II. He commanded four U-boats, including , a Type VIIC U-boat, which gained wi ...
, the captain of the real ''U-96'' during Buchheim's 1941 patrol and one of Germany's top U-boat "tonnage aces" during the war, and Hans-Joachim Krug, former first officer on , served as consultants. One of Petersen's goals was to guide the audience through "a journey to the edge of the mind" (the film's German tagline ), showing "what war is all about".
Produced with a budget of
DM 32 million (about $18.5 million, equivalent to
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...
million ), the film's high production cost ranks it among the most expensive films in
German cinema
The film industry in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema made major technical and artistic contributions to early film, broadcasting and television technology. Babelsberg became a household synonym for the early 20 ...
, but the film was a commercial success and grossed $84.9 million worldwide (equivalent to $220 million in 2020).
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
released both a German version and an English-dubbed version in the United States theatrically through their Triumph classics label, earning $11 million. The film received highly positive reviews and was nominated for six
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, two of these nominations (for
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:
Film awards
* AACTA Award for Best Direction
* Academy Award for Best Director
* BA ...
and
Best Adapted Screenplay) went to Petersen himself; he was also nominated for a
BAFTA Award
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...
and
DGA Award
The Directors Guild of America Awards are issued annually by the Directors Guild of America. The first DGA Award was an "Honorary Life Member" award issued in 1938 to D. W. Griffith. The statues are made by New York firm, Society Awards.
Categ ...
.
Plot
Lieutenant Werner is a
war correspondent on the in October 1941. He is driven by its captain and chief engineer to a raucous French bordello where he meets some of the crew. Thomsen, another captain, gives a crude drunken speech to celebrate his
''Ritterkreuz'' award, in which he mocks
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
.
The next morning, ''U-96'' sails out of the
harbour
A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...
of
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...
and Werner is given a tour of the boat. As time passes, he observes ideological differences between the new crew members and the hardened veterans, particularly the captain, who is embittered and cynical about the war. The new men, including Werner, are mocked by the rest of the crew, who share a tight bond. One Nazi officer, ''1-WO'' (the 1st
atchofficer), is disliked by the others. After days of boredom, the crew is excited by another U-boat's spotting of an enemy convoy, but they are soon spotted by a British
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
and bombarded with
depth charge
A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...
s. They escape with only light damage.
The next three weeks are spent enduring a relentless North Atlantic gale. Morale drops after a series of misfortunes, but the crew is cheered temporarily by a chance encounter with Thomsen's boat. Shortly after the storm ends, the boat encounters a British
convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
and quickly launches three torpedoes, sinking two ships. They are spotted by a destroyer and have to dive below test depth, the
submarine's rated limit. During the ensuing depth-charge attack, the chief machinist, Johann, panics and has to be restrained. The boat sustains heavy damage, but is eventually able to safely surface when night falls. A British tanker they torpedoed is still afloat and on fire, so they torpedo it again, only to learn there are still sailors aboard. The crew watch in horror as the sailors leap overboard and swim towards them. Unable to accommodate prisoners, the captain orders the boat away.
The worn-out U-boat crew looks forward to returning home to La Rochelle in time for
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
, but the ship is ordered to
La Spezia
La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy.
La Spezia is the second largest city ...
, Italy, which means passing through the
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...
—an area heavily defended by the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
. The U-boat makes a secret night rendezvous at the harbour of
Vigo
Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Penins ...
, in
neutral
Neutral or neutrality may refer to:
Mathematics and natural science Biology
* Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity
Chemistry and physics
* Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...
although
Axis-friendly Spain, with the SS ''Weser'', an
interned
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
German
merchant ship
A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are u ...
that clandestinely provides U-boats with fuel, torpedoes, and other supplies. The filthy officers seem out of place at the opulent dinner prepared for them, but are warmly greeted by enthusiastic officers eager to hear their exploits. The captain learns from an envoy of the German consulate that his request for Werner and the Chief Engineer to be sent back to Germany has been denied.
The crew finishes resupplying and departs for Italy. As they carefully approach the Strait of Gibraltar and are just about to dive, they are suddenly attacked and heavily damaged by a British
fighter plane
Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield p ...
, wounding the navigator, Kriechbaum. The captain orders the boat directly south towards the North African coast at full speed, determined to save his crew even if he loses the boat. British warships begin shelling and they are forced to dive. When attempting to level off, the boat does not respond and continues to sink until, just before being crushed by the pressure, it lands on a sea shelf, at the depth of 280 metres. The crew works desperately to make numerous repairs before running out of oxygen. After over 16 hours, they are able to surface by blowing their
ballast tank
A ballast tank is a compartment within a boat, ship or other floating structure that holds water, which is used as ballast to provide hydrostatic stability for a vessel, to reduce or control buoyancy, as in a submarine, to correct trim or list, ...
s, and limp back towards La Rochelle under cover of darkness.
The crew is exhausted when they finally reach La Rochelle on Christmas Eve. Shortly after Kriechbaum is taken ashore to a waiting ambulance,
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
planes bomb and strafe the facilities, wounding or killing many of the crew. Ullmann, Johann, the 2nd Watch Officer, and the are killed. Frenssen, Lamprecht, and Hinrich are wounded. After the raid, Werner leaves the
U-boat bunker in which he had taken shelter and finds the captain, badly injured by shrapnel, watching his U-boat sink in the dock. Just after the boat disappears under the water, the captain collapses and dies. Werner rushes to his body, and surveys the grim scene with tears in his eyes.
Cast
*
Jürgen Prochnow
Jürgen Prochnow ( ; born 10 June 1941) is a German-American actor. His international breakthrough was his portrayal of the good-hearted and sympathetic U-boat Captain "Der Alte" ("Old Man") in the 1981 war film ''Das Boot''.
He is also known f ...
as (abbr. "", ) and also called "" ("The Old Man") by his crew: A 30-year-old battle-hardened but good-hearted and sympathetic sea veteran, who complains to Werner that most of his crew are boys. He is openly anti-Nazi, and embittered and cynical about the war, being openly critical about how the war is being handled.
*
Herbert Grönemeyer
Herbert Arthur Wiglev Clamor Grönemeyer (born 12 April 1956) is a German singer, musician, producer, composer and actor, popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Grönemeyer starred as war correspondent Lieutenant Werner in Wolfgang Pete ...
as (Ensign) Werner, War Correspondent: Naive but honest, he has been sent out to sea with the crew to gather photographs of them in action and report on the voyage. Werner is mocked for his lack of experience, and soon learns the true horrors of service on a U-boat.
*
Klaus Wennemann
Klaus Wennemann (18 December 1940 – 7 January 2000) was a German television and film actor.
Wenneman was born in Oer-Erkenschwick, North Rhine-Westphalia. He is perhaps best known for his leading roles as the Chief Engineer, (the LI), in ''D ...
as Chief Engineer ( or LI, Rank: ): A quiet and well-respected man. At age 27, the oldest crew member besides the Captain. Tormented by the uncertain fate of his wife, especially after hearing about an
Allied air raid on
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
. The second most important crewman, as he oversees diving operations and makes sure the systems are running correctly.
*
Hubertus Bengsch
Hubertus Bengsch (born 10 July 1952 in Berlin) is a German actor, best known for his role as the German First Officer (1WO) in ''Das Boot''.
He also is well known for being the German voice of American actor Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Ger ...
as 1st Watch Officer (I. WO, Rank: ): A young, by-the-book officer, an ardent
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
and a staunch believer in the . He has a condescending attitude and is the only crewman who makes the effort to maintain his proper uniform and trim appearance while all the others grow their beards in the traditional
U-Bootwaffe
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the an ...
fashion. He was raised in some wealth in Mexico by his stepparents who owned a plantation. His German fiancée died in a British air raid. He spends his days writing his thoughts on military training and leadership for the High Command. When the boat is trapped underwater near Gibraltar, he becomes pessimistic and begins to let go of his adherence to Nazi ideas as he finally stops shaving every day and wearing his proper uniform all the time.
*
Martin Semmelrogge
Martin Semmelrogge (born 8 December 1955) is a German actor, best known for his role as the comical Second Watch Officer in the film ''Das Boot''. His character was based on the real life World War II submarine officer Werner Herrmann.
Semmelr ...
as 2nd Watch Officer (II. WO, Rank: ): A vulgar, comedic officer. He is short, red-haired and speaks with a mild
Berlin dialect. One of his duties is to decode messages from base, using the
Enigma code machine.
*
Bernd Tauber as ("Chief Helmsman") Kriechbaum: The navigator and 3rd Watch Officer (III. WO). Always slightly skeptical of the Captain and without enthusiasm during the voyage, he shows no anger when a convoy is too far away to be attacked. Kriechbaum has four sons, with another on the way.
*
Erwin Leder
Erwin Alois Robert Leder (born 30 July 1951 in St. Pölten, Lower Austria, Austria) is an Austrian actor. He is best known for his role as Chief Mechanic Johann in ''Das Boot'', a 1982 feature film directed by Wolfgang Petersen about a mission ...
as ("Chief Mechanic") Johann, also called "" ("The Ghost"): He is obsessed with a near-fetish love for ''U-96''s engines. Johann suffers a temporary mental breakdown during an attack by two destroyers. He is able to redeem himself by valiantly working to stop water leaks when the boat is trapped underwater near Gibraltar. Speaks
a lower Austrian dialect.
*
Martin May as (Senior Cadet) Ullmann: A young officer candidate who has a pregnant
French fiancée (which is considered treason by the French
partisans) and worries about her safety. He is one of the few crew members with whom Werner is able to connect; Werner offers to deliver Ullmann's stack of love letters when Werner is ordered to leave the submarine.
*
Heinz Hoenig as (Petty Officer) Hinrich: The radioman, sonar controller and ship's
combat medic
A combat medic, or healthcare specialist, is responsible for providing emergency medical treatment at a point of wounding in a combat or training environment, as well as primary care and health protection and evacuation from a point of injury ...
. He gauges speed and direction of targets and enemy destroyers. Hinrich is one of the few crewmen that the Captain is able to relate to.
*
Uwe Ochsenknecht
Uwe Adam Ochsenknecht (; born 7 January 1956) is a German actor and singer.
Career
Films Ochsenknecht has starred in include '' Das Boot'' (1981), ''Schtonk!'' (1992), and the TV miniseries '' Frank Herbert's Dune'' (2000).
In the early 1990 ...
as ("Boatswain") Lamprecht: The severe chief petty officer who shows Werner around ''U-96'', and supervises the firing and reloading of the torpedo tubes. He gets upset after hearing on the radio that the football team most of the crew supports (
FC Schalke 04
Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...
) are losing a match, and they will "never make the final now".
*
Claude-Oliver Rudolph
Claude-Oliver Rudolph (born 30 November 1956 in Frankfurt) is a German actor, producer, screenwriter, and film director.
Life and work
Internationally, he is known in the James Bond film ''The World Is Not Enough'' alongside Pierce Brosnan. R ...
as Ario: The burly mechanic who tells everyone that Dufte is marrying an ugly woman, and throws pictures around of Dufte's fiancée in order to laugh at them both.
*
Jan Fedder
Jan Fedder (; 14 January 1955 – 30 December 2019) was a German actor, born in Hamburg. He was best known for his role as police officer Dirk Matthies in the German television show ''Großstadtrevier''. He was also known for his role as the cru ...
as (Petty Officer) Pilgrim: Another sailor (watch officer and diving planes operator), gets almost swept off the submarine during a storm – a genuine accident during filming in which Fedder broke several ribs and was hospitalised for a while.
*
Ralf Richter as (Petty Officer) Frenssen: Pilgrim's best friend. Pilgrim and Frenssen love to trade dirty jokes and stories.
* Joachim Bernhard as ("Bible scholar", also the contemporary German term for a member of
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
): A very young religious sailor who is constantly reading the Bible. He is punched by Frenssen when the submarine is trapped at the bottom of the
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...
for praying rather than repairing the boat.
*
Oliver Stritzel
Oliver Stritzel (born 9 March 1957) is a German actor who specializes in dubbing.
Roles
Acting roles
*''Das Boot'' (1981) – Schwalle
*' (1982) – Krause
*''Bolero'' (1983)
*'' Moving Targets'' (1984) – Zorro
*''Tango im Bauch'' (1985 ...
as Schwalle: A tall and well-built blond torpedoman.
* Jean-Claude Hoffmann as Benjamin: A red haired sailor who serves as a diving plane operator.
* Lutz Schnell as Dufte: The sailor who gets jeered at because of his upcoming marriage, and for a possible false airplane sighting.
*
Konrad Becker as Böckstiegel: the
Viennese Viennese may refer to:
* Vienna, the capital of Austria
* Viennese people, List of people from Vienna
* Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna
* Music of Vienna, musical styles in the city
* Viennese Waltz, genre of ballroom dance
* V ...
sailor who is first visited by Hinrich for crab lice.
*
Otto Sander
Otto Sander (; 30 June 1941 – 12 September 2013) was a German film, theater, and voice actor.
Life
Education and early career
Sander grew up in Kassel, where he graduated in 1961 from the Friedrichgymnasium. After leaving school he s ...
as Philipp Thomsen: An alcoholic and
shell-shocked
Shell shock is a term coined in World War I by the British psychologist Charles Samuel Myers to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) many soldiers were afflicted with during the war (before PTSD was termed). It is a react ...
U-boat commander, who is a member of "The Old Gang". When he is introduced, he is extremely drunk and briefly mocks Hitler on the stage of the French bordello. (In the "Director's Cut" DVD
audio commentary
An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...
, Petersen says that Sander was really drunk while they were shooting the scene.) Sometime after ''U-96'' departs, Thomsen is deployed once again and the two submarines meet randomly in the middle of the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
being put off course by the storm. This upsets the Captain because it means that there is now a gap in the blockade chain. After failing to make contact later, it becomes apparent that Thomsen's boat is missing. When ''U-96'' intercepts the convoy and sees they are without escorts, the Captain makes the observation that they must be away chasing down another boat; this boat is probably Thomsen's.
*
Günter Lamprecht
Günter Hans Lamprecht (21 January 1930 – 4 October 2022) was a German film and stage actor, best-known internationally for his leading role in the Fassbinder miniseries '' Berlin Alexanderplatz'' (1980) and as a ship captain in the epic war f ...
as the Captain of the ''Weser'': An enthusiastic officer aboard the resupply ship ''Weser''. He mistakes the 1st Watch Officer for the Captain as they enter the ship's elegant dining room. An ardent Nazi, he complains about the frustration of not being able to fight, but boasts about the food that has been prepared for the crew and the ship's "specialities".
*
Sky du Mont
Sky du Mont (born Cayetano Neven du Mont; 20 May 1947) is a German-Argentine actor.
Early life
Sky du Mont's family, who are related to the famous publishers DuMont Schauberg, fled the Nazis in the 1930s to South America. He was born in Argen ...
as an officer aboard the ''Weser'' (uncredited).
Production
In late 1941, war correspondent
Lothar-Günther Buchheim
Lothar-Günther Buchheim () (February 6, 1918 – February 22, 2007) was a German author, painter, and wartime journalist under the Nazi regime. In World War II he served as a war correspondent aboard ships and U-boats. He is best known for ...
joined for her 7th patrol, during the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
.
His orders were to photograph and describe the U-boat in action. In 1973, Buchheim published a novel based on his wartime experiences, (The Boat), a fictionalised autobiographical account narrated by a "Leutnant Werner". It became the best-selling German fiction work on the war.
The followup sequel by Buchheim was released in 1995.
Production for this film originally began in 1976. Several American directors were considered, and the () was to be played by
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...
. Disagreements sprang up among various parties and the project was shelved. Another Hollywood production was attempted with other American directors in mind, this time with the to be portrayed by
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...
. This effort primarily failed due to technical concerns, for example, how to film the close encounter of the two German submarines at sea during a storm.
Production of ''Das Boot'' took two years (1979–1981) and was the most expensive German film at the time.
[ Most of the filming was done in one year; to make the appearance of the actors as realistic as possible, scenes were filmed in sequence over the course of the year. This ensured natural growth of beards and hair, increasing skin pallor, and signs of strain on the actors, who had, just like real U-boat men, spent many months in a cramped, unhealthy atmosphere.
The production included the construction of several models of different sizes, as well as a complete, detailed reconstruction of the interior of the , a Type VIIC-class U-boat.
Hans-Joachim Krug, former first officer on ''U-219'', served as a consultant, as did ]Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock
Fregattenkapitän Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (11 December 1911 – 18 April 1986) was a submarine commander in the ''Kriegsmarine'' of Nazi Germany during World War II. He commanded four U-boats, including , a Type VIIC U-boat, which gained wi ...
, the captain of the real ''U-96''.
The film features both Standard German-speakers and dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...
speakers. Petersen states in the DVD audio commentary that young men from throughout Germany and Austria were recruited for the film, as he wanted faces and dialects that would accurately reflect the diversity of the Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
around 1941. All of the main actors are bilingual in German and English, and when the film was dubbed into English, each actor recorded his own part (with the exception of Martin Semmelrogge, who only dubbed his own role in the Director's Cut). The German version is dubbed as well, as the film was shot "silent", because the dialogue spoken on-set would have been drowned out by the gyroscope
A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rota ...
s in the special camera developed for filming. Unusually, the film's German version actually grossed much higher than the English-dubbed version at the United States box office.
Sets and models
Several different sets were used. Two full-size mock-ups of a Type VIIC boat were built, one representing the portion above water for use in outdoor scenes, and the other a cylindrical tube on a motion mount (hydraulic gimbal
A gimbal is a pivoted support that permits rotation of an object about an axis. A set of three gimbals, one mounted on the other with orthogonal pivot axes, may be used to allow an object mounted on the innermost gimbal to remain independent of ...
) for the interior scenes. The mock-ups were built according to U-boat plans from Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
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, subdivision_name ...
's Museum of Science and Industry.
The outdoor mock-up was basically a shell propelled with a small engine, and stationed in La Rochelle, France, and has a history of its own. One morning the production crew walked out to where they kept it afloat and found it missing. Someone had forgotten to inform the crew that an American filmmaker had rented the mock-up for his own film shooting in the area. This filmmaker was Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
and the film he was shooting was ''Raiders of the Lost Ark
''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...
''. A few weeks later, during production, the mock-up cracked in a storm and sank, was recovered and patched to stand in for the final scenes. The full-sized mock-up was used during the Gibraltar surface scenes; the attacking aircraft (played by a North American T-6 Texan
The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...
/ Harvard) and rockets were real while the British ships were models.
A mock-up of a conning tower was placed in a water tank at the Bavaria Studios
Bavaria Studios are film production studios located in Munich, the capital of the region of Bavaria in Germany, and a subsidiary of Bavaria Film.
History
The studios were constructed in the suburb of Geiselgasteig in 1919 shortly after the Firs ...
in Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
for outdoor scenes not requiring a full view of the boat's exterior. When filming on the outdoor mockup or the conning tower, jets of cold water were hosed over the actors to simulate the breaking ocean waves. A half-sized full hull operating model was used for underwater shots and some surface running shots, in particular the meeting in stormy seas with another U-boat. The tank was also used for the shots of British sailors jumping from their ship; a small portion of the tanker hull was constructed for these shots.
During the filming there was a scene where actor Jan Fedder
Jan Fedder (; 14 January 1955 – 30 December 2019) was a German actor, born in Hamburg. He was best known for his role as police officer Dirk Matthies in the German television show ''Großstadtrevier''. He was also known for his role as the cru ...
(Pilgrim) fell off the bridge while the U-boat was surfaced. During the played rescue, Bernd Tauber (Chief Helmsmann Kriechbaum) really broke two ribs. This event is often purported as Jan Fedder breaking the ribs.
File:Bavaria Filmstudio Das Boot 1.jpg
File:Bavaria Filmstudio Das Boot 4.jpg
File:Bavaria Filmstudio Das Boot 5.jpg
File:Bavaria Filmstudio Das Boot 6.jpg
The interior U-boat mock-up was mounted five metres off the floor and was shaken, rocked, and tilted up to 45 degrees by means of a hydraulic apparatus, and was vigorously shaken to simulate depth charge attacks. Petersen was admittedly obsessive about the structural detail of the U-boat set, remarking that "every screw" in the set was an authentic facsimile of the kind used in a World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
U-boat. In this he was considerably assisted by the numerous photographs Lothar-Günther Buchheim
Lothar-Günther Buchheim () (February 6, 1918 – February 22, 2007) was a German author, painter, and wartime journalist under the Nazi regime. In World War II he served as a war correspondent aboard ships and U-boats. He is best known for ...
had taken during his own voyage on the historical ''U-96'', some of which had been published in his 1976 book, ("U-Boat War").
Throughout the filming, the actors were forbidden to go out in sunlight, to create the pallor of men who seldom saw the sun during their missions. The actors went through intensive training to learn how to move quickly through the narrow confines of the vessel.
Special camera
Most of the interior shots were filmed using a hand-held Arriflex of cinematographer Jost Vacano
Jost Vacano, BVK (born 15 March 1934) is a German retired cinematographer. His work included ''Das Boot'', and he also worked together with director Paul Verhoeven on seven films, including ''RoboCop'' and '' Total Recall''. He was also the cin ...
's design to convey the claustrophobic atmosphere of the boat. It had two gyroscopes to provide stability, a different and smaller scale solution than the Steadicam
Steadicam is a brand of camera stabilizer mounts for Movie camera, motion picture cameras invented by Garrett Brown and introduced in 1975 by Cinema Products Corporation. It was designed to isolate the camera from the camera operator's movement ...
, so that it could be carried throughout the interior of the mock-up.
Historical accuracy
Wolfgang Petersen created the film based on Buchheim's novel of the same name with several alterations to the plot and characters.
As a in the autumn of 1941, Buchheim joined Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock
Fregattenkapitän Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock (11 December 1911 – 18 April 1986) was a submarine commander in the ''Kriegsmarine'' of Nazi Germany during World War II. He commanded four U-boats, including , a Type VIIC U-boat, which gained wi ...
and the crew of ''U-96'' on her seventh patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
.[ On 27 October 1941, ''U-96'' left for her seventh patrol and joined group Stoßtrupp three days later. The next day, 31 October, the group made contact with convoy OS 10. ''U-96'' launched four torpedoes at a long range, one of which struck the Dutch SS ''Bennekom''. The ship went down half an hour after being hit, taking nine of her crew of 56 with her.
Following the attack, the sloop arrived on the scene and forced ''U-96'' under water with gun fire. The U-boat escaped the barrage of 27 depth charges unscathed. The next day, ''U-96'' encountered two more of the escorts, and , but managed to escape again.
The U-boat spent November patrolling the North Atlantic as part of groups Störtebecker and Benecke, until secretly entering the neutral port of ]Vigo
Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Penins ...
, Spain, and being resupplied by the interned German on 27 November. After leaving Vigo, ''U-96'' made for the Straits of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medit ...
, with orders to enter the Mediterranean. However, late on 30 November the U-boat was spotted by a Fairey Swordfish
The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also used ...
of 812 Naval Air Squadron and heavily damaged by two bombs dropped by the aircraft. Unable to reach her destination, ''U-96'' made for the port of Saint Nazaire
Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany.
The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. ...
. On the way she encountered the Spanish SS ''Cabo De Hornos'', which returned from South America, after delivering a group of Jewish refugees to the Dutch colony of Curaçao
Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...
, when Brazil denied them entry. When ''U-96''s torpedo missed, the ship was stopped and her papers checked. On 6 December 1941, after 41 days at sea, ''U-96'' returned to Saint Nazaire, having sunk one ship of .
In the film, there is only one ardent Nazi in the crew of 40, namely the First Watch Officer (referred to comically in one scene as or "Our Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
Leader"). The rest of the officers are either indifferent or openly anti-Nazi (the Captain). The enlisted sailors and NCO are portrayed as apolitical. In his book ''Iron Coffins
Herbert A. Werner (13 May 1920 – 6 April 2013) was a German submarine officer and captain during World War II. He served in five U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars ...
'', former U-boat commander Herbert A. Werner states that the selection of naval personnel based on their loyalty to the party only occurred later in the war (from 1943 onward) when the U-boats were suffering high casualties and when morale was declining. Such a degree of skepticism may or may not have occurred. In support of ''Das Boot'' on this subject, U-boat historian Michael Gannon maintains that the U-boat navy was one of the least pro-Nazi branches of the German armed forces.
Both the novel and the film had a much darker ending than in reality, where the U-boat returns to port only to be destroyed during an air raid with many of her crew killed or wounded. In reality, ''U-96'' survived almost to the end of the war, the majority of her senior officers surviving as well. Similarly to its on-screen fate, it was sunk by Allied bombers at its berth in Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsha ...
in March 1945.
Even though the beginning and the end of the film occur in the port of La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...
, it does not correspond historically. The submarine base
A submarine base is a military base that shelters submarines and their personnel.
Examples of present-day submarine bases include HMNB Clyde, Île Longue (the base for France's Force océanique stratégique), Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Na ...
in La Rochelle was not functional before November 1941, and at the time of the film the port was dried up. While Saint-Nazaire
Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany.
The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...
was the base used in the novel and where ''U-96'' was based at in late 1941, the film was changed to La Rochelle because its appearance had not changed to such a large degree in the years since World War II. Moreover, none of the British fighter-bombers of late 1941 to early 1942 had the range to bomb La Rochelle from bases in Great Britain.
Release
The film opened 17 September 1981 and received the widest release ever in West Germany, opening in 220 theatres and grossing a record $5,176,000 in the first two weeks.
The film opened in the United States on 10 February 1982.
Different versions and home media
Director Wolfgang Petersen has overseen the creation of several different versions of his film. The first to be released was the 149-minute theatrical cut.
The film was partially financed by German television broadcasters WDR and the SDR, and more footage was filmed than was shown in the theatrical version. A version of six 50-minute episodes was transmitted on BBC2
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
in the United Kingdom in October 1984 and again during the 1999 Christmas season. In February 1985 a version of three 100-minute episodes was broadcast in Germany.
Peterson then edited a 209-minute version, ''Das Boot: The Director's Cut'', combining the action sequences from the feature-length version with the character development scenes from the miniseries released to cinemas worldwide in 1997, also improving audio quality. In 1998 it was released on DVD as a single-disc edition including an audio commentary by Petersen, lead actor Jürgen Prochnow and director's cut producer Ortwin Freyermuth; a 6-minute making-of featurette; and in most territories, the theatrical trailer. In 2003 it was also released as a " Superbit" edition with no extra features, but with a higher bit-rate and the film spread across two discs.
From 2010 onwards, the 208-minute "Director's Cut", along with various new extras, was released internationally on Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
. The American 2-disc Collector's Set also uniquely included the original 149-minute theatrical cut, which is otherwise unreleased on DVD or Blu-ray.
In 2014 the original miniseries, also known as "The Original Uncut Version", was released on Blu-ray in Germany with optional English audio and subtitles.
In November 2018, "Das Boot Complete Edition" was released as a collection of 5 Blu-ray discs and 3 CDs. It contains more than 30 hours of material: the Director's Cut (208 min.), the Original Cinema version (149 min.), the complete TV Series in 6 parts ("The Original Uncut Version", 308 min.), Bonus Material (202 min. + various trailers), the Original Soundtrack by Klaus Doldinger
Klaus Doldinger (born 12 May 1936) is a German saxophonist known for his work in jazz and as a film music composer. He was the recipient of 1997's Bavarian Film Awards.
Life and work
Doldinger was born in Berlin, Germany, and entered a Düsse ...
(38:21 min.) and an Audio Book of the novel read by Dietmar Bär in German (910 min.).
For the "Director's Cut", the Original Cinema version and "The Original Uncut Version" TV Series, new English language soundtracks were recorded featuring most of the original cast, who were bilingual. These soundtracks are included on various DVD and Blu-ray releases as an alternative language to the original German.
* 1981 unreleased version (209 minutes)
* 1981 original theatrical cut (149 minutes)
* 1984 BBC miniseries (300 minutes)
* 1997 "Director's Cut" (208 minutes)
* 2004 "The Original Uncut Version" (293 minutes) – miniseries minus episode-opening flashback scenes
Reception
Critical response
The film received highly positive reviews upon its release. Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' gave the film four out of four stars.
Prior to the 55th Academy Awards on 11 April 1983 the movie received six nominations.
Cinematography for Jost Vacano, Directing for Wolfgang Petersen, Film Editing for Hannes Nikel, Sound for Milan Bor, Trevor Pyke, Mike Le-Mare, Sound Effects Editing for Mike Le-Mare, Writing (Screenplay based on material from another medium) for Wolfgang Petersen.
Today, the film is seen as one of the greatest German films. On review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film received an approval rating
An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...
of 98% based on 55 reviews, with an average rating of 9.10/10. The critical consensus states "Taut, breathtakingly thrilling, and devastatingly intelligent, ''Das Boot'' is one of the greatest war films ever made." The film also has a score of 86 out of 100 on Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
based on 15 critics indicating "universal acclaim". For its unsurpassed authenticity in tension and realism, it is regarded internationally as pre-eminent among all submarine films
The submarine film is a subgenre of war film in which the majority of the plot revolves around a submarine below the ocean's surface. Films of this subgenre typically focus on a small but determined crew of submariners battling against enemy sub ...
. The film was ranked #25 in ''Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' magazine's "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010.
In late 2007, there was an exhibition about the film ''Das Boot'', as well as about the real U-boat ''U-96'', at the Haus der Geschichte
Haus der Geschichte (officially ''Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland'', i.e. "House of the History of the Federal Republic of Germany") is a museum of contemporary history in Bonn, Germany. With around one million visitors ever ...
(House of German History) in Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
. Over 100,000 people visited the exhibition during its four-month run.
;Buchheim's views of the film
Though impressed by the technological accuracy of the film's set-design and port construction buildings, novelist Lothar-Günther Buchheim
Lothar-Günther Buchheim () (February 6, 1918 – February 22, 2007) was a German author, painter, and wartime journalist under the Nazi regime. In World War II he served as a war correspondent aboard ships and U-boats. He is best known for ...
expressed great disappointment with Petersen's adaptation in a film review published in 1981, describing Petersen's film as converting his clearly anti-war novel into a blend of a "cheap, shallow American action flick" and a "contemporary German propaganda newsreel from World War II".
Accolades
To this day, ''Das Boot'' holds the record for the most Academy Award nominations for a German film.
Soundtrack
The characteristic lead melody of the soundtrack, composed and produced by Klaus Doldinger
Klaus Doldinger (born 12 May 1936) is a German saxophonist known for his work in jazz and as a film music composer. He was the recipient of 1997's Bavarian Film Awards.
Life and work
Doldinger was born in Berlin, Germany, and entered a Düsse ...
, took on a life of its own after German rave
A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
group U96
U96 is a German musical project formed by DJ and producer Alex Christensen, and a team of producers named Matiz ( Ingo Hauss, Helmut Hoinkis, and Hayo Lewerentz). After a decade-long hiatus, the band returned in 2018 without Christensen and Ho ...
created a remixed "techno version" in 1991. The title theme "Das Boot
''Das Boot'' (, English: "The Boat") is a 1981 West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, and Klaus Wennemann. It has been exhibited both as ...
" later became an international hit.
The official soundtrack features only compositions by Doldinger, except for "" sung by Rina Ketty
Rina Ketty (1 March 1911 – 23 December 1996), whose real name was Cesarina Picchetto, was an Italian singer, notably of the legendary song ''J'attendrai''. The song became a huge hit during World War II and was appreciated by Allied soldiers a ...
. The soundtrack ("") released following the release of ''The Director's Cut'' version omits "".
Songs heard in the film, but not included on the album are "La Paloma
"La Paloma", "The Dove" in English, is a popular Spanish song that has been produced and reinterpreted in diverse cultures, settings, arrangements, and recordings over the last 140 years. The song was written by the Spanish Basque composer Seb ...
" sung by Rosita Serrano, the "" (a popular military march), "It's a Long Way to Tipperary
"It's a Long Way to Tipperary" (or "It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary") is an English music hall song first performed in 1912 by Jack Judge, and written by Judge and Harry Williams, though authorship of the song has long been disputed.
It ...
" performed by the Red Army Chorus, "" and the "".
Sequel
A sequel of the same name, in the form of a television series, was released in 2018, with different actors. It was set nine months after the end of the original film, and is split into two narratives, one based on land, the other set around another U-boat and its crew. Like the original film, the series is based on Lothar-Günther Buchheim
Lothar-Günther Buchheim () (February 6, 1918 – February 22, 2007) was a German author, painter, and wartime journalist under the Nazi regime. In World War II he served as a war correspondent aboard ships and U-boats. He is best known for ...
's 1973 book ''Das Boot'', but with additions from Buchheim's 1995 follow-up sequel .
See also
* List of World War II films
This is a list of fictional feature films or miniseries which feature events of World War II in the narrative.
There is a separate list of World War II TV series.
Criteria
* The film or miniseries must be concerned with World War II (or the ...
* Submarine films
The submarine film is a subgenre of war film in which the majority of the plot revolves around a submarine below the ocean's surface. Films of this subgenre typically focus on a small but determined crew of submariners battling against enemy sub ...
* Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
(1939–1945)
* ', 1941 propaganda film
* ', 1958 anti-war film
* '' The Cruel Sea'', 1953 film about a Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
escort during the Battle of the Atlantic
* '' Sharks and Little Fish''
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boot, Das
1981 films
1980s war drama films
German war drama films
1980s German-language films
Anti-war films about World War II
German epic films
Films based on German novels
Films based on military novels
World War II submarine films
Films directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Films scored by Klaus Doldinger
Columbia Pictures films
Films set in the 1940s
1980s German television miniseries
World War II television drama series
U-boat fiction
International Emmy Award for Drama winners
1980s German films