Das Boot (1981) Reaction & Review! FIRST TIME WATCHING!! 

Das Boot is not just one of the greatest war films ever made, it is one of the greatest films ever made.

Thanks for watching it in German, with subtitles. The performance of the actors is so amazing, it literally would get lost in translation.

I am American and this was the first foreign language film I remember watching, I was about 14 or so and have been a fan of international films since. This was also the first WWII film I saw from the Germans point of view and it made me think about war differently. Great film.👍

For me the morale of the story is this: During a war, it doesn't matter how strong, smart or brave you are. If you are in there wrong place at the wrong time, you won't make it back.

The war correspondent Werner is played by Herbert Grönemeyer, who went on to have a pretty successful career as a musician and singer. A lot of people on the crew were played by actors who either already were famous at the time of filming or went on to become widely known afterwards. Another (very good) war movie that is shown from the German perspective is "The Bridge" (1959).

This really is the best submarine movie, just like Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is the best sailing boat movie. The submarine in this movie is more like a character than just a set piece. And in the end it dies too. :)

I saw this movie in the theater with my dad. When the sub was stuck at the bottom of the straight of Gibraltar, my dad nudged me and said "Listen!" The entire theater was so caught up the scene, we were all breathing heavy with the oxygen deprived crew.

Normally I'm not really into movies that are over 2 hours long, but I actually love the 5 hour version of this. I swear, if there was a cut that was a week long, that's the one I'd watch. Just makes you feel like you're one of the crew. After watching the longer versions the original American theatrical cut is almost unwatchable for me. I used to live in a place that used to flood during excessive rain season, and my roommate and I would throw Das Boot on knowing that the apartment would start flooding right around the time the sub was going down in the movie. Then we'd crank up the volume, and start bailing water together with the crew. Good times. 😂

I waited for it. One of the most famous movies from my country and a career start for a lot of actors. Glad you watched it

This movie came out right at the end of my enlistment, so I didn't see it until after I was discharged. This was 2 1/2 of the most uncomfortable hours of my life. Pretty much every fear of a submariner is in this movie. At this time, I was having occasional submarine nightmares and this movie just triggered me more. It's interesting how many similarities there were between WWII and my time on submarines during the 70's/80's. I can't vouch for the historical accuracy, but I will say they nailed the psychological elements. This is, by far, the best submarine movie I've seen.

The interior set of the sub was partet in sections (you can actually take a tour through them if you visit the moviestudios) and placed on a huge rocking table so in most scenes the camera is actually still and the whole set is moving. it was so real that some actors actually got sea/motion sick during filming. The food seen hanging all around the boat was actually real and decayed over time like it would in a real sub back then wich in combination with the rotting costumes due to high moisture led to a breath taking stench on the whole set for weeks.

2:27 - yes. He was also on David Lynch's Dune as Duke Leto Atreides. Jurgen Prochnow is his name. And this movie make him recognizable actor outside Germany and open gates to Hollywood for 80s and 90s. Mostly as a supporting actor.

RIP Wolfgang Petersen 😪 The Boot is a Masterpiece of Film making

The novel was written by a war corresponent on a U-Boat in WW2, so this is kind of a memoir and this adds a lot to realism. They had three models for the open sea shots and some of the shots were made on a surviving boat in Laboe, Germany. By the way, the actor playing the war correspondent is now a famous German rock singer, Herbert Groenemeyer. Thanks for reacting to it, good job.

The actor portraying the Commander is Jürgen Prochnow. A German actor with a *very* long filmography. In addition to the films you mentioned, he's been in David Lynch's 'Dune', 'The Seventh Sign', 'In the Mouth of Madness', 'The Da Vinci Code', and many others. He also portrayed Philip Adler in the audiobook version of 'World War Z', a performance I very much enjoyed.

The novel is a semi-autobiographical piece, the author being the correspondent. He took some good pictures. The novel isn't exactly fiction, most of the incidents happened, although not all of them to the specific boats on which the author served.

Since you asked about the technical aspects, here are some things I hopefully remember correctly: The interior was built to scale as close to the real thing as possible. It was set on a gimbal to be able to rock the boat during the depth charge attacks and for the diving scenes. The full scale exterior boat was mostly wood, I believe. It was lent to „Raiders of the Lost Ark“, when they needed a German submarine for that movie. The boat in the wide shots was a miniature that was big enough for a diver to lie in it (who sometimes got seasick) and the „men“ in the tower were apparently Barbie dolls or something similar, which should give you an idea of scale. The illusion was often destroyed, when seagulls landed on the boat. I suspect they had another model for the diving scenes. They definitely had a smaller model for the underwater scenes that were filmed in a tank (unlike Hunt for Red October, where they filmed in a studio with smoke and some CGI additions). When you see the guys on the tower during a storm, it‘s just the tower with front projection for the sea and being blasted with hectoliters of water. The DP Jost Vacano designed his own camera rig (similar to a steady cam, but more compact) to film the scenes inside the sub. Unfortunately the gyroscopes of the rig were so loud that the audio wasn‘t usable. Even in the original German version almost all scenes are dubbed. Jost Vacano also wore a helmet, because during the diving scenes her ran after the crew. The submarine pen that you thought was a set is actually the real thing. According to the audio commentary, when the film was first shown in New York there was applause when the beginning revealed that 3/4 of the men never returned. But after the movie was over they received standing ovations instead.

As a former submariner, this is the best movie of the genre. It really shows the claustrophobic conditions and the contrast between slow and busy times. Glad to see it getting some love.

"Das Boot" is without a doubt the most intense movie I have ever seen. The claustrophobia is palpable. As a side note, you might consider watching "Tora, Tora, Tora," a joint Japanese-American production that tells the story of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in a pseudo-documentary fashion from the perspective of both sides.

Favourite war film, no contest. I still remember seeing this as mini TV series back in about 1990. Utterly compelling.

And yes now watch "Downfall/Der Untergang"

While I have great respect for Petersen's directing skills (he did great things in the eighties), I think we should mention the unsung hero of this production, the DP Jost Vacano. He was a regular Paul Verhoeven collaborator and photographed most of his movies, like Robocop and Total Recall. In Das Boot he did an incredible job making the camera flow so well in those cramped spaces... he should've won an Oscar.

When referring to WW2 Germans, I try to only call the SS and SA soldiers “Nazis.” I would imagine the average German enlisted soldier was operating from a sense of patriotism rather than Nazi ideology. The SS and SA, however, were definitely believers in ethnic superiority and all other aspects of Nazism.

I think this is a top 5 film of all time. It was a revelation. Also, most Nazis were German, or of German descent, but not all Germans were Nazi. Considered themselves as loyal Germans, but not Nazi.

Neverending Story is ABSOLUTELY worth reviewing . . .

I highly recommend the movie "Downfall" from 2004!

An epic submarine adventure film! I have the 210 minute Directors Cut, while the 300 minute cut is very rare to find nowadays.

"I hope it's worth it." Oh boy, are you in for a real treat! One of the best films ever.

In USA was suprisingly big box office success. Even have six Academy Awards nominations for: Best Director, Best Screenplay Adapted, Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing and Best Editing. It was first (on one of first) movie using Steadicam.

The u-boat pens are the actual ones which still survive in France today. The sub set was built in one piece to show how cramped and awful it was inside.

Minor technical point, but an important one: these are/were submersible boats rather than true submarines. They ran best/fastest on the surface, on the diesel engines. Underwater they were slower partially due to their primitive electric drive and partially because of their not very advanced hydrodynamics. There was enough battery capacity to run very slowly submerged for about a day, but would have problems with ventilation and build-up of CO2. Normal operating procedure was to run on the surface at night with the diesels providing propulsion and charging the batteries, and during the day in safeish areas, submerging during daylight hours when enemy were expected nearby and to take hydrophone scans. This was fairly successful until RADAR/RDF became common on Allied surface ship. Most German u-boats weren't fitted with a snorkel (ventilation tube which worked at periscope depth to let the engines and men breathe) until about 1943 so had no choice but to run on the surface a lot of the time, where they were very vulnerable. Later in the war the type XXI u-boats completely change the dynamic, designed from the beginning to charge the batteries at periscope depth and actually running faster underwater than on the surface. Luckily for everyone who wasn't a fan of Corporal Schicklgruber it was a bit late by then.

Ahh you didn't say you've seen Peterson's In The Line Of Fire (1993)!! It has Clint Eastwood right after his Unforgiven, and John Malkovich going against each other. You are missing out!!

Your movie reactions are by far the most insightful on RU-vid, and your knowledge of directors, cinematographers, composers etc. is unparalleled. Additionally, your editing needs to be commended. If I had a nickel for each time I’ve heard the word “dang” to describe a scene on other reaction channels, I’d have generational wealth. Only on your channel do I screen movies for the first time. Keep up the good work. A few suggestion - The Sting, Le Mans, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World, Money Ball/Major League. Patton. Le Mans

Stalingrad is also a great German war movie. And then of course there's "Der Untergang"

The exterior shots were done with a small replica which had just one guy sitting in it. It was a real submarine, including dive tanks, rudder bulge pumps etc. He was out into it and they screwed the hatch shut and then off he went. They also incited on real waves here, so when the fishers came in because of high waves and bad weather, they went out with this boat. In addition there was the command tower build inside a studio, so if you see a closeup, it's mostly in a studio with a two ton water canon for the splash effects. There was also a very crude exterior replica, which actually got destroyed (pulled away from the harbor in a storm) and partly rebuild. This is what's beeing used in the harbors and very slow moving scenes where people stand around. The rebuild was then used in the end (pretty fittingly) in the end of the film as they came back to Italy. And for the interiors they used an additional replica which could be filled with water and all stuff you see inside is real: So e.g. the mold in the bread was real and the whole scene is actually improvised. The bread molded from the moisture in the set over the weeks and weeks of production.

I have to disagree with you a bit. Not all German soldiers were Nazi's. I think I'll just leave it at that.

@Shan Watches Movies 6:52 In German they are called "U-Boot" - the "U" stands for "Untersee", so basically it's an "under sea boat" or "sub marine". 🤓

My favorite tidbit about the movie is that the full size replica used in the outside shots was borrowed by Spielberg for Raiders of the Lost Ark as they were filming in the same area at the time. However the production company failed to notify the film crew, so one day the Das Boot crew found their boat simply missing.

I dont know, if anyone said it yet, the Boat U96 was a "Type VII" submarine. With over 700 units build, it still is the largest number of units for one type of ship. out of 704 boats, only ONE is remaining! U 995 .... she sits on the beach in Laboe, germany and is a museum and memorial. Also a cool fact, once a year on "world radio day" her radio is powered up again and her callsign is travalling around the world again. Also... the guy who played Johann, was the farmer who got stabbed by order of Tim Currys - Richelieu in 1993s three musketeers ;)

To address your question about disease in wartime, until the later part of the 20th Century deaths of military personnel from disease and non-battle injury have exceeded deaths from combat with the numbers ranging from 3:1 to 10:1 -- and civilian deaths from disease and starvation in many conflicts have exceeded military deaths by millions. (Former Navy preventive medicine technician and amateur historian here.)

I am SO glad you finally got to see this Shan, and the Directors Cut too, IMO this is the best war film ever made. Two other films from the German perspective that are quite good and worth watching are, "Cross of Iron" (1977) by Sam Peckinpah "Stalingrad" (1993) by Joseph Vilsmaier

They had one full scale floating mock-up sub, that could be used in calm seas - that also makes an appearance in _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ - All the other sub shots are models.

10:10 . That’s me the first time I watched this movie too, the soundtrack of the song “Konvoi”…. The sub pressing through the violent Atlantic… the sound design for the boat crushing through the water. One of the best scenes

My father served in Canadian corvettes escorting convoys from 1940 to 1945. When this movie came out he did not want to watch it. I never asked him why but I could image two reasons, or perhaps a combination of them. One, watching a story about the submarines that sank ships in the convoys, killing most of their crews. Two, watching a story of the men he was dropping depth charges on, trying to kill them. Some notes on submarines of that era. They traveled mainly on the surface using diesel engines until sighted by the enemy or while stalking the enemy. Later in the war when the allies had better air patrols they traveled on the surface mainly at night, although even that wasn't safe due to the use of radar. When submerged, they would use electric motors powered by batteries and could only travel at a much lower speed than when surfaced. The batteries would be recharged and the air refreshed while surfaced at least until late in the war when some u-boats were fitted with snorkels. One other thing, when a submarine reaches crush depth it doesn't actually crush like a can. What happens is a weak spot will fail and the high pressure water fills the boat in a matter of seconds at most, blowing through all the internal bulkheads.

"Cross of Iron" is another WWII film from the German perspective. It is about the Eastern Front, and set during a period when the Germans are being pushed back. It also borders on gore-porn, but it really does a good job of character development and also of showing the horrors of combat.

I can remember seeing the 5 hour tv miniseries version as a six year old and the scene with the burning ship was utterly horrifying and unlike any war movie I'd seen up to that point (previously it would've been relatively bloodless popcorn movies like Kelly's Heroes). The submarine pen at the end is real, built by the occupying forces during WW2 at La Rochelle (it was also used, along with the submarine set, in Raiders of the Lost Ark). The pen is now derelict but so massive and heavily reinforced that it's considered too expensive to demolish; there are also WW2 pens at other French ports (I believe the ones at Saint Nazaire, Lorient and Bordeaux are open to the public) whilst the ones at the naval base in Brest are still in use today. If you haven't already, you should also check out Downfall (2004) and Valkyrie (2008) for a couple of different films from the German perspective.

I was in the boat set as a child. A small child. The movie makes it seem way more spacious than reality. I felt totally squished in at 6 years.

Shan I've seen perhaps two dozen of your reviews by now, but I've never seen you this animated and gushing when reviewing a movie afterwards. But it's not surprising, this is a legendary film.

You should read the novel "Das Boot" and the sequel ("Die Festung" - "The Fortress, referring to the "Fortress Europe" prior to the Normandy invasion). The author, Lothar-Günther Buchheim, was a real war correspondant on several U-Boats during WW2. "Lt. Werner" is his alter ego. Most of the plot is fictional, but the setting and the circumstances are quite accurate and some events shown in the movie actually happened in reality. Fun Fact: The real-life U-Boat Ace Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock was Buchheim's captain on several voyages and served as the inspiration for the character of the Captain ("der Alte"/"the old one") in the novel and the movie. He actually visited the movie set once.

To quickly answer your question: Yes, there´s a ton of making-of material available. As a matter of fact, there should be some on your DVD/Blu-Ray as well. Also, the novel is almost entirely based on true events (cobbled together of course), so the film is actually very true to actual WW2 events. Lt. Werner is the avatar of the novel´s author Lothar Guenther Buchheim, who was a war correspondent himself.

Man i really enjoyed your Review. The way you edit it, avoiding copyright issues, showing your genuine reaction on the fly and make this all not be choppy is just amazing! Quite a unique format you conceived here and your background knowledge of filmmaking is interesting on top.

Fun Fact: Nearly the whole Crew(!) is all played by Big Stars here in Germany! Stars like Jürgen Prochnow, Klaus Wennemann,, Martin Semmelrogge, Ralf Richter, Heinz Hoenig, Claude-Oliver Rudoplph, Herbert Grönemeyer, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Jan Fedder, Erwin Leder The Exterior Scenes were shot with Miniature Models in a big Pool. The Original Boot lnterior which was used for Filiming can be visited in the Bavaria Film Studios in Munich

13:03 Those explosions do look wonderful. Also good reaction. :) 13:28 Yeah, that is great. Many faces/expressions to convey the feeling of the situation. 13:40 % 32:11 But german soldiers weren't nazis. Nazis were a party not all germans. 17:32 Almost too claustrophobic for me :) 19:17 How it was to be in a U-boat in world war II. 21:17 ...batman ;) 28:24 That laugh is great. 28:47 No. :)

This movie was actually a breakthrough for many of the actors. Almost all of them were pretty unknown at the time. Jürgen Prochnow (the Captain) went to Hollywood like Petersen. Herbert Grönemeyer (Lt. Werner, the war correspondant) played roles in several german movies and later became a famous pop singer. Klaus Wennemann (the Chief Engineer), died early, but was an accimplished theatre actor, like Prochnow.

the writer of the book was an actual war corespondent in ww2. he wrote the story out of his big experience during wartime and was at the set with petersen to advice the whole crew. i think in my opinion the movie is about what war is after you remove all the propaganda an idealism. the captain (who is acted by jürgen prochnow) is a realist. he knows about the cost of war and is not blinded by what the propaganda machine is feeding everyone anymore. he is experienced enough to know how costly the war is and that it is not easily won. i think he would rather be somewhere else, but tries to take good care of his crew to bring them home safely. you can see this in the scene where johann snapped. the captain ran back to his quarters to get his gun. he would have put johann down if he tried to open the airlock. that would have killed everyone on the boat. johann was his friend. they where on many missions together (9 i think) and had a close relationship. you can also see his character and true feelings in the scene where they sink the still burning freighter and the still alive crew tries to get away from it. he was upset why noone tried to rescue them. i doubt he would have fired on the ship if he had known in that moment there where still people on it.

The Set at departure was actually filmed in france, La Rochelle. Germany built those bunkers during WW2 during their occupation to protect U-Boot from Air Bombing Raids and still standing. The thing with depth charges is, that usually they dont destroy the sub right away. But what happens is that the valves, bolts and lights cant take the uneven exploding pressure and the sub takes water. Used so the sub must surface and therefor cant do anything.

All your followers are so glad that you finally got round to watch this film. You are one to appreciate a good movie when you see one, and we are glad to see you so happy to have watched a true masterpiece.

It’s always interesting to view things from the perspective of “the enemy”. Many German servicemen were not Nazis, just young men (and women) who were fighting for their country and their lives, it’s ok to respect them and sympathise with them. They were not all evil people but unfortunately they were the enemy regardless during war. As Shifty Powers from Easy Company once said, he often thought about the men he had to kill during combat that if circumstances were different they might of been good friends with much in common. Baz Battles video on the last action of the Battleship Scharnhorst trying to escape the Royal Navy is another fascinating example of viewing war from the perspective of the Germans where you find yourself sympathising with the enemy. Great movie and your reaction does it justice.

Hi I grew up with this film. Parts of the set can be visited till today at Bavaria Film Studios in Munich. For the open water and underwater shots they used several models in lenghts 2,3m, 5m and 11m. The open water shots from some distance were taken with the 11m model at atlantic seas waters west of France. Pay attention that at the beginning of the film intentionally the U-Boat drives always from left to right with the meaning "going forward" over the screen, and at the end of the film from right to left with the meaning "going backward". This concept was taken from "Wochenschau", where in the second worldwar the german army were shown driving and marching from west to east(left to right), to demonstrate to the public the power of the german army going foreward. For the nearby scenes with crew on deck they built an 1:1 model of the top water part of an U-Boat Type VIIb which was round about 67m long, made of metal and buoncy barrels underneath. For the shots inside the U-Boat they build a 1:1 "Druckkörper" with al length from round about 50m also all in metal and welded parts. For the film they placed this inner part of the U-Boat on a hydraulic setting, something like an airplane simulator for professionals. The film crew never knows the movements beforehand. There are no openings for the camera. All Scenes within the U-Boat were taken with an handheld camera. Information how to build the models ,outer 1:1 and inner 1:1 parts were taken from historical plans and also by evaluation an taking photos of an real and visitable U-Boat type VII C41 at Laboe, nearby Kiel in germany. A Making of movie were not a standard in 1981 and as I know does not exist. The author of the novell "Das Boot" Lothar-Günther Buchheim published a book called "Der Film - Das Boot" in 1981 with round about 250 photos and text descriptions of the making of the film. The U-Boat Bunker in the film set was a real U-Boat bunker from the second world war located in La Pallice France. The underwater shots with depthcharges were made with model depthcarges in a water bassin at Bavaria film studios. Also the scene with the attacked and burning vessel were taken in this water bassin. Do you remember the scene with the man over board ? This was not planned content of the story book, but an incident at the film set while filming the crew in the tower at heavy storms. For this scene round about 1000l of Water were smashed against a tower setup in the studios. Hereby the actor was splashed out of the tower and all thought this was improvisation and the cameras kept running. The actor had I thought three broken rips, when remembering the content of the book "Der Film - Das Boot".

ROB ROY. The best movie no one's seen. Stars Liam Neeson & Tim Roth. Was released a month after "Braveheart" and thus, was overshadowed by it. But like Braveheart, Rob Roy is about a factual Scottish person a few centuries after William Wallace. Tim Roth stars as one of my all-time favorite villains in this one. In fact, Tim Roth received his only Oscar nomination for his role in the movie. Just had to mention as a recommendation. Don't think you'd be disappointed.

The best war film ever imo, but there are so many different versions. The 4 hour version in German with subtitles is the one to watch. The scene in the Straights of Gibralter is oppressive and incredible.

Trivia: The very same sailing submarine prop made for Das Boot, appears in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. As for your question about the making of the film, my blu-ray version has plenty of extras.

Like so many soldiers said, war is 90% absolute, utter boredom, waiting for ANYTHING to happen, followed by 10% of shere, utter, pants-shitting fear and madness. That's what this movie picked up on. The director's cut does a pretty good job of conveighing it, but the five part mini-series does an even greater job at it. The outer shots were done either as post production on blue-/green-screen with a scale model in a large water tank, or with a full-scale external model only, IIRC. The complete submarine INTERIOR was ONE closed set, with no fourth wall open for shooting the scenes. The camera man actually carried a special camera through the complete interior. This allowed full 360 degree turns inside the full set at any location. The WHOLE team had to actually run through the cramped set, and even dive through the low pressure doors, INCLUDING the camera man, making a shooting day one of the most excruciatingly exhausting shots imaginable when multiple of those scenes had to be shot. The whole crew of actors was NOT allowed to get any tans, and also was not allowed to shave during the shooting of the whole movie (well, with the exception of the political officer who shaved because it was part of the role). People who wasted precious drinking water on board by brushing their teeth or washing too often were often termed a "Duschhure", or a "showering whore" on board German subs. Obviously the actors were allowed to wash and clean, but the costumes were only kept in working condition, not patched up. Thus you can imagine the stench on the set as the movie progressed.

I remember that after the release of the movie they stated that not a single rivet popped on a single U-Boot during WW II. That is not because the rivets were superior, but the U-Boots of WW II were wielded not riveted like in the Great War (WW I). People condemned the movie because they showed rivets popping, but it's used as an element of story telling and it's more dramatic than the wielding giving way...

If you are interested in other anti-war movies made from the german perspective, i would highly recommend "Die Brücke"-"The Bridge" from 1959. It´s very melodramatic, but really drastic and eye-opening for it´s time. Thank you for your afford and greetings from Germany.

Nice! You should try to find the 5+ hr cut. Really good and even the 1st officer gets a little redemption.

Its not about liking Nazis, its about the understanding that we are all just human beings. Most soldiers never wanted to be killed in a war that was not their idea. They had no choice. So feeling sympathy for the poor fellows in that U-boat is a pretty normal thing.

Diving was a double-edged sword. Going deep might make the Uboat harder to detect and could put them under the depth charges (because charges exploding under a sub do more damage), but the pressure at greater depths increased the danger radius of the charges and the hull was under greater stress making it easier to damage. A number of Uboats were lost or severely damaged by ramming attacks by surface vessels. The ships were banged up too but typically survived to be refitted. One such British Captain also developed a deadly tactic. He would have three sub hunters pass over the Uboat's position side by side and saturate a wide area with depth charges. Few Uboats seem to have survived that tactic. However, it was not widely adopted. Going to the Mediterranean was seen as a suicide mission for little return. It just shows how the Germans dissipated what little resources they had. England was the main enemy but rather than focus there, and forcing the Luftewaffe (sp) to cooperated (planes were very good at spotting ships and convoys and sank many ships, especially once they were forced tomuse torpedoes rather than bombs), they'd have had better effect. Instead Uboats were scattered all over the place, and they didn't have many operational ones at the start of the war anyway, not nearly enough nor of suitable types. Lastly, there is a Uboat at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. You can tour through most of it and they have an audio recording of what the engines sounded like. I think they used the sound of those engines in this movie. Recommendations that I haven't seen yet: "Danger Close" about the Australians in Vietnam, one of their more famous battles; and "All Quiet on the Western Front" 1930 version. It follows some young German soldiers through WWI, and this version is better than the later remake.

One of my favourite films! Yes, I think there is one or two documentaries about the making of the film and at least one is her on youtube. It is based on the novel of the same name and the novel was written by a navy war correspondent, based on his patrols aboard the U-96. There are a few differences in the adaptation, but they work better in the film. The fun trivia: The actor didn't know what was going to happen in the depth charges scenes, they weren't told, so when things began to happen,some reactions of fear and surprise were true. And they used barbies in a few exterior shots! Not so fun: the "mean overboard" did happened during filming, it was an accident but the reaction was true, the IIWO did shout and they keep rolling. Then they realised that the actor did suffer injuries. He broke a few ribs. Even so, the scene was kept and they shot the cable braking to add to the story.

Most of the sailors in the film were simply Kriegsmarine, just German navy and not nazi party members. the only real member of the nazi party on board was the kid from Mexico City, So when you, me or anyone sympathizes with them we are not feeling kindly to nazis, just sailors doing their duty, not for an inane ideology but for each other and their captain.

06:25 "Look how fast they're moving" True fact: Most of the crew run forward during an emergency dive to act as ballast, transfer the weight of their own body to the boat's bow to help it dive faster. Modern submarines are so heavy (compared to WWII U-boats) that this technique is now obsolete. Yet it's sometimes still used in small vessels (scientific, rescue).

30:00 That correspondent wrote the book. U96 is not mentioned on the memorial for the U boot crews in Laboe, because she didn't sink at sea.

On RU-vid the 6 hrs episodic version is available... It's broken down like a mini series of 1hr episodes. It has scenes that were cut out that flesh out the characters more and shows another air attack the Uboat comes under after leaving port and the dangers they faced from spies reporting Uboat movements. Also they realise the rumours about the British having Huff Duff radar must be true which is why they got spotted in the night and before their periscope in the storm. My favourite war film and yes, there's the making of Das Boot which is brilliant on RU-vid. The same uboat that they used to film this, is the same Uboat used in other films, there's only one and based in Malta. It's also used in the new Das Boot series that has a season 3 coming soon which was filmed in 8k if I remember.

Of Petersens' other movies, I can also heartedly recommend "Enemy Mine".

17:01 During wartime, domestic watchmakers are often contracted to build watches for the military. Typically, they are provided with very general specs and requirements that must be followed, and multiple watchmakers will produce watches that meet those specs. Like for US soldiers in WW2, the A-11 was a common watch. Some of the specs were black dial with white hands, manual wind (not automatic), at least a 15-jewel movement, and a center second hand with hacking. Elgin, Waltham, and Bulova all manufactured these watches. There are minor differences but they all look mostly identical, regardless of who made it, because they all had to follow the specs the US government had laid out. Likewise, the German Kriegsmarine had a spec for the U-boat stopwatches, and Junghans, being a German watchmaker, was one of the companies contracted to supply those stopwatches.

The German U boats were highly effective in sinking supplies going to England and as a weapon of terror until two things happened: 1. The Allies invented radar, which could detect subs cruising on the surface and 2. The Allies cracked the German radio communication codes. After that, the U boats were finished since they lacked the element of surprise. The Allies also produced “Q ships” - ships which looked like freighters but sported hidden guns, and which were placed in freighter convoys.

GREAT film.On u-boats,extremely close quarters,zero privacy,pretty easy to get on each others nerves and high stress.When I was in the navy,at my a-school in San Diego,there was a pier with navy ships and subs,you could get a guided tour of them on weekends,just show your military id.So one weekend I had a tour aboard a boomer and fast attack subs.I actually considered volunteering for sub duty,but my visit aboard subs changed all that !!! LOL.Hot-racking and abandoning ship made me change my mind !!! LOL.

Peterson makes a differentiation between the Nazi state, and the ordinary sailors in the Kriegsmarine. Cinematographically its incredible. Even the way the rush through the Straits of Gibraltar with just the captain on deck, screaming Schnell! as the waves broke over the boat etc.

The book was written by Lothar-Günther Buchheim who was a war correspondent and most characters are based on people he actually met.

There is a Making Of on RU-vid, but it doesn't have subtitles. I'll just quote some points from German Wikipedia: They used several miniatures, the largest one being 11 metres long, which actually drove in the ocean. The studio set was on hydraulics, to simulate the up and down movement. That was so loud, the entire film had to be dubbed. During production, the actors were not allowed to go into the sun or to shave. The book this was based on was written by an actual war time correspondent, and he was on the real U96 - so this movie is sort of based on real events. The author suffered from PTSD and was only able to write the book 25 years after the war.

There were no Submarines in WW2, they were primarly surface ships with the ability to submerge, technically they were Submersibles.

Having some background knowledge helps understanding the story better. By the time at which the movie plays, the submarine war had already turned against the Germans. Their enigma code was broken (which the Germans didn't know) and allied destroyers were equipped with radar (which the Germans didn't know). This means the Brits / Americans listened to all communication. They knew where the German submarines were operating and they could detect them at the surface via radar. Back then, submarines mostly operated emerged, they could only dive with electric drive for a few hours till the batteries were depleted and had to be recharged by the Diesel engines at the surface. While the German submarines were extremely successfull during the first years of the war, they now were sinked in large numbers and nobody knew why. So the captain (and the older guys) knew it's pretty much a suicide mission they're sent on. Their chances of returning alive was minimal.

I'm a little claustrophobic, and the scene - there's one in *every* submarine movie - where they go below their safe depth and everything starts groaning and popping and the red lights are on, never fails to give me the heebie-jeebies. Das Boot beat them all for such horrors, mind. PS. Added much later. U-boats were not technically submarines: they were surface vessels which could submerge for extended periods. True submarines are undersea vessels which can surface.

Yes, there is a replica submarine. It's still on display at the studio in munich and you can see it on guided tours.

As a kid, I visited the "Bavaria" film studios in Munich and could walk through the real set of the inside of the u-boat. Tourists can walk through it and get a feeling of how narrow the space inside was. And to know, that you can experience this part of such a movie classic by yourself, is very impressive.

Another good german war film is "Stalingrad" from 1993. As the title suggests it's about the bloddiest battle on the eastern from the german perspective.

The Submarine base, where they start and end, is an actual one, built on the west coast of France (after the conquest in 1940). The base, while bombed by Allied bombs, still survives as a museum area. (My Parents visited, traveling in France, 20 years ago.) While DAS BOOT was being filmed in 1980, Stephen Spielberg directing "Raiders of the Lost Ark" found that another movie was being filmed, with a German U-Boat, which he needed for the adventure of Indy,...so, the base at LaRochelle, with U-Boat was shared by Peterson and Spielberg -and the ocean scene with freighter and U-Boat...link between two amazing films.

Shan, there is a back story on the production of Das Boot and the model subs that were built and used in the production. They did not have an actual U boat. That story is on youtube, I just watched it yesterday.

Great film, Das Boot is a classic. Might I suggest a few other German WW2 films ... Stalingrad, Europa Europa, Aimee& Jaguar and the outstanding Downfall.

Neverending story is also great and worth a watch but I definetely prefer the german version/cut for the more somber music. But the internationa cut has it's perks too. Overall it's a movie that could benefit greatly from a reboot to also cover the rest of the book since the the neverending story 1 only covers maybe half of the book and the 2nd movie is only roughly based on what's happening in the rest...VERY roughly.

One of the funniest scenes for me is crewman,to his mates- 'I know what you're thinking,that I've this stinking shirt on for a month, well you're wrong,I've had it on since we left port' !!

The underwater exterior shots are miniatures. The conning tower scenes are shot on a mock-up bridge in a studio tank in front of a blue cyclorama screen. If you look carefully, you can see a blemish in the "blue sky" above the characters' heads where the cyc was damaged and had to be stuck back together with tape. In the years following WWII, allied nations had opportunities to closely examine captured German UBoats and confirm something that had been suspected but not generally known. Because of precision German engineering and construction, German UBoats could dive to over twice the depths that allied subs were capable of.

Another well renowned warfilm from the german perspetive is Stalingrad you might want to see it at some point since it has alot of similarities to Das Boot. Above that there is a german miniseries that is often called the german Band of Brothers. in english its called Generation War if i remember correctly. Both movie/series have an outstanding cast and worth a try.

Hi Shan, As a German I appreciate you liked the film which is also one of my own favourites of all times. As you said, the tension displayed and the changes of characters is hardly matched by any other movies out there. If you ever travel to Germany, there is a movie museum in Munich where there is the uboot (it's more like half a uboot) where they took all the shots inside the uboot, which is pretty impressive to see. Having that said, I'd like to share one more thought with you and I honestly hope this does not sound weird in any way: Both my grandfathers as well as several grand-uncles of mine served in the war on the German side. Knowing these men and their stories and hearing you calling German sailors (or soldiers) 'Nazi' per se hurts me to be honest. Let me ask you one question back: If you went to an American army base in Afghanistan before they pulled out and you asked them if they are big fans of Trump and what he is doing, would you expect all of them to be perfectly in line? Same goes for the Russian conscripts and Stalin on the Eastern front. They were first and foremost German soldiers and it would mean a lot to me if you would - when you react to the next war movie - name them accordingly, unless there is SS or something involved where it is obviously a different story.

I saw this when it was originally serialised on TV, before being cut down to film length, and it was so epic! And when I did a German exchange in Munich, we visited the studios where they had some of the sets and models used in the filming. Probably still the best war movie ever, imo.

"The only survivor is the war correspondent". As far as I know he was the author of the book "Das Boot" where this film based on. But the real captain survived too. He died in 1986.

Hello, im German. I found it very interesting how you reacted to this film. Original German soundtrack with English subtitles. that was something new for me too. However, I had to realize that the translation in the film is very bad. A lot of dialogue is lost. As a result, the film loses certain values. But that's the same the other way around. When I watch a Hollywood film in German and then see the original, that's also a different experience.

Before I even start your video - FINALLY! This is one of the best (anti-)war films! Looking forward to see your reaction :) Please also do Children of Men.

From what I remember blue light means silence on the boat, red light is used during night time so as not to lose night vision if you have to keep watch on the bridge or use the periscope, and normal light is day time.

This is great that you did this! I was similarly impressed by this one when I first saw it forever ago. Glad to see you detailed appreciation of it.