Das Boot: Difference between revisions

{{About|the film|the 2018 TV series|Das Boot (2018 TV series){{!}}''Das Boot'' (2018 TV series)|other uses|Das Boot (disambiguation)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}

{{Infobox film  

| name          = Das Boot

'''{{lang|de|Das Boot}}''' ({{IPA|de|das ˈboːt}}; {{lit|The Boat}}) is a 1981 [[West Germany|West German]] [[war film]] written and directed by [[Wolfgang Petersen]], produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring [[Jürgen Prochnow]], [[Herbert Grönemeyer]] and [[Klaus Wennemann]]. An [[Film adaptation|adaptation]] of [[Lothar-Günther Buchheim]]'s 1973 semi-autobiographical novel [[Das Boot (novel)|of the same name]], the film is set during [[World War II]] and follows the {{GS|U-96|1940|6}} and her crew, as they set out on a hazardous patrol in the [[Battle of the Atlantic]]. It depicts both the excitement of battle and the tedium of the fruitless hunt, and shows the men serving aboard [[U-boat#World War II (1939–1945)|U-boats]] as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country.

Produced on a [[Deutsche Mark|DM]]32 million budget (about ${{To USD|32|DEU|year=1982|round=1}} million, equivalent to [[Euro|€]]{{#expr:({{Inflation|DE|32|1982|r=3}} / {{FixedEuroRate|DEM}}) round 1}} million in {{Inflation-year|DE}}), the high production cost ranks it among the most expensive films in [[Cinema of Germany|German cinema]], but it was a commercial success, grossing nearly $85 million worldwide (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|84.9|1982}} million {{Inflation-year|US}}). The film has been exhibited both as a theatrical release (1981) and a TV [[miniseries]] (1985). Several different [[home video]] versions, as well as a [[director's cut]] (1997) supervised by Petersen, have also been released. [[Columbia Pictures]] issued both German-language and English-dubbed versions in the United States theatrically through their Triumph Classics label, earning $11 million.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McCarthy |first=Todd |date=1997-03-31 |title=Das Boot: The Director's Cut |url=https://variety.com/1997/film/reviews/das-boot-the-director-s-cut-1200449025/ |access-date=2022-06-28 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Plot==

The next morning, ''U-96'' sails out of the harbour of [[La Rochelle]], and Werner is given a tour of the boat. He observes ideological differences between the new crew members and the hardened veterans, particularly the captain, who is cynical about the war. The new men, including Werner, are mocked by the rest, who share a tight bond. The first watch officer is particularly disliked due to his pro-Nazi beliefs and meticulous grooming habits, which tie up the only bathroom. 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]] and attacked with [[depth charge]]s. They escape with light damage.

The crew reach La Rochelle on Christmas Eve. After Kriechbaum is taken ashore to an ambulance, [[Royal Air Force]] planes bomb and strafe the facilities. Ullmann, Johann, the second watch officer, and the {{lang|de|Bibelforscher}} are killed; Frenssen, {{lang|de|Bootsmann}} Lamprecht, and Hinrich are wounded. After the raid, Werner leaves the [[submarine pen|U-boat bunker]] in which he had taken shelter, and finds the captain badly injured by shrapnel, watching his U-boat sink. After the boat disappears, the captain collapses and dies. Werner rushes to his body and surveys the scene with tears in his eyes.

* [[Jan Fedder]] as {{lang|de|Maat}} (Petty Officer) Pilgrim: Another sailor (watch officer and diving planes operator) who 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 (actor)|Ralf Richter]] as {{lang|de|Maat}} (Petty Officer) Frenssen: Pilgrim's best friend. Pilgrim and Frenssen love to trade dirty jokes and stories.

* [[Oliver Stritzel]] 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.

* [[Konrad Becker]] as Böckstiegel: The [[Vienna|Viennese]] sailor who is first visited by Hinrich for crab lice.

* [[Otto Sander]] as {{lang|de|Kapitänleutnant}} Philipp Thomsen: An alcoholic and [[combat stress reaction|shell-shocked]] U-boat commander, who is a member of "The Old Guard", when introduced is extremely drunk and briefly mocks Hitler on the stage of the French bordello. (In the "Director's Cut" DVD [[audio commentary]], 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]] after 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.

* [[Sky du Mont]] as an officer aboard the ''Weser'' (uncredited).

===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]]) for the interior scenes. The mock-ups were built according to U-boat plans from [[Chicago]]'s [[Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)|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]] and the film he was shooting was ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]''.<ref>{{cite book | author=Marcus Hearn | title =The Cinema of George Lucas | publisher =Harry N. Abrams Inc, Publishers | year =2005 | location =[[New York City|New York]] | pages =127–134| isbn =0-8109-4968-7}}</ref> 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]] / Harvard) and rockets were real while the British ships were models.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Krug |first=Hans-Joachim |title=Filming Das Boot |url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1996/june/filming-das-boot |access-date=March 8, 2023 |website=U.S. Naval Institute|date=June 1996 }}</ref>

A mock-up of a conning tower was placed in a water tank at the [[Bavaria Film Studios|Bavaria Studios]] in [[Munich]] for outdoor scenes not requiring a full view of the boat's exterior. When filming on the outdoor mock-up 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.

==Reception==

===Critical response===

{{blockquote|"Das Boot" isn't just a German film about World War II; it's a German naval adventure epic that has already been a hit in West Germany.|source=Janet Maslin, ''The New York Times'', 10 February 1982<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B0DE6DA103BF933A25751C0A964948260 |title=Movie Reviews |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 2020}}</ref>}}

===Accolades===

==See also==

* [[List of World War II films]]

* ''{{lang|de|[[U-Boote westwärts!]]|italic=unset}}'', 1941 propaganda film

* ''{{lang|de|[[Die Brücke (film)|Die Brücke]]|italic=unset}}'', 1958 anti-war film

* {{Mojo title|dasboot}}

* {{Rotten-tomatoes|das_boot|Das Boot}}

{{InternationalEmmyAward Drama}}

[[Category:1981 films]]

[[Category:1980s war drama films]]

[[Category:German war drama films]]

[[Category:Anti-war films about World War II]]

[[Category:German epic films]]

[[Category:1980s German television miniseries]]

[[Category:World War II films based on actual events]]

[[Category:U-boat fiction]]

[[Category:International Emmy Award for Drama winners]]

[[Category:Films set in the Atlantic Ocean]]

[[Category:Films set in the Mediterranean Sea]]