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Official Website – story, making, original, director’s cut, multimedia, graphics restoration, more…

Wikipedia – detailed plot description, reception, criticism, music, versions, more…

IMDb – plot summary, cast, crew, more…

Notes on Das Boot from University of San Diego

DGA Monthly – “Wolfgang Petersen: Taking Das Boot through The Perfect Storm” by Ted Elrick

Das Boot (The Boat) - A Film Review by James Berardinelli

Das Boot – German U-boats, World War Two History, more…

Movie Review Query Engine – reviews for Das Boot

Das Boot 2

Buchheim based his novel on various adventures of a real U-96 (Type VIIIC-class U-boat under the command of Captain Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock). The original movie was, in 1981, the most expensive movie that Germany had ever made, costing over 30 million DM and Petersen was praised for his meticulous attention to detail, in creating such a historically accurate film. However, Buchheim, a former U-boat correspondent, felt that certain scenes in the movie were unrealistic. For instance, Buchheim believed that Werner’s position and rank on the ship would have commanded more respect from the crew. Also, the port of La Rochelle, from which the U-96 leaves and returns, was not functional during the time that the movie was set in and British planes lacked the necessary range to bomb that port at that time.

Since 1981, several versions of Das Boot have been released. As is usually the case, more footage was shot than appeared in the actual film. Because of the film’s success and immense popularity (it was, after all, nominated for six Academy Awards), a mini-series that incorporated the extra footage appeared on television in 1985. A longer director’s cut was released in 1997. Six years later, an “uncut” mini-series appeared on American television and was eventually released on DVD. Also, because all of the actors spoke fluent English, they could each play their own parts again when the film was dubbed for English-speaking audiences.

The original version took three years to make, beginning in 1979. Most of the filming was done over the course of one year and Petersen insisted on filming the scenes in sequence to make the character development and the appearances of the actors as realistic as possible. During this time, the actors were not permitted to go into direct sunlight, ensuring that their skin would look naturally and increasingly pale.

Even today, Das Boot has a large and fanatical following. U-boat enthusiasts are just the tip of the iceberg. Some fans call themselves “Booties,” as fan sites have popped up all over the net. Paying tribute in another way, countless films and television shows have made strong direct or indirect references to Das Boot, others have created parodies. Some even credit Petersen for starting a war film sub-genre for “submarine films.”

See Also

Luna, Christopher. “Wolfgang Peterson.” Current Biography 62.7 (2001): 59-63.

Rentschler, Eric. “The Use and Abuse of Memory: New German Film and the Discourse of Bitburg.” New German Critique 36 (1985): 67-90.

Rentschler, Eric. "West German Film in the Course of Time: Reflections on the Twenty Years since Oberhausen." German Quarterly 59.1 (Winter 1986): 175-176

Thompson, David G. “Villains, Victims, and Veterans: Bucheim’s Das Boot and the Problem of the Hybrid Novel-Memoir as History.” Twentieth Century Literature 39.1 (1993): 59-79.

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