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UK Mall 1 - Das Boot, The Director's Cut (A Wolfgang Petersen Film)
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List Price: £9.99
Our Price: £10.56
Your Save: £ 0.00 ( % )
Availability:
Manufacturer: Columbia Tristar
Starring: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch, Martin Semmelrogge
Directed By: Wolfgang Petersen
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Audience Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 5014138279103
Format: Dolby
Label: Columbia Tristar
Manufacturer: Columbia Tristar
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Columbia Tristar
Region Code: 2
Release Date: 2008-06-23
Running Time: 200
Studio: Columbia Tristar
Theatrical Release Date: 1982-02-10
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Das Superbit Boot
Comment: Spread over two discs with no extras and no space wasted, this is an outstanding DVD of an outstanding series, shown here as one long "movie" cut. The optional dubbed English audio track might offend the purists (me included), but bear in mind two things: one, the whole thing was dubbed anyway (in German), because the set was so noisy and two, the entire cast spoke English and dubbed themselves, so it's a LOT better than you might expect, should you find yourself using the English track as a means to get someone to see it! Hopefully it won't come to that...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Exceptional
Comment: The acting, atmosphere and unsentimental approach to this film (from a very fine book) make this a pleasure to watch. Both moving and plausible.
Highly recommended.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Gripping naval war drama
Comment: This is possibly the best of all Naval WW2 films, but I have just a few quibbles. Although technically very detailed and informative in most areas, as you'd expect of a German production, I did notice several faults, some minor, but a few of them, major. The Captain wasting a whole torpedo on an already destroyed tanker was ludicrous, as all U Boats were notoriously frugal with their ammo. But the main problems came with the damage she took from the British destroyer, when still in the Atlantic. Those depth charges going off so close to her would have ripped her apart, and yet she sustained relatively minor damage, a fire in the instrument room, a ruptured bilge or ballast tank, and a cracked air shaft. I say relatively minor, but all three of these problems would have meant she would have had to have surfaced very quickly. That air shaft alone would have spelt major trouble for them, especially as they spent six hours under!! The blast she received sent the comms stacks crashing, and generally stuff was jolted all over the place. The next morning, the ship looked as if nothing had happened to it, which I thought was ludricrous. And when the bolts of the inner skin started shooting off under deep pressure, I thought she cannot survive this, surely! Well, of course she did, and then what, allowed to limp back home for major repairs? You would have thought so, wouldn't you, but no, not this indestructible iron maiden. Instead she was ordered into the straits of Gibraltar - Alone!!! This was pure nonsense, as any Admiral ordering that kind of suicide mission for a single sub, however highly rated the Captain was, would have been court martialed for sheer stupidity.
Then the real fun and games start for it, but by this time, I had given up taking notes and just sat back and enjoyed the drama of it all, as that's what it really was, a good war drama. The unrealities of all the science defying, death defying escapes they had, just washed over me as I realised this was not a major concern for the film makers alas. I had such high hopes for it at the beginning. Still, there were some great, authentic looking bits of naval stategy and practice that you don't see much in war films generally, and the German principles of self discipline over and above imparted discipline were absolutely spot on. This, and the great involving drama of it all make it still one of the best war films ever made. I thought the terribly tragic ending was superb, as that's the way a lot of fiercly brave and loyal German troops went, after all their effort, because they were fighting a war they couldn't possibly win.
Customer Rating:
Summary: the most awesome war movie ever.
Comment: Wolfgang Petersen's 'Das Boot' is one of those films that words simply do not justify. Unbearably tense, this is, as they say, is how it's done. The (mis)adventures of a German U-Boat patrol prowling the Atlantic, Das Boot picked up 7 academy award nominations and remains an experience that, even by todays standards, is without equal for sheer intensity.
Here we have life on a U-Boat as hell on Earth. Days of mind-numbing boredom which gives way to sheer terror within a second when confronting the enemy (the British). In these sweaty, cramped, hellish conditions, you'll be thanking your lucky stars you're not in there with them. Filmed chronologically so the cast could look dishevelled and grow real-time beards, it's impossible to believe that the actors ever left the set.
Jurgen Prochnow plays the enigmatic captain to perfection, trying to follow orders in a war he hates, whilst trying to do the best thing by his crew. And in a smart move, the politics are left out in favour of pure tension. These are just soldiers following orders like everyone else. These guys are the 'Jerries' remember. Fighting the British. And yet, not for one second will you not be behind these guys all the way, desperate for them to survive.
And to top it all, Petersen's direction is fantastic, showing a real technical ability, before he became a Hollywood director-for-hire. His camera swoops from stern to bow in one extraordinary shot, seamlessly following the panicking crew as they race toward the front of the sub.
And apart from Prochnow, the rest of the cast perform impeccably, trapping the viewer in this horrible situation. With an hours worth of extra footage cut from the cinematic version, this is the preferred way to view 'Das Boot' (there is also the episodic T.V version).
The original cinematic version is absolutely stunning, but with all the extra scenes, this version is something resembling absolute perfection. Plus Dolby 5.1 surround for those explosions and a digital picture clean, you can now view 'Das Boot' as its supposed to be viewed.
You've never seen a war movie 'til you've seen 'Das Boot'.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A gripping tale of a single mission underwater
Comment: Das Boot rolls out all the cliches that you would expect in a submarine movie (being depth charged, sinking to the seabed, springing leaks due to high pressure, unwanted orders coming down the wire from HQ, sinking the odd enemy and trying to speed away etc ...) however, although this film is 3 hours and 20 minutes long, it goes in very fast and does grip you throughout.
At times you may forget that these guys are actually the Germans and a U-boat team on a mission to starve our grandparents, execute millions on racial grounds and impose Fascism on us. This is so as the movie is all about ordinary guys (mostly very young) brought together by War.
In terms of personality, the captain of U-96 is a bit iffy at times and I'm not entirely sure I'd want to be part of his team. At one point he loses all hope and it's up to his engineers to rescue their situation. He's also a bit gung-ho at times and too quiet at other times.
There's also some great music in Das Boot and you do get a strong sense of what it must have been like to be confined for months on a submarine.
Overall, a very watchable war movie and a bit of a classic.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Das Superbit Boot
Comment: Spread over two discs with no extras and no space wasted, this is an outstanding DVD of an outstanding series, shown here as one long "movie" cut. The optional dubbed English audio track might offend the purists (me included), but bear in mind two things: one, the whole thing was dubbed anyway (in German), because the set was so noisy and two, the entire cast spoke English and dubbed themselves, so it's a LOT better than you might expect, should you find yourself using the English track as a means to get someone to see it! Hopefully it won't come to that...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Exceptional
Comment: The acting, atmosphere and unsentimental approach to this film (from a very fine book) make this a pleasure to watch. Both moving and plausible.
Highly recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Gripping naval war drama
Comment: This is possibly the best of all Naval WW2 films, but I have just a few quibbles. Although technically very detailed and informative in most areas, as you'd expect of a German production, I did notice several faults, some minor, but a few of them, major. The Captain wasting a whole torpedo on an already destroyed tanker was ludicrous, as all U Boats were notoriously frugal with their ammo. But the main problems came with the damage she took from the British destroyer, when still in the Atlantic. Those depth charges going off so close to her would have ripped her apart, and yet she sustained relatively minor damage, a fire in the instrument room, a ruptured bilge or ballast tank, and a cracked air shaft. I say relatively minor, but all three of these problems would have meant she would have had to have surfaced very quickly. That air shaft alone would have spelt major trouble for them, especially as they spent six hours under!! The blast she received sent the comms stacks crashing, and generally stuff was jolted all over the place. The next morning, the ship looked as if nothing had happened to it, which I thought was ludricrous. And when the bolts of the inner skin started shooting off under deep pressure, I thought she cannot survive this, surely! Well, of course she did, and then what, allowed to limp back home for major repairs? You would have thought so, wouldn't you, but no, not this indestructible iron maiden. Instead she was ordered into the straits of Gibraltar - Alone!!! This was pure nonsense, as any Admiral ordering that kind of suicide mission for a single sub, however highly rated the Captain was, would have been court martialed for sheer stupidity.
Then the real fun and games start for it, but by this time, I had given up taking notes and just sat back and enjoyed the drama of it all, as that's what it really was, a good war drama. The unrealities of all the science defying, death defying escapes they had, just washed over me as I realised this was not a major concern for the film makers alas. I had such high hopes for it at the beginning. Still, there were some great, authentic looking bits of naval stategy and practice that you don't see much in war films generally, and the German principles of self discipline over and above imparted discipline were absolutely spot on. This, and the great involving drama of it all make it still one of the best war films ever made. I thought the terribly tragic ending was superb, as that's the way a lot of fiercly brave and loyal German troops went, after all their effort, because they were fighting a war they couldn't possibly win.
Customer Rating:
Summary: the most awesome war movie ever.
Comment: Wolfgang Petersen's 'Das Boot' is one of those films that words simply do not justify. Unbearably tense, this is, as they say, is how it's done. The (mis)adventures of a German U-Boat patrol prowling the Atlantic, Das Boot picked up 7 academy award nominations and remains an experience that, even by todays standards, is without equal for sheer intensity.
Here we have life on a U-Boat as hell on Earth. Days of mind-numbing boredom which gives way to sheer terror within a second when confronting the enemy (the British). In these sweaty, cramped, hellish conditions, you'll be thanking your lucky stars you're not in there with them. Filmed chronologically so the cast could look dishevelled and grow real-time beards, it's impossible to believe that the actors ever left the set.
Jurgen Prochnow plays the enigmatic captain to perfection, trying to follow orders in a war he hates, whilst trying to do the best thing by his crew. And in a smart move, the politics are left out in favour of pure tension. These are just soldiers following orders like everyone else. These guys are the 'Jerries' remember. Fighting the British. And yet, not for one second will you not be behind these guys all the way, desperate for them to survive.
And to top it all, Petersen's direction is fantastic, showing a real technical ability, before he became a Hollywood director-for-hire. His camera swoops from stern to bow in one extraordinary shot, seamlessly following the panicking crew as they race toward the front of the sub.
And apart from Prochnow, the rest of the cast perform impeccably, trapping the viewer in this horrible situation. With an hours worth of extra footage cut from the cinematic version, this is the preferred way to view 'Das Boot' (there is also the episodic T.V version).
The original cinematic version is absolutely stunning, but with all the extra scenes, this version is something resembling absolute perfection. Plus Dolby 5.1 surround for those explosions and a digital picture clean, you can now view 'Das Boot' as its supposed to be viewed.
You've never seen a war movie 'til you've seen 'Das Boot'.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A gripping tale of a single mission underwater
Comment: Das Boot rolls out all the cliches that you would expect in a submarine movie (being depth charged, sinking to the seabed, springing leaks due to high pressure, unwanted orders coming down the wire from HQ, sinking the odd enemy and trying to speed away etc ...) however, although this film is 3 hours and 20 minutes long, it goes in very fast and does grip you throughout.
At times you may forget that these guys are actually the Germans and a U-boat team on a mission to starve our grandparents, execute millions on racial grounds and impose Fascism on us. This is so as the movie is all about ordinary guys (mostly very young) brought together by War.
In terms of personality, the captain of U-96 is a bit iffy at times and I'm not entirely sure I'd want to be part of his team. At one point he loses all hope and it's up to his engineers to rescue their situation. He's also a bit gung-ho at times and too quiet at other times.
There's also some great music in Das Boot and you do get a strong sense of what it must have been like to be confined for months on a submarine.
Overall, a very watchable war movie and a bit of a classic.
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