Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #535 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-05-17
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Anamorphic, Colour, PAL, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English, German
• Subtitled in: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Hindi, Norwegian, Swedish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 282 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
This 282-minute version of Das Boot is the full-length TV series, originally shown in six parts but here edited into a seamless whole. Director Wolfgang Petersen has since graduated to mega-budget Hollywood productions (2004's Troy for example), but has never managed even to come close to this, his German-language masterpiece. Petersen and his sterling cast (including Jürgen Prochnow in his best role as the U-boat captain) went to great lengths to ensure that this claustrophobic depiction of life aboard the German sub U-97 while attacking British convoys in the Atlantic is thoroughly authentic and totally convincing. Even the set itself, which is a replica of a U-boat interior, had no false walls, so all camera angles are necessarily from within its horribly narrow, overcrowded and sweaty confines. The result is certainly the finest submarine drama ever made, and one of the most compelling depictions of the physical, psychological and emotional effects of warfare.

This mini-series is rather longer than the movie version, which is also available on DVD in a Director's Cut version. The differences are not in matters of plot, but in the pacing: everything here takes longer to happen, while the crew must sit around, bicker, swear and sweat it out--the agonising searching for action, the tension of the attack, the terrible stress of hiding from enemy destroyers. Everything unfolds as if in real time, which is the great advantage a TV production has over a movie (contrast, for example, Band of Brothers with Saving Private Ryan). This, therefore, is the definitive presentation of a World War II classic.

On the DVD: Das Boot is presented on two discs, with no breaks where the original TV episodes started and finished. The default language option is German with optional English subtitles. For those constitutionally allergic to subtitles there is also an alternative English-language dub, voiced by many of the original cast (including Prochnow). Sound is adequate stereo or Dolby 5.1, and the anamorphic widescreen is good for the murky green underwater shots. Unlike the theatrical version, though, there is no commentary. --Mark Walker

DVD Description
Digitally remastered and on DVD the original Das Boot 6-part mini series presented as on complete feature length uncut version. Wolfgang Peterson's Das Boot is regarded as one of the most outstanding and accurate representations of Germany's elite U-Boat crewmen during World War II. Told from the German perspective the crew aboard U-96 are portrayed in a hopeless life-and-death struggle coping with endless hours of loneliness and desperation, giving way to terror when confronted by the enemy.

"This DVD presentation of the fully restored, mini series will be even more shocking and affecting for audiences ... enjoy this work as it was originally intended to be seen" - Wolfgang Peterson.

Special Features

• Total Running Time: 282 minutes
  
• Language: German
  
• Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (German, English)
  
• Subtitles: English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Hindi, Norwegian, Swedish
  
• Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic - 1.85:1
  
• Disc Type: DVD9
  
• Region Code: 2

Customer Reviews

Shame about the subtitles!
Sorry if this is an 'anorak' review. If you never seen it before then read the rest of the reviews and go and buy it.

I bought this because I had the original BBC broadcast on VHS,but with half of one episode missing! I also have the Director's cut on DVD and whilst this is still good, it doesn't create the tension as well as the full series (as several others have said). I really hoped it was going to be exactly the same as the BBC broadcast but I don't think it is. I think a few scenes have been shifted around (the party after escaping from the destroyer) and I'm sure some of the scenes of the aftermath of the attemped Gibralter breakthrough have been shuffled and some cut. I think this spoils some of the relief you feel as they start to control the leaks.

I could live with that but what really made me mad was the sub-titles (If you want to watch it with the English dub that's your choice but I think you miss a lot). In some cases they just don't translate what is actually said, for example when Werner is taking pictures of the crew as they leave, the captain says 'take pictures on the way back - they'll have beards then'. The subtitles say 'take pictures on the way back - it'll mean something then'. Why change it! I would like to meet the person who thought he/she could improve on the original script and explain to them the error of their ways!

The subtitles really go downhill in the final third. Whoever wrote them knows nothing about submarines because the technical phrases they use to describe the damage and things to fix after the 'breakthrough' come out as technobabble. Werner's speech when he thinks he is going to die is ruined by a couple of meaningless lines. The BBC got the sub-titles right so why couldn't whoever made this version? The final insult is the gratuitous use of 'Americanisms'. Again it only seems to be towards the end but the use of 'guys' for 'men' is more than I can bear!

I guess I'm going to have to paste the missing bit from this DVD into my ex-VHS copy and live with the dodgy quality. Better that than a dodgy 'interpretation' of a majestic script. Either that or learn German I suppose!

It still has to have 5 stars because what the director, writer, cast and crew produced a magnificent film. It's not their fault some fool tried to mess it up.

You are part of the crew in this film!
This must be the best submarine film of all time, and I have got almost everyone, ever made. This film (The Mini Series) is the best version of all The Das Boot versions, of which I have all.

If you suffer from claustraphobia, then this version is not for you, as it brings you aboard as part of the crew, on a long Atlantic patrol, cramped within this steel tube, in some appalling weather. After many days at sea, a British Convoy is sighted and this is where the real action starts.

But, this is just the beginning. Further in the film, racing through the Straights of Gibralta, the sub is forced to crash dive, after being spotted by British patrol craft, with drastic results and you are now in for one of the most intense parts of the whole film, which has you sweating with fear, not knowing how long you can survive.
I won't go on to describe the rest of the film, but it will certainly keep you riveted until the end.

I rate this film in the top ten, of Films of the Twentieth Century.

The Futility of War
One of the best war movies ever to hit the big screen. A must for any serious pacifist.