Das Boot: The Director's Cut

Nevertheless, the German High Command orders more and more U-boats, with evenyounger crews, into battle from their ports in occupied France. The battlefor control of the Atlantic is turning against the Germans.

40,000 German sailors served on U-boats during World War II.
30,000 never returned.

Das Bootis Wolfgang Peterson‘s film that follows the daring patrolof U-96, one of the German U-Boats known as ‘The Grey Wolves’. Prowling theNorth Atlantic, they challenged the British Navy at every turn. The crew aboardthe U-96 is portrayed in a desperate life-and-death struggle, coping with theendless, claustrophobic boredom at sea, which gives way to terror whenconfronted by the enemy.

Originally nominated for six Oscars, Das Boot began life as a six-parttelevision series approximating five hours in total. For too long, the onlyversion available on video was a widescreen film in English subtitles lasting123 minutes. Now, though, we have Das Boot: The Director’s Cut, at 200minutes and in widescreen format, but you can choose whether to watch it withEnglish or German dialogue and an extended choice of subtitles if required.Purists, of course, will opt for German dialogue and English subtitles.

Like the script, the acting and the set design, the picture quality isfirst-rate. An artifact-free picture is what this film needs and it’s whatwe’ve got. The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 1.85:1,is enhanced for 16:9 widescreen televisions – thus allowing for higherresolution – and the average bitrate is a fairly good 4.59 Mb/s, peaking ataround 8 Mb/s.

From the sound of explosions underwater through to the shuddering tension as thecrew of U-96 sit and await their fate, the atmosphere will suffocate you. Thesound comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 – which will benefit all of those with thesuitable hardware – and Dolby Surround for everyone else.

Extras : Chapters/Theatrical Trailer :There are 66 chapters spread throughout the 200 mins of the film which isa staggering amount and one on which Columbia should be commended. Thetheatrical trailer is also included (in English only). Languages/Subtitles :There’s two languages on the disc, English and German, both available inDolby Digital 5.1, with a Dolby surround option also offered in English.As for subtitles? Take your pick from the following six languages :English, German, Hebrew, Icelandic, Turkish and Hindi. Other extras :Also included on the disc are :a 6-minute featurette containing interviews with the cast and crew.a feature-length director’s commentary track – and this is a first in myexperience – there are subtitles for the commentary itself: in German andEnglish. Menu :The menu is static and works well. On playing the disc you see the ColumbiaTriStar logo before the main menu appears.

Upon selecting the “Start Movie” option, you’ll first see a “Sony PicturesDVD Center” logo, followed by the Dolby Digital helicopter demo, thecopyright logo and then the film itself.

Overall, this is one of the best films ever made on the best format available- not forgetting the excellent picture and sound quality – and as such makesthis an essential purchase, not to mention the fact that this DVD contains66 chapter stops compared to the Region 1 DVD’s 31.

FILM : *****PICTURE QUALITY: *****SOUND QUALITY: *****EXTRAS: ***——————————-OVERALL: ****½

[Up to the top of this page]

Dom Robinson

Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.

DVDfever.co.uk

Follow DVDfever.co.uk