Das Boot

Das Boot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the film.
Original German theatrical poster
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Screenplay by Wolfgang Petersen
Based on Das Boot
by Lothar-G;nther Buchheim
Produced by G;nter Rohrbach
Starring
J;rgen Prochnow
Herbert Gr;nemeyer
Klaus Wennemann
Cinematography Jost Vacano
Edited by Hannes Nikel
Music by Klaus Doldinger
Production
companies
Bavaria Film
Radiant Film
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
SWR Fernsehen
Distributed by Neue Constantin Film
Release date
17 September 1981
Running time 149 minutes
(see below)
Country West Germany
Language German
Budget DM 32 million (equivalent to €34 million 2021)
Box office $84.9 million[1] (equivalent to $268 million 2023)

The conning tower of the submarine, Bavaria Studios, Munich

Das Boot (German pronunciation: [das ;bo;t], The Boat) is a 1981 West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by G;nter Rohrbach, and starring J;rgen Prochnow, Herbert Gr;nemeyer and Klaus Wennemann. It 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.

An adaptation of Lothar-G;nther Buchheim's 1973 German novel based on his experiences aboard German submarine U-96, the film is set during World War II and follows U-96 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-boats as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country.

Development began in 1979. Several American directors were considered three years earlier, before the film was shelved. During production, Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, the captain of the real U-96 during Buchheim's 1941 patrol and one of Germany's top U-boat "tonnage aces" during the war, and Hans-Joachim Krug, former first officer on U-219, served as consultants. One of Petersen's goals was to guide the audience through "a journey to the edge of the mind" (the film's German tagline Eine Reise ans Ende des Verstandes), showing "what war is all about".[2]

Produced on a DM32 million budget (about $18.5 million, equivalent to €34 million 2021), the high production cost ranks it among the most expensive films in German cinema, but it was a commercial success, grossing nearly $85 million worldwide (equivalent to $220 million in 2020). Columbia Pictures issued both German-language and English-dubbed versions in the United States theatrically through their Triumph Classics label, earning $11 million.[3] Das Boot received positive reviews, and was nominated for six Academy Awards; two of these (Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay) went to Petersen himself. He was also nominated for a BAFTA Award and DGA Award.

Plot
Lieutenant Werner, a war correspondent on the German submarine U-96 in October 1941, is driven by her captain and chief engineer to a French bordello, where he meets some of the crew. Thomsen, another captain, gives a drunken speech to celebrate his Ritterkreuz award and mocks Adolf Hitler.

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. One Nazi officer, 1-WO (the first [watch] officer), is 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 charges. They escape with light damage.

The next three weeks are spent enduring relentless North Atlantic gales. Morale drops after various misfortunes, but the crew is cheered by a chance encounter with Thomsen's boat. After the storm ends, the boat encounters a British convoy and launches three torpedoes, sinking two ships. They are spotted by a destroyer and have to dive below test depth, the submarine's rated limit. During the ensuing depth-charge attack, the chief machinist, Johann, panics and has to be restrained. The boat sustains heavy damage but manages to surface when night falls. A British tanker they torpedoed is still afloat and on fire, so they torpedo it again, only to learn that sailors are still aboard. The crew watches as the sailors leap overboard and swim towards them. Neither able nor willing to accommodate prisoners, the captain orders the boat to back away.

The exhausted crew looks forward to returning home to La Rochelle for Christmas, but the boat is ordered to La Spezia, Italy, which means passing through the Strait of Gibraltar—an area defended by the Royal Navy. The U-boat makes a secret night rendezvous at the harbour of Vigo, in neutral but Axis-friendly Spain, with the SS Weser, an interned German merchant ship that clandestinely provides U-boats with fuel, torpedoes, and other supplies. The filthy submariners appear at the opulent dinner prepared for them and are warmly greeted by the Weser's officers. The captain learns from an envoy of the German consulate that his request for Werner and the chief engineer to be sent back to Germany has been denied.

The crew finishes resupplying and depart for Italy. As they approach the Strait of Gibraltar and are about to dive, they are attacked and badly damaged by a British fighter plane, wounding the navigator, Kriechbaum. The captain orders the boat south towards the North African coast at full speed, determined to save his crew even if he loses the boat. British warships begin shelling, and they are forced to dive. When attempting to level off, the boat does not respond and continues to sink until, just prior to exceeding its crush depth, it lands on a sea shelf at a depth of 280 metres. The crew works to make repairs before running out of oxygen. After over 16 hours, they manage to surface by blowing their ballast tanks, and limp back towards La Rochelle under cover of darkness.

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 Bibelforscher are killed; Frenssen, Bootsmann Lamprecht, and Hinrich are wounded. After the raid, Werner leaves the 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.


***
Run Silent, Run Deep

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Run Silent, Run Deep (disambiguation).

First edition
Run Silent, Run Deep is a novel by Commander (later Captain) Edward L. Beach Jr. published in 1955 by Henry Holt & Co. The story describes World War II submarine warfare in the Pacific Ocean, and deals with themes of vengeance, endurance, courage, loyalty and honor, and how these can be tested during wartime. The name refers to "silent running", a submarine stealth tactic.

It was the first of Beach's 13 books. He told an interviewer that writing, for the most part, came easily:[2]

Things have to happen, one thing happens after another. All of a sudden you come to an impasse, damn it, and you throw it away and start over again. The subs [Submarine!, 1952, nonfiction] I did okay, but writing about women–I never had so much trouble in my life as with this one.

The novel was on The New York Times Book Review list for several months. The staff of the New York Times Book Review included it on their list of 250 Outstanding Books of the Year.[3] Beach served on submarines in the Pacific Ocean during the war, and this adds to the realism of the story. He composed two sequels to Run Silent, Run Deep: Dust on the Sea (1972), a third person narrative detailing later patrols of the Eel;[4] and Cold is the Sea (1978), about the same protagonist's later service on a nuclear-powered submarine in 1960.[5]

Run Silent, Run Deep proved to be the best-known of Beach's novels.[6] It was adapted to a 1958 movie of the same name starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster.

Plot
The narrative is presented as the transcript of a Navy tape recording made by Commander Edward J. Richardson, recounting the events resulting in his receipt of the Medal of Honor. The prefatory note that purports to identify the text in this way says it was meant to be used in a war bond drive, but is unsuitable for that because Richardson "failed to confine himself to pertinent elements of the broad strategy of the war, and devoted entirely too much time to personal trivia."

In the spring of 1941, Richardson takes command of a World War I S-16, a submarine retired in 1924, and soon is assigned Jim Bledsoe as his executive officer. They and their crew work at the Philadelphia Navy Yard to fit out their boat and commission her, and in August take her to New London, Connecticut, for training. There Richardson meets Bledsoe's girlfriend, Laura Elwood. The three of them are together when they learn of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Though it took Richardson three years of submarine duty to qualify for command, the war and the prospect of many more submarines coming into service lead Richardson, against his better judgment, to recommend Bledsoe for command in late December, just after learning that Bledsoe and Laura plan to wed.

Richardson is forced to withdraw his recommendation of Bledsoe when Jim shows immaturity and performs recklessly on his qualification for command, nearly sinking their boat. Bledsoe is resentful, and Laura despises Richardson for ruining Bledsoe's chance for a command. Richardson and his crew, including Bledsoe, are soon assigned to a newly launched submarine, the USS Walrus, and take her to Pearl Harbor to destroy Japanese shipping in the Pacific Ocean. Laura and Jim marry just before the Walrus departs New London.

During their first war patrol in the Walrus, they encounter the Japanese destroyer Akikaze, skippered by Captain Tateo Nakame (nicknamed "Bungo Pete"), who is responsible for sinking a series of American submarines in the Bungo Suido, including the USS Nerka, commanded by Richardson's longtime friend Stocker Kane. After several more war patrols, the Walrus is ordered to return to patrol Bungo Suido where Richardson is wounded in a night-time surface encounter with Bungo Pete. Bledsoe assumes command for the return to Pearl Harbor and Richardson is hospitalized upon arrival. Bledsoe fleets up to command Walrus, thanks in large part to Richardson's personal endorsement to the commodore, who balks at Jim's still comparative youth, and the earlier failed qualification for command exercise back at New London. Bledsoe takes Walrus to Australia for her next three war patrols.

Bledsoe establishes a reputation as an aggressive skipper with an outstanding record for sinkings. Between patrols, Bledsoe has an extramarital affair at Pearl Harbor, causing Richardson anguish for Laura's sake. After heavy drinking during a shore party, Bledsoe reveals to Richardson that he had only pretended to be a loyal friend and subordinate, grudgingly remaining as executive officer during their patrols together "for the crew's sake." However, Richardson's conduct under enemy fire as skipper—and having now personally experienced the weight of command for himself—have finally persuaded him that he had been wrong in doubting Richardson all along. During its next patrol under Bledsoe, however, Bungo Pete makes the Walrus his seventh victim.

During his stint ashore, Richardson works on reliability problems with American torpedoes and receives another command, the new boat USS Eel. When the news of the loss of Bledsoe and the Walrus arrives, Richardson convinces his superiors to let him hunt Bungo Pete in the Eel. A great battle ensues in a raging storm between the Eel, fighting on the surface, and Bungo Pete's special anti-submarine warfare group, which consists of a Q-ship, a Japanese submarine, and the Akikaze. After Richardson sinks all three vessels, he discovers three lifeboats in the vicinity: Realizing that Bungo Pete and his skilled specialists will be rescued to resume hunting U.S. vessels, he intentionally rams the lifeboats.

Soon after, the Eel is detailed to lifeguard duty off Guam, where Richardson saves three aviators, earning him the Medal of Honor. After the war he returns home, hoping to begin a relationship with Laura Bledsoe.