Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003
posted December 27, 2017 02:52 PM
Since I got an Epson VP last year, getting DVDs and Blu-Rays was a lot bigger deal this Christmas. One of those I got this year was Das Boot.
It happened kind of by accident. I became interested because of this video we enjoy here:
-and I've enjoyed a lot of other Submarine movies. This one is often considered the best one ever made.
I've been studying German for a year and a half now in an adult education course (It was either this or Piano, and this takes up less wall space!). I have all sorts of vocabulary I never had before. The grammar is just spectacular, but at the slow pace they are teaching us I've managed to wrap my head around it so far. (As of last week I count at least five different ways of expressing the English word "the"!). I know my limits: at the pace a native speaker speaks my brain can't keep up so far, so I set the language to "English". Maybe next time we will do German with English subtitles!
The story is a full patrol by a single U-boat. The conditions are crowded and filthy, the stress is immense. The whole crew seems to age as the voyage passes and a few go a little crazy. It's what Star Trek would look like if Kirk and Co. never took showers and the Enterprise was the size of a city bus!
This movie is an immense challenge from an audio standpoint! You have all these scenes where a bunch of people are whispering trying to be quiet and then a depth charge goes off! I had to explain to my wife that there really wasn't a lot I could do about it! (The cats eventually came back upstairs from the basement...)
-bearing in mind this is a three hour movie and I finished up after midnight! (Surprised the cops didn't show up!)
It's a great movie and I'm glad to have it, just maybe next time I'll start earlier.
-------------------- All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...
Posts: 707
From: Hull, East Yorkshire, UK
Registered: Feb 2016
posted December 27, 2017 03:21 PM
Steve - This film is one of those very rare cases where, when I watch it, I insist on listening to the original German soundtrack and read the English sub(!!!)titles. Although my German is almost non existent,it keeps the authenticity of the situation very much alive.For those who do not know,the film is set on a German submarine. The English soundtrack just does not work at all for me.
Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003
posted December 27, 2017 04:50 PM
What was interesting was for a couple of minutes I was running English with English subtitles (didn’t mean to...) and it wasn’t always the same! That’s going to make interpreting the German a little challenging, I bet!
Warum kann ich nicht verstehen?
(Why can’t I understand?)
-------------------- All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...
Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006
posted December 27, 2017 06:28 PM
I'm a big "Boot" fan, having the Director's Cut on DVD and Blu-ray and the full-length original series (as shown on German TV) on DVD...I believe the Director's Cut is coming soon on UHD-disc; I may just have to say "yes" again
Claus
-------------------- "Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)