Das Boot – Director’s Cut
1942 – The German naval fleet is hard at work trying to stop the English supplies but with better destroyer escorts, the U-boats are getting hammered more and more.
Under the command of Capt.-Lt. Henrich Lehmann-Willenbrock U-96 is sent out with a rather young crew to support the German efforts to stop the English and has taken on board Lt. Werner, a war correspondent who’s task is to write about the heroic endeavours of the German war machine.
Sound and Vision:
Das Boot was made in 1981 and as such you cannot expect to get the same quality of image as with modern day movies. Still, the Blu-ray release does have a nicely cleaned up print that lacks traces of damage. Not that this release ever comes close to demo material. The movie looks a bit soft and flat, and eventhough a couple of scenes have a nice amount of detail the visuals overall aren’t really sharp. Overall things look quite rough but that nicely supports the dark and grimm atmosphere of the movie.
During the production of the Director’s Cut, the sound was completely redone with adding plenty of new effects and this now comes to life very well with the DTS-HD track present on this release. For such an old movie we can only say that the soundwork is pretty great and creates a dynamic and immersive atmosphere that captures the action on the submarine very well without ever overwhelming the dialogues.
Extras:
- Back to the Boat
- Maria’s Take
- The Perfect Boat – The Director’s Cut
- Captain’s Tour – Inside the Boat
- Behind the Scenes (1981)
- The Battle of the Atlantic (1983)
All the extras come on a second disc and are good for around 3 hours of additional viewing. “Back to the Boat”, “Behind the Scenes” and “The Battle of the Atlantic” are the big chunks and are definitely worth checking out. The first is a recently created Making Of, the “Behind the Scenes” is a vintage “Making Of”, while those wanting something else will definitely find “The Battle of the Atlantic” to be very interesting as it covers the history behind German submarines.
Conclusion:
Das Boot – The Director’s Cut is a classic on all accounts with a deep and immersive storyline, a fantastic cast and great acting. It now finally arrives on Blu-ray with decently cleaned up image and a very dynamic soundtrack (for such an old movie). The second disc is packed with extras that will please fans as well as history lovers.
A must-have for everyone who doesn’t already have a copy of this movie.
9.0