MOVIE |
The first time I saw this movie was about 10 years ago on an old P&S VHS
videotape from the local video store, and even though it was in German with subtitles I
loved it, very suspenseful. Well when I heard that Wolfgang Peterson was making a
director's cut, I salivated. Cue a couple of years ago down at the Village Geelong 11
cinemas. Now was my chance to see the ultimate version in the best way possible in the
cinema. the lights go down and it begins, those familiar opening titles and that familiar
submarine goes over my head, all in Dolby Digital. Amazing, and while the new scenes
certainly made the movie much better, it just seemed to go a little long too long for me
now, ah but I complain too much.
Now CTHV have brought this seminal classic to the DVD format, with the original theatrical
trailer, director's commentary, making of Featurette and a heap of chapter stops along the
way. Get ready for a numb bum, because this story of a group of young men's courage and
how this tour changes their life, is some of the best film-making seen in the last 30
years.
It is 1941, the war is at it's peak and Hitler's famous U-Boat fleet is patrolling the
Atlantic, the story revolves around a group of young men who join their 30 year old
seasoned captain in what they hope will be an adventure, but turns into a voyage of fear,
terror and hope when they get more than they bargained for hunting down allied ships. Do
they get back alive or will they go down in the end as heroes, well lets just say the end
is one you won't forget.
|
VIDEO |
Overall the print is of high quality, although I did notice some MPEG
distortion during the opening submarine shot, mostly though the movie is great visually,
seeing it's a very dark movie mostly. The colors are very clear and vivid and are easy on
the eyes.
Das Boot is framed at 1:85:1 and is 16:9 enhanced.
This is an RSDL disc and the layer
change occurs at around 97 minutes and seems to be placed very well, it took me a little
time to see the change it's placed that well. I guess that's one up on region 1 for us.
|
AUDIO |
This is what Dolby Digital was made for! The sound effects of the sonar and
explosions in this movie are outstanding, but the English dubbing of the voices is
pitiful. So then I changed over to the German language and shock horror, it's only in
DD2.0. Thinking my player was fubar I looked at the cover and German was indeed in DD2.0
but there was a fu***** French DD5.1 soundtrack, why Columbia? why? But if I were to take
that gripe out of the equation I would say it's an outstanding sound field. A very meaty
use of the surrounds and the .1 channel.
The dialog was bloody hard to make out on the English 5.1
track, it sounded really muddy but the rest is clear in that mix. So I decided to listen
to the German DD2.0 after listening to the DD5.1 English track.
|
EXTRAS |
More extras than a usual CTHV disc. Firstly you get the Dolby Digital trailer to
start the movie, then you get the trailer, although it doesn't look like the theatrical
one, but one that was on a TV commercial, if you see the trailer on the Windscreen VHS
version of the DC it is much longer and better, pity it's not on the DVD. You also get the
director's commentary. I love any of Wolfgang Peterson's commentary tracks. The first one
of his I heard was on the Air Force One. He always gets very excited about his movies and
tries to give you the most info about how he did this and that, so it is very informative.
The commentary also has Ortwin Fryermuth, the producer of the director's cut. He is
moderately interesting, but I prefer old Wolfgang. The star Jurgen Prochnow also pops up
in the commentary and some of the stuff he says is moderately interesting. There is also
is also a quick 5 minute Featurette with scenes from the trailer and others doco shots put
together as well, sort of like the stuff on the VR discs. The other great thing about the
disc is it's chapters, 66 in all and if there's one thing I like about a DVD it's a well
chaptered one.
Subtitles include English, French,
German, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Dutch, Arabic.
|
FINAL THOUGHTS |
Why are you still reading this go and get it, it moves near the top of the must
buy R4 DVD's. |
REVIEW
EQUIPMENT
|
Display:
48" Sony RPTV.
DVD Player: Panasonic A350 Player using S-Video Cables.
Receiver: Pioneer VSX-D508
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround.
Speakers: Accusound speaker
system. |
Copyright © 2000 by [Roger
Ward].
Revised: 25 May 2000 00:21:38 +1100
.
|
|
Region
Coding: |
Region
4 |
No of
Discs: |
1 |
OFLC Rating |
M15+ |
Running
Time: |
216
minutes |
Case
Type: |
Clip
Case |
Release
Date: |
2/2/1999 |
Catalog
Number: |
D25358 |
List
Price: |
$34.95 |
Distributor: |
Columbia/Tri-Star |
Disc
Format: |
PAL |
Disc
Type: |
Picture
Disc |
Disc
Format: |
SS-RSDL |
Chapters: |
66 |
Macrovision: |
Yes |
Manufacturer: |
Sony
DVD Center |
Aspect
Ratio:
|
2:35:1 |
Anamorphic: |
Yes |
Film
Format: |
35mm |
Dolby
Digital:
|
5.1 Surround
2.0 Surround |
DTS: |
None |
PCM
Stereo: |
None |
Other: |
None |
Languages:
|
English
French
German |
Subtitles: |
Yes |
Audio
Commentary: |
Yes |
Theatrical
Trailer: |
Yes |
Teaser
Trailer: |
None |
TV
Spots: |
None |
Dolby
Trailer: |
Yes |
Documentary: |
Yes |
Cast
& Crew Bios: |
None |
Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
Music
Videos: |
None |
DVD Rom
Content: |
None |
Collectable
Booklet: |
None |
Scene
Access: |
Yes |
Animated
Menus: |
None |
Production
Notes: |
None |
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