Holding major historical interest simply as the first German film released after the Nazis took power, this WWI story is also well-made and politically/morally complicated. Whatever did the German public & authorities make of it? (Herr Hitler at the premiere.) Strong heroics, noble sacrifice & ultimate failure feature in this WWI U-Boat saga centered around a small German port town proud of the locals in the crew. A Rah-Rah send-off is quickly followed by easy victory against a British destroyer. But any celebration premature, tempered by doubt when the sub doesn’t quickly return, the town unaware that tables have turned thanks to a wily British trick. The enemy flying false colors on an old sailing frigate to fool chivalrous Germans strictly following all international rules of war. (Take note Germans: We’ll not make such gallant mistakes again!) Smashed by a fast moving enemy ship with correct coordinates, the few surviving U-crew now stuck in a damaged boat with near depleted oxygen and not enough rescue suits. Working with something of an All-Star German cast, director Gustav Ucicky gets quite exceptional effects (real footage and seamlessly handled optical printer dissolves) while tight sub interiors (note the 1.2:1 frame ratio*) and control panels in this DAS BOOT/’81 precursor fully up to Stateside technical levels. Even the love stories back home nicely integrated. A fascinating watch.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY/DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *That narrow frame ratio (1.2:1) an artifact of putting the sound track on the film strip where it took up about 10% of the space before someone figured out how to letterbox the image back to 1.37:1. (Recent use of this oddly squarish shape a bit artsy-fartsy. But using it for a submarine’s ultra-tight corridors has a sort justification to it.) The nearly square image still in use @ FOX when John Ford told the other side of this story two years earlier in THE SEAS BENEATH/’31. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-seas-beneath-1931.html
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