U-Boote westwärts! (1941) User Reviews

The German counterpart to "Action in the North Atlantic"

[c-corleis · 7/10 · 28 July 2005]

Yes, this is actually a WW-II propaganda-movie. I think, this is the main reason why it was "banned" here in Germany and never send on TV neither available on VHS or DVD. But "Action in the North Atlantic" (1943) is a propaganda movie too, and was aired every year several times. The difference is, that in "Action in the North Atlantic" you see cool Humphrey Bogart, and in "U-Boote Westwärts" only ugly krauts :-) But it this the truth? "U-Boote Westwärts" was filmed in 1941 during the war, and it's common for every nation in war making propaganda-films, and "U-Boote Westwärts" was surprisingly good. It contains not much Nazi-propaganda as i suspected. It is more a movie about the daily struggles of the "grey wolves" in her iron coffins. In many aspects far better and closer to reality than "Das Boot"!

This movie was shoot on real u-boats (most of them are Type II and IX/B) and a lot of real u-boat crewmen as actors. The movie depict a lot of personal problems, hopes and fears of the crew. i.e. one of the man was young father and proud about his newborn twins, he shows the crew proud the new savings book (Sparkassenbuch) with a starting amount of money, that he had opened for his children's future.

And the crew had several problems during the war with this what they must do: To sink ships and perhaps kill people. Everyone knows about the fates of the crewmen of the torpedoed ships and know that their self will probably killed in action. The enemy, in this movie the Englishman, was surprisingly fair represented. A scene shows a English destroyer rescuing the some crewmembers of the u-boat.

I got a copy of this movie (unfortunately in a very bad condition; a copy of a copy of a copy or so) from a friend in Italy. I am not sure if this film ever dubbed into English. But if it probably available in English, don't miss to buy and see it. It is really worth of it! I give it a good 7 out of 10.

P.S. The maximum diving depth of 80 meters in the movie was wrong. A type IX/B-boat was able to go down 230 meters and sometimes 260 meters or even more! It was limited to 80 meters in the movie because the real diving depth of the German submarines was a secret during the war.

Better Than Expected

[sebradfield · 6/10 · 17 June 2006]

I recently obtained a copy of this film, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I don't speak a word of German (well, a few, but that's mainly through repeated watchings of Das Boot and playing Silent Hunter III.

The movie is indeed propagandistic as mentioned previously, but no more so than a great number of British and American movies made during the war. The fact that the interiors were filmed aboard a real u-boat (or a very good mock-up) helps, as does the appearance of BdU Admiral Karl Doenitz as himself in two different scenes.

Overall, I found the movie quite enjoyable. I especially like the scenes with the captain's family; the older son making his little brother and sister stand at attention while he gave his father a 'report' was very nice.

Extra

[schonnie · 29 May 2020]

My dad was in that movie! He was an extra. He was one of the sailors jumping overboard. About a 3 second clip.

Anti Biritsh and Dutch Nazi war propaganda classic

[cynthiahost · 10/10 · 24 November 2014]

After the Movie there was a discussion about it .Was this a Nazi propaganda film? Yes it was ,But so was Hollywood's Action in the north Atlantic too an American propaganda film during the war.In Germany the government has banned the film from home video and are only showing it at the F.W. Marnua Institute with discussion afterwords.In the U.s.a.It's not banned on DVD home video,but, the mainstream broadcast classic film stations and mainstream distributors are politically correct against showing it or distributing it on home video.It available through specialty only.This was the first pro war Nazi propaganda film to be shot in a real submarine .It was also the first time a camera was place on board for the submerging sequences .The plot revolves around a bunch of Kriegsmarine on a U boot who go on a furlough before they are called back.Josephs Sieber,playing Boatman Buttgereit comes home to a children of 4,wheres the mother?Karl John,two in a city,has a problem .His girl friend is pregnant ,played by Ingeborg Senkpiel, and need to get married.Kriegsmarine Friends played by Clemens Hause and Herbert Klatt are in love with the same women,played by Carsta Locks.When Klatt takes her out to café,with Michael Jary and his swing Band,nope!it's a band alright but only plays the Nazi patriotic march and song," Waiting my Girl there in the home",conflict arises when they are confronted by Hasse.She sneaks out.Then there's Heinz Englemann.He's home to listening to his girl friend ,played by Ilsa Werner ,who's a singer,her voice is dubbed in this film,who sings the same song and has not answer his proposal about marriage.The Request concert shows up in this film and unlike the movie,Ilsa Werner sing in this film on the radio,although dubbed,and the propaganda song is sang by the Nazi Choir on the radio too ,but, they are all called back to fight ,the good guys,the British.Carl is so frustrated that he could not get married and that his child will be a bastard,then Herbert Wilk send a message to have them married by Proxy,in which Ingerbors is aided by Wilk's wife ,played by Clementia Egies and Ilsa ,at home.Boy !this plot is exactly almost like action in the north Atlantic.How did Warner pick up the plot?There's a very brutal scene in which the Krieg's blows up a boat with three Brits,played by German actors speaking English Phonetically.There's a dutch ship that tries to sneak in plane parts ,but the Krieg boys catch them.So they set dynamite to blow up the ship while the dutch sailors jump into the sea.Joseph Sieber and the few end up getting out of the ship too late that they get caught by another British ship,but, they manage to escape with prisoners This film seem to be as entertaining as Two in the city and the Great love.,The cinema photographer of popular German silent classic and early talkies, in the united States , ,Metropolis to Blue angels,Gunther Rittau ,directed this film .Hitler;s Chief Commander of the Kriegsmarine ,Karl Donitz makes an appearance The film ends with an anti British hate song,"Some where in a distance"excellent Nazi propaganda classic,for dark film history fans 11/24/14

Remarkable for a certain point

[holger-nikolai · 5/10 · 26 March 2022]

The movie is one of the numerous German propagandist movies of that era. Featuring lots of high-class stars, but the plot is rather dull. Shipmen having a short holiday, falling in love with some dames, then called back to their ship for fighting in the Atlantic.

But: It is very obvious that this movie was the template for Wolfgang Petersen, making his world-famous "Das Boot" in 1981. The protagonists, even their physical appearance, several plot-lines, but especially the photographing of the movie seem to be at many points a black&white version of "Das Boot"! So this movie can be considered as a kind of "missing link" concerning "Das Boot", which makes it interesting for me.

Forty years before Das Boot

[searchanddestroy-1 · 9/10 · 14 July 2022]

German propaganda films made during WW2 and ordered by Dr Goebbels are not no easy to purchase, and find one of them is already a victory. No matter the message. After all, we have seen British, American - not French because France was occupied by Nazis then - so why not seeing a German propaganda film after all? We may watch this one as a documentary, despite the anti British accents and unrealistic behavior of the men aboard the sub; nothing to do with DAS BOOT atmosphere. Here they seem to have much fun and also enjoy enough comfort, compared to Wolfgang Petersen's masterpiece. It remains a must see for me. Forget the Nazi message, you are grown enough to appreciate at its fair level.