Das Boot

Das Boot (German pronunciation: [das ˈboːt], German meaning "The Boat") is a 1981 German epic war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer and Klaus Wennemann. It has been exhibited both as a theatrical release and as a TV miniseries, and in several different home video versions of various running times.

Das Boot is an adaptation of the 1973 German novel of the same name by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. Set during World War II, the film tells the fictional story of U-96 and its crew. It depicts both the excitement of battle and the tedium of the fruitless hunt, and shows the men serving aboard U-boats as ordinary individuals with a desire to do their best for their comrades and their country. The screenplay used an amalgamation of exploits from the real U-96, a Type VIIC-class U-boat.

Development for Das Boot began in 1979. Several American directors were considered three years earlier before the film was shelved. During the film's production, Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock, the captain of the real U-96 and one of Germany's top U-boat "tonnage aces" during the war, and Hans-Joachim Krug, former first officer on U-219, served as consultants. One of Petersen's goals was to guide the audience through "a journey to the edge of the mind" (the film's German tagline Eine Reise ans Ende des Verstandes), showing "what war is all about".

Das Boot (song)

"Das Boot" (in the UK and USA released as The Boat) is the title theme to the film and TV Series Das Boot, composed and produced by Klaus Doldinger, released on single and album in 1981.

In 1991 it was covered ("Techno Version") by the dance music project U 96. It was its debut single from the album of the same name and was released in 1991. It became a number-one hit in Austria, Switzerland, Germany and Norway and was a top ten hit in France and the Netherlands. The song was the subject of many remixes throughout the years.

The synthesized speech in the song was generated using an Atari ST and the STSPEECH.TOS program.

Track listings

Das Boot (album)

Das Boot (German for The Boat) is the first album by the German dance group U96, released in 1992. The track Das Boot is a cover version of the title theme of the 1981 German film Das Boot, composed by Klaus Doldinger. The name of group (U96) is a reference to the film. Although the package advertises "at least ten top-ten hits", only nine songs are featured in one of the releases.

Track listing

1992 release: Polydor / 513 185-1

1992 release: Polydor / 513 185-2