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Das Boot (Klaus Doldinger) (1981)
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Average: 3.09 Stars
***** 33 5 Stars
**** 32 4 Stars
*** 46 3 Stars
** 34 2 Stars
* 24 1 Stars
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Composed, Conducted, and Produced by:
Klaus Doldinger
1985 Warner Album Tracks   ▼
1997 Warner/Atlantic Albums Tracks   ▼
1985 Warner Album Cover Art
1997 Atlantic Album 2 Cover Art
1997 Warner Album 3 Cover Art
Warner Elektra Atlantic
(1985)

Atlantic/TriStar Music
(August 7th, 1997)

Warner Elektra Atlantic
(August 7th, 1997)
The 1985 Warner Elektra Atlantic (WEA) albums were released widely in Europe and have been re-issued several times, including in 1997 by Atlantic/TriStar Music. The 1997 Director's Cut album from WEA is also a regular commercial album.
U-571
None of the inserts for any of the albums includes any extra information about the score or film.
Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #2,234
Written 2/27/24
Buy it... if you admire the hybrid synthesizer scores of the 1980's, Das Boot representing a controversial but highly unique blend of electronic and symphonic tones for a classic World War II submarine thriller.

Avoid it... if you lack tolerance for experimental music that is overly obvious in its tone, the score's main theme an undeniable cultural favorite in Germany but one that sometimes overplays its hand in context.

Das Boot: (Klaus Doldinger) Long considered a gritty triumph of German cinema and one of the most respected submarine-related films worldwide, the 1981 World War II thriller Das Boot also has the distinction of being one of the most depressing tales in the history of the big screen. Based loosely on the actual captain and crew of the German submarine U-96, the movie and the book that inspired it took liberties to darken the plotline with additional death and futility. The U-boat was heralded for its success in sinking enemy tonnage during the war, its early triumphs yielding in the film to a dangerous cat and mouse game with Allied forces that leads to an unnecessarily grim conclusion. The horror expressed by most of the crew at their own slaughters earns them a reprieve to the extent that they become protagonists before long. Despite its epically disturbing outcome, Das Boot was an immense international success because of its outstanding acting (led by the sympathetic Jürgen Prochnow as the anti-Nazi captain) and stunningly accurate recreations of the interior and exterior of the U-boat. Wolfgang Petersen's direction often shows the crew of actors rushing about the cramped ship with convincing authenticity, allowing audiences to fully experience the dank and claustrophobic setting with frightening realism. Not as faithful in conveying that sense of history is Klaus Doldinger's frequently obvious score, which remains a somewhat controversial aspect of an otherwise really fine all-around picture. Doldinger was a popular jazz musician in Germany in the 1970's and 1980's, and he enjoyed a robust career in film and television scoring as well. Most of his recognition as a composer for the screen came with television series, but his long collaboration with Petersen helped bring him international attention on a handful of major movies in the 1980's. In retrospect, Das Boot represents one of Doldinger's most prominent big screen assignments, and his music for the occasion is highly polarizing. Although it usually successfully generates the right emotional responses for much of the story, its now-dated rendering was intentionally unconventional.

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