Movies and Films
This is the forum for Movie and Film discussions. Again, our topic is naval warfare in WWII for the most part.
Re: Die Festung?
Posted by:
Volker Erich Kummrow
()
Date: April 22, 2005 12:48PM
Hello Dirk,
indeed this is one way to look at it and I basically could agree no more to your harsh judgement having read the book recently it definitely being not a page turner.
On the other hand, being kind of a post – war kid, I was thinking when it came to the dragging on parts of the book, first of all I wasn’t there and all of what happened during this time I just heard, read about it or was told f.e. by my parents who meet in St. Nazaire during the early forties.
So might it be possible that LGB, who (had to) live (d) through these times was trying more or less to give a personal if fictional account, first of all to himself than to his readers writing this book; you know kind of “writing his frustrations from his soulâ€, like in hindsight what he should have done instead of what really had happened to him let’s say after May 1943.
And I think he missed a great opportunity to tell a very interested audience in the 1980s, after his great success of Das Boot, what happened to the few u-people left after the big “slaughter†ordered by this “week†(to be polite) – Admiral Dönitz after 1943 and how these few, including himself, managed to survive and then make it to Horten in Norway, where by May 8th a kind of illustrious “club†had assembled for some time already like a.o. LWB, Topp, Suhren, etc and other “left over†brass.
He could have given us post – war people a continuation of Der Alte now being in command of a flotilla sending his boats on those deadly patrols not necessarily sticking to LWB but kind of working into the story of what happened at the trainings – flotillas, at Mürwick, and other places concerned with conducting the war of the u-boats after giving us a very vivid picture of one single patrol of U-96 in Dec. 1941.
In “Die Festung†he managed at least to some point to show us the trouble LWB was in when being surrounded by the GIs.
Anyway chance lost and you are right Die Festung is not worse to be filmed, if the Laconia incident will do the job, I don’t know; like I said before, Petersen has shown thus filmed it all and a new director would have a problem coming up with an idea why he would again have to film a uboat in action, what the crew is doing in the boat, what the outlook sees on the conning tower, how to start an attack on an enemy ship, how the depth charge shakes the boat out- und insight, how to reload a torpedo – tube, how frightened the crew can get being attacked by Aircraft etc. etc. I mean what is left to present to the audience?
You and the rest of the “gang†have a nice weekend.
Sincerely Yours
Volker Erich Kummrow
indeed this is one way to look at it and I basically could agree no more to your harsh judgement having read the book recently it definitely being not a page turner.
On the other hand, being kind of a post – war kid, I was thinking when it came to the dragging on parts of the book, first of all I wasn’t there and all of what happened during this time I just heard, read about it or was told f.e. by my parents who meet in St. Nazaire during the early forties.
So might it be possible that LGB, who (had to) live (d) through these times was trying more or less to give a personal if fictional account, first of all to himself than to his readers writing this book; you know kind of “writing his frustrations from his soulâ€, like in hindsight what he should have done instead of what really had happened to him let’s say after May 1943.
And I think he missed a great opportunity to tell a very interested audience in the 1980s, after his great success of Das Boot, what happened to the few u-people left after the big “slaughter†ordered by this “week†(to be polite) – Admiral Dönitz after 1943 and how these few, including himself, managed to survive and then make it to Horten in Norway, where by May 8th a kind of illustrious “club†had assembled for some time already like a.o. LWB, Topp, Suhren, etc and other “left over†brass.
He could have given us post – war people a continuation of Der Alte now being in command of a flotilla sending his boats on those deadly patrols not necessarily sticking to LWB but kind of working into the story of what happened at the trainings – flotillas, at Mürwick, and other places concerned with conducting the war of the u-boats after giving us a very vivid picture of one single patrol of U-96 in Dec. 1941.
In “Die Festung†he managed at least to some point to show us the trouble LWB was in when being surrounded by the GIs.
Anyway chance lost and you are right Die Festung is not worse to be filmed, if the Laconia incident will do the job, I don’t know; like I said before, Petersen has shown thus filmed it all and a new director would have a problem coming up with an idea why he would again have to film a uboat in action, what the crew is doing in the boat, what the outlook sees on the conning tower, how to start an attack on an enemy ship, how the depth charge shakes the boat out- und insight, how to reload a torpedo – tube, how frightened the crew can get being attacked by Aircraft etc. etc. I mean what is left to present to the audience?
You and the rest of the “gang†have a nice weekend.
Sincerely Yours
Volker Erich Kummrow
