U47 - Kapitänleutnant Prien

Nothing in submarine war movies will ever get close to "Das Boot", that is for sure. This picture from the fifties takes a perpective partly based on the case of a "Kaleu" - a Kapitänleutnant who really existed and was used by german propaganda in ww2 for his courage and tactical creativity. It is a well done picture from these days, when other german war movies of the post-war period from today´s point of view had a lack of brilliance in both action and historical accuracy. This one has Dieter Eppler and Joachim Fuchsberger in it, struggling against inner and outer enemies. Dieter Borsche, playing a priest, tries to win Prien for "Wiederstand"-activities: the german resistance. A nice gimmick is Harald Juhnke, Germany´s number one entertainer in the 1980´s with a notorious drinking problem in real life, plays the "smutje", the cook in the submarine crew: Bigmouthed, always drunk and fun to watch.

This is a wartime movie full of stock shots,underwater attacks , tension and historical events.At the beginning of the film is planned a military operation by high command (Doenitz) because of being sunk many civil ships, as Captain Prien is assigned a dangerous mission at Scapa Flow. Prien goes back successfully Germany where is decorated. Later on, a priest, Prien's ex-partner school, ask him help for hide some refugees. Mediocre performance by Dieter Eppler as Prien, an unknown actor who does a wooden acting. As secondaries appear Joachin Fuchsberger as 2º commandant and Peter Carsten , booth of whom played during the 60s several European co-productions. The motion picture is regularly directed by Harald Reinl with too much stock-footage and scale models. He is a craftsman who directed all kind of genres as terror (Torture chamber, The invisible Dr Mabuse), Western (Winnetou saga), Epic (Nibelungen) Krimi and warlike.

The film provides a brief detailing of life aboard and a portrait about the crews subjected to stressful and psychological tensions.In fact the sailors had sleep in shifts.For months they were lodged in close quarters because every inch the space was needed for machinery,supplies and torpedoes.The air was heavy with odors from bilges,diesel oil and unwashed bodies.The men faced sudden death from depth charges ,aerial bombing attacks or the sharp bow of a swift destroyer as happen in this film. Rating : 5,5 average.

The picture is based on on real events , these are the following : Commander Günther Prien (16 January 1908 – presumed 7 March 1941) was one of the outstanding German U-boat aces of the first part of the Second World War, and the first U-boat commander to win the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Under Prien's command, the submarine U-47 sank over 30 Allied ships totaling about 200,000 gross register tons . By far his most famous exploit, however, was the sinking of the British battleship HMS Royal Oak at anchor in the Home Fleet's anchorage in Scapa Flow. Early in World War II, on 14 October 1939, U-47, under the command of Günther Prien, penetrated Scapa Flow and sank the World War I–era battleship HMS Royal Oak anchored in Scapa Bay. Her second torpedo attack blew a 30-foot (9 m) hole in the Royal Oak which, as a result, flooded and quickly capsized. Of the 1,400-man crew, 833 were lost. The wreck is now a protected war grave .

I thought this one was a fairly decent movie until I read that Captain Prien never was a member of the German resistance - but in this movie, he is. The two most important parts of the plot are the war action and a completely fictitious story that shows Prien trying to free an old friend of his, a priest who has been arrested because he helped Jews. But Prien was in fact a member of the Nazi party and was never involved in the resistance. They should at least have added a disclaimer telling the viewers that this part of the movie is purely fictitious. Apart from this inaccuracy, I think the movie is enjoyable for people (like me) that like submarine movies. For example, the war action includes Prien's famous raid on Scapa Flow. But even the parts showing war action could have been better. The budget was obviously limited, so they included actual footage from WW II. This may sound interesting, but there are too many problems with that in my opinion. The footage looks much grainier than the rest of the movie, and when the footage changes from new to old, the editing is often not very good. For example, in one shot it's night, in the next it looks like dawn or dusk, then again like night. So the changes from new to old footage (and back) are always very / too noticeable.

On the plus side, there is some funny banter between the mariners. Among them: Harald Juhnke, an entertainer who is famous in Germany. He plays the cook. His scenes are funny, but I guess some of them will make those who like him a bit sad: in these scenes he drinks too much alcohol. Juhnke's alcoholism in real life was very probably the main cause of his death. He was born in 1929, and I think he would still be alive today (2008) if he had been able to control his alcoholism.

Also among the mariners: Ernst Reinhold as Lt. Raufuss (or Rauhfuß?), whom fans of old submarine movies might remember from 'Haie und kleine Fische' (1957). If you haven't seen that one: I liked it better than 'U 47', so I think I can recommend it if you like this kind of movie. I don't think it's a great movie, but it's also about submarines, there's more (and funnier) banter, and it isn't as inaccurate as 'U 47'. (Or, to be more precise, it is a fictitious story that doesn't use the names of real historic persons when such names should not be used.)