Customer Reviews

Hitlers Lost Sub [VHS]

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This two hour DVD traces the history of submersibles through WWII and details the dramatic U-Boat campaign off the US.

It follows the story of wreck divers Ritchie Kohler and John Chatterton as they spend years identifying the wreck of a German U-Boat they were put onto by Capt. Bill Nagle of the dive boat "Seeker". Three divers, including a father and son team, were lost in this quest.Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II

It travels from archives in the US to Germany where poignant stories of the U-869's crew are revealed.

A nice tour takes the viewer through a Type 9 U-Boat in a museum. The video also has some amazing high quality underwater footage taken by veteran wreck diver Bill Delmonico. This footage of the U-869 in spectacularly clear water conditions was shot long before the submarine wreck was actually identified. Strangely, Mr. Delmonico does not receive an artist's credit for this work.

As a wreck diver and charter boat skipper who has dived on U-Boat and other submarine wrecks for many years this video was doubly interesting to me. It should fascinate any diver or historian. Really does bring out enough stuff to scare you.The Last Dive: A Father and Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths

It is a must have companion to Robert Kurson's superb "Shadow Divers" and Bernie Chowdhury's sad account of the fate of Chris and Chrissy Rouse, "The Last Dive: A Father and Son's Fatal Descent into the Ocean's Depths". The Wreck Hunters: Dive to the Wreck of the USS Bass

I was not feeling up to doing anything, so I put this DVD on since I had not seen it. I expected a morbid dive into the past and some U-boat trivia. I can now say it feels great to have been wrong. What a sensational film!

Instead of a slow, tedious film about a slow, tedious journey to uncover what U-Boat was actually down there off the coast of New Jersey in 230 feet of water, I experienced a time capsule that contrasted present time and people against events which occurred over a half century ago. It was a unique look at the "then and now" in detail.

We would see the divers in the present struggle through a six-year odyssey to find some form of identification for the mystery U-boat and, almost simultaneously, we were seeing why and how this submarine might have gotten here, though history said it did not belong there. In the end, the historical records and I were both wrong. The German naval archives believed and, in fact, insisted that U-869 had been sunk off the coast of Gibraltar so I believed I was in for a two hour snooze. I guess sometimes it can feel great to be wrong.

I was in the process of reading the Shadow Divers and came accrosed the Nova DVD "Hitler's Lost Sub". This is an excellent account of the book version of the story. It was very informative to view, almost as being there, the persise story of the book I was reading, on film. How, Why and Where the Nazi War effort came so close to our homeland and what could have happened. The book is more detailed, but to actually see the side by side comparison of reading the story was very fasinating and enjoyable.

The accolades 'remarkable'. 'superb', 'astounding' etc. are so easily over-used, but in the case of this film, they all apply.

This really is a documentary of the highest standard. The details are historically accurate; the commentary is informative and lacks all the traces of 'gung-ho' or exaggeration that can so easily affect documentaries about dangerous exploration. The structure of the film is near perfect .... starting with the existence of a mystery U-Boat sunk over 200 feet beneath the waves off the eastern coast of America. As the genuinely exciting (and tragic) story of the dive is told, the entire history of modern submarine warfare is covered right up to May 1945. This goes back to the first boats such as 'the Turtle' and then moves forward through WW1 and WW2 and even includes film of the Walter and Type 21 U-Boats.

Everything is stitched together seamlessly and, by the end of the film, includes some really emotionally-charged scenes and interviews with relatives of those who died on the boat, or those who sailed in U-Boats during the war.

The standard of filming is first class. This includes the use of excellent archive film, simulated events and effective animation.

I cannot praise this film too highly. If you pair it with, say, 'Das Boot', you will gain a truly incredible insight into the realities of the submarine war - and the bravery of both the submariners and the diving team who uncovered the story of this mystery boat.

A true story about the incredible efforts to unmask the sunken nazi submarine that was found decades after the war off the coast of New Jersey! This video has all the makings of a dangerous, dramatic modern day diving expedition, while at the same time, bringing us back in time to World War II. The end had me in tears. These divers were so brave, that to think of what they risked and lost to find out the origins of the sub gives me chills. An interesting angle of WWII history. A MUST for divers or WWII buffs!

There's a whole lot of valuable insight and background here concerning the history of the submarine in this special along with an interesting emphasis on The Third Reich and Admiral Karl Doenitz. It's got all the invaluable and intriguing minutia that most of us have come to love about Nova documentaries in general. Before seeing this episode I had no idea that the first underwater ship was created in the 1700s and the way in which underseas boats captured the imagination of people in the 19th century. The show, in fact, is more of a modern tale than anything else. It explores the mystery of a lost sub off the coast of New Jersey and the travails of a group of divers on a quest to determine its exact identity. It reminded me of an aquatic version of a CSI plot.

I have been a diver for years and shipwrecks have always interested me. I have read many books on shipwrecks and a few on the U-869 (The Last Dive by Bernie Chowdhury and Robert Kurson's shadow divers.) This DVD really put into perspective the detail both authors put into thier books. The underwater footage of the U-869 is incredible!

This video is impressive stuff. Even better if you firts read "Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II by Robert Kurson" that describes this whole adventure in its many diferents facets in a very grasping way so to say. You'll never put the book down, and afterwards you'll be wanting to now more. Well this video gives you more.

The only thing that I missed in the book were some graphics to give us non divers a real sense of what the U-boat looks like down there, you'll get the full picture in this video. You'll see just how crazy Chaterton is to go through that tiny hole just to get that one artifact he needs to positively identify the u-boat. You'll also see hoy very little visibility they have.

Highly recomended!

Teco

Truly an exceptional piece of work, this video is more than just a documentary about the discovery of a lost warship. It is a history lesson, a mystery, an explorer's dream, and, most importantly, a close-up of the lives of the real people whose destinies were forever changed by Hitler's lost sub. A must see! (Warning: Wreck divers will be mesmerized.)

Excellent program - it follows the book Shadow Divers.
As a North East wreck diver myself I found it interesting to see my sport shown so well.