Log of the U-35, The (1917)
*** (out of 4)
Historic German film was originally a propaganda piece for WW1 but when viewed today I think most people will be fixated on what we see. There's not really any "story" to follow except that submarine commander Lothar von Arnauld de la Perriere filmed this during a two-month stretch in 1917. What we see is his sub doing damage to countless other battleships including the SS Parkgate, SS Maplewood, SS India and the SS Nentmoor (not to mention several Steamer ships). This film is pretty much a document showing how powerful the Germans were and what damage they could do. Seeing this footage today is tremendously fascinating because Hollywood could create some masterful looking attacks but the footage here is raw and real. I was really surprised to see some of this footage, which includes showing all the ships either being struck or at least sinking. Seeing how much damage was done and how quickly these mighty ships could sink was something very interesting and this makes the film worth viewing.