series was severely criticized in  Germany for portraying World War II Germans sympathetically, the  producer greeted the first American showing of the film at the Los  Angeles Film Festival with great trepidation. They werent sure how  a former enemy nation in that war would react the film, especially  in a city with a large Jewish population, and their fears were  reinforced when the audience applauded the opening caption saying  30,000 of 40,000 German submariners were lost in the war. However,  when the film ended, the audience gave the film a standing ovation  in appreciation of the artistry of the filmmakers.