The Hindenburg (1975) User Reviews

Absorbing but slow-moving disaster film could have been so much better...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 29 August 2006]

Even the presence of someone like GEORGE C. SCOTT can't save THE HINDENBERG from being a less than extraordinary recreation of the famous tragedy at Lakehurst, N.J. when the German dirigible fueled by hydrogen caught fire during its landing during a lightning storm.

The most compelling footage comes toward the end of the film, when the craft is about to land and we know the unthinkable is about to happen. The special effects (designed by Alfred Whitlock) are especially strong here and combined with actual black and white footage of the event, it is mind boggling to watch. Ironically, the craft was so close to landing, with men on the ground already holding onto the landing ropes to secure the craft for its safe approach.

Unfortunately, the script Robert Wise directs is sub-par as far as interest in the characters. I'd be tempted to call it "Grand Hotel in the Sky" but there's not even enough soap-opera element to the cast of passengers that make any of them memorable, including ANNE BANCROFT, as a Countess, GIG YOUNG and BURGESS MEREDITH.

The plot is mostly fiction about a crew member causing a bomb to explode and ignite the huge aircraft, not really substantiated by the known facts although it makes for a compelling story. Historically correct or not, it's a film worth seeing but don't expect a disaster film comparable to THE TOWERING INFERNO or TITANIC.

What's really fascinating is seeing what the inside of the dirigible is like for passenger travel, truly elegant and comfortable...a reminder of the sort of elegance that greeted those aboard the TITANIC.

Effective story telling in an often maligned genre.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 10 August 2008]

On the 6th of May 1937 The Hindenburg Zeppelin, whilst attempting to dock at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, New Jersey, burst in to flames. Thirty Six people were killed that fateful day, this is a fictionalised account of what may have happened that day.

There are quite a few theories as to what caused the Hindenburg disaster, this film takes the sabotage angle and thankfully (to me) it makes for a very engrossing picture full of tension, drama and no little horror. The 70s was a time for disaster pictures, it seemed that one was churned out every year, not all were great movies for sure, but some actually were viable entertainment, and with The Hindenburg we get good old fashioned story telling, character build up and the pay off actually, well, pays off!

Running at just over two hours long, first time viewers should be aware that for a good 100 minutes of the film it's all about the set up, there are characters to meet and journey motives to explore, all passengers are under suspicion, and we live thru this courtesy of George C Scott's (wonderful here as usual), Col. Franz Ritter, the man assigned to ensure no sabotage can take away the pride of Germany. The film has flaws for sure, the array of passengers are the usual disaster picture assortment of beings, and of course some situations beggar belief, but this is a disaster flick after all, and director Robert Wise pulls it all together nicely for the films finale, and what a finale it is. Using stop frames, and inter cutting film of the actual disaster itself, the finale grips with a sense of realism, the plot line may well be merely one of the reasons put forward, but the crash is indeed a thing of fact, and it closes the film in a very sombre and impacting way. 7/10

Great special effects

[HotToastyRag · 5/10 · 30 September 2020]

The first movie adaptation of the Hindenburg disaster was made during the heart of the disaster genre popularity. It has all the elements present in The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, and Airport: an all-star cast, a large exposition to make you care about every character's backstory, massive special effects, and a long-running time.

George C. Scott is the security officer, and the old flame of Countess Anne Bancroft, traveling to America to visit her daughter. Charles Durning is the captain, Gig Young is an ad man who drinks too much, and Burgess Meredith and Rene Auberjonois are card sharks. Peter Donat and Joanna Cook Moore are a married couple expecting their first child, only taking that mode of travel because they think it'll be safer than a sea voyage. If you usually like the big disaster genre, you'll probably like this one, too; but it's not my favorite. I didn't find the initial "get attached to every character" very interesting, and no one particularly grabbed at my heartstrings.

The last part of the movie is, of course, the most suspenseful, and director Robert Wise chose to turn the final minutes into a mock-newsreel. It's in black-and-white, with overexposed light to make it look like old footage. The original footage taken during the time is occasionally spliced in, and because of the effects to the modern footage, it's nearly impossible to tell the difference. He also included Herb Morrison's famous eye-witness radio broadcast, which is the most emotional part of the film since it's the only part that isn't Hollywood-ized. If you're new to the '70s disaster genre, don't start with this one, but if you're rounding out your collection, go ahead!

Well... at least it LOOKS good.

[Rumi68 · 30 March 2004]

Probably the best thing that I can say about this film is that it was, near as I can recall, the thing that first got me interested in Zeppelin history when I was about 9 years old. That's been over a quarter of a century now, and the old "armchair Zep historian" trip is still a favorite hobby of mine.

It would be really easy for me to go into Ubergeek mode and nitpick every little thing about this flick (I'll try my best to spare you folks that and save it for when I've knocked back a few with a couple of my Zep buddies) but when it comes right down to it, this movie could be a lot worse.

I mean yes, it has a lot of flaws, not the least of which is its reliance on a fictionalized version of a sabotage theory which itself is perhaps one of the most elaborate, ethically-suspect works of fiction presently connected with Zeppelin history. The story goes that a young crew member named Erich Spehl (renamed "Karl Boerth" in the movie, apparently for legal reasons) fell in with the anti-Nazi resistance via a mysterious older woman he was dating at the time of the disaster, and the two of them cooked up a plan whereby he would sabotage the ship at its mooring mast at Lakehurst, in full view of the American press, so as to get international publicity for the resistance movement. The Hindenburg was late in landing, the timer on the bomb malfunctioned, (neither of the two authors who originally flogged this theory in their books ever really worked out that little detail of how the bomb went off as the ship landed) and the ship burned, killing Spehl in the process.

As I said, this theory is definitely hogwash, and I've come to suspect that those who originally concocted it and passed it off as historical fact probably knew it was hogwash too. But, this is the sort of plot that sells books and puts asses in theatre seats, so this is what Wise and his screenwriters decided to go with. They didn't invent the theory, they merely optioned a book ("The Hindenburg" by Michael Mooney) which was a retelling of the original Spehl theory (which appeared in A. A. Hoehling's "Who Destroyed The Hindenburg?")

Purely as a 1970s disaster film, this one isn't bad. It's got all the bases covered: lavish sets and costumes; big-name stars portraying a cast of characters from various walks of life, complete with various interconnecting personal dramas designed to heighten the pathos of "I wonder who gets it in the end?" for the audience; and a special-effects laden disastrous climax.

As far as the execution of the whole thing goes, it's definitely a mixed bag. The script could have used a good bit of work before they shot it, but then that also seems to be par for the course with most 1970s disaster flicks. A lot of the dialogue is fairly stilted, and some of the lines are just terrible. Perhaps the one that bugs me the most is when Ritter (the Luftwaffe colonel in charge of security) finally gets Boerth (the saboteur) to tell him where the bomb is, Boerth replies with the meaningless phrase "Repair Patch 4" and Ritter, who apparently had never set foot on a Zeppelin before the beginning of the flight, conveniently runs straight to where the bomb is hidden... under a tiny in-flight repair patch on the side of Gas Cell #4 (which itself was 10-15 stories tall). That the big "Aha!" moment when Ritter finally learns where the bomb is hidden is garbled by lazy, sloppy writing like this always makes me cringe when I watch this movie, and unfortunately that's fairly indicative of the level of screenwriting throughout the film.

Various characters are renamed versions of actual passengers and crew from the last flight, some are amalgams of a couple different actual people, some even retain the same names as the people on whom they're based... and others are simply invented for the sake of the movie. Colonel Franz Ritter (George C. Scott) is based upon a Luftwaffe colonel named Fritz Erdmann who was aboard the last flight to observe long-range navigational practices used by the Hindenburg's crew (and who was erroneously presented in at least one "historical" Hindenburg book as having been assigned to the flight to watch for saboteurs); crewman Karl Boerth (William Atherton), of course, is based on the "sabotage theory" version of crewman Erich Spehl; the Countess (Anne Bancroft) seems to be very loosely based on a passenger by the name of Margaret Mather; Gestapo snitch Martin Vogel (Roy Thinnes) was basically invented as an obstacle for Ritter to have to deal with; the Breslau family was based on the real-life Doehner family; crewman Ludecke (Peter Canon) seems to be something of a loose amalgam of a couple of real-life Nazi-connected crew members who flew on the Hindenburg, but basically he was invented as a flunkie for Vogel.

And on and on and on.

A few things about the film do work for me. First, I think that George C. Scott was one of those actors who could lend even the worst film a bit of dramatic weight, and in this movie he actually takes what was written as a fairly one-dimensional character and breathes some real life into it. As a Luftwaffe pilot who is ill at ease with the increasing excesses of the Nazi regime, Scott creates a rather human, sympathetic character. His scenes with Anne Bancroft are some of the few which actually seem to work in this movie.

I also quite like David Shire's music score. Most of the musical pieces in the film are variations on the Main Title Theme, though there are a few distinct separate themes (notably the romantic piece played during the scenes between Ritter and the Countess, the piece played while the crewmen repair the ripped fabric on the fin, and what I always think of as the "Gestapo" theme, which seems to be used when the film cuts back to Germany for scenes such as the one where Boerth's girlfriend is arrested in Frankfurt). And then there's the odd little vaudeville tune performed by Reed Channing and Joe Spah at the concert Channing holds for the passengers and crew. It's certainly consistent with what an American might have thought of and known about the Nazis in 1937 (concentration camps, for example, were already in use for political dissidents and "intellectuals" by '37) but it still feels kind of like the producers just said "We want a show tune in here... write us something!" By and large, though, the music in this film is quite good. I only wish it were available on CD.

Finally, and most importantly, the set design in this film, particularly the full-size recreation of various parts of the interior of the Hindenburg, is absolutely amazing. If you want to see what it looked like to walk around inside the Hindenburg, watch this movie. There are a few minor inconsistencies with the actual design of the ship (a pair of ladders which led down into the lower fin of the actual ship was changed in the film into a long set of stairs running up inside the leading edge of the fin, I assume for dramatic purposes) but for the most part Wise's set designers used the original designs of the ship and recreated them, right down to the rivets in some places. The only thing that they apparently got wrong unintentionally is the dark blue/green color of the girders in the interior of the ship. They seem to have gotten this from pieces of girder salvaged from the actual Hindenburg wreck, and what they recreated was the scorched color of the original bright turquoise blue lacquer which coated the girders of the actual ship. ;^)

But most everything else is spot-on. I've stood in the control car recreation, which has been restored and is now on proud display out at Lakehurst, and from having seen photos of virtually every part of the real Hindenburg control car I can say that the set designers really nailed this, again right down to the rivets on the elevator and rudder wheels. The passenger decks are pretty much identical to the real ones, the layout of the lower keel is frighteningly accurate... a modern-day movie about the Hindenburg would have to essentially re-build the same sets if they wanted to be accurate. For this alone, I like to throw my DVD of "The Hindenburg" in the player a couple times a year.

Again, not a great movie overall, and the sabotage theory the screenwriters use is based on a load of dreck dreamed up under rather questionable circumstances a decade or so before the film was made, and which implicates a young man who unfortunately died in the fire and was not around to defend himself (nor did he have any close family to do it for him at the time the story first emerged). It may make for an interesting movie plot, but it didn't happen that way at all. (I also don't buy the "exploding paint" theory that's been run up the flagpole over the past several years, as it simply requires too much cherry-picking of eyewitness testimony and photographic evidence to work... but that's a whole 'nother story.)

Not a terrible film overall, due to the painstakingly accurate set design, but not that great a film either. I'm a bit biased, obviously, but I always find myself wishing that they'd spent even half as much energy on writing a good script for this thing as they spent recreating the interior of the ship. It could have been something a lot more special than just another disaster flick if they'd put the effort into the story. But as 1970s disaster movies go, this is probably one of the best. It's certainly worth a watch.

Oh, the Humanity!

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 10 April 2012]

There are some nice scenes of flight in the giant German zeppelin, The Hindenburg. The 1930s were a period of experimentation with zeppelins for various purposes. Smaller versions, called blimps, are still used to spot drug smugglers and illegal immigrants by TV cameras.

They seem like a nice way to get from one place to another by air, don't they? The travel slowly, placidly even, and low enough so that you can savor all the features of the landscape you're flying over.

The problem was that they kept falling apart in storms, collapsing for unexplained reasons, or blowing up, like the Hindenburg. In this case the problem was the gas used to provide buoyancy. Hydrogen gas is the lightest element there is, and the first to be created after the Big Bang. After 1937 it was replaced by helium, the second lightest element with an atomic number of 2, and inert.

There's a Big Bang in this movie too but it's not caused by God but rather by a bomb hidden aboard the zeppelin by an anti-Nazi character (Atherton), assisted by George C. Scott. The point is to destroy spectacularly the pride of Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, there is a delay in landing and the bomb goes off prematurely, before the passengers and crew can dis-zeppelin. But, not to worry. The two monstrous little kids who must always be among the passengers of jeopardized flying machines survive. So does the stupid dog. (I think) George C. Scott doesn't make it and it's too bad because his intentions are of the best, he's polite and generous, and he plays the role of the disillusioned Nazi in a subdued fashion. Atherton doesn't make it either but I'm not sure he really wanted to. "The Countess" played by Anne Bancroft survives, her kickshaws intact, and that's good because she's an intelligent and striking actress, now that she's gotten past her early roles as a sexpot or gorilla bait. What a wide and welcoming smile she has, and sexy too.

So it's May, 1937, and the bloated thing arrives at the Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey, and bursts into flame just as it's being moored. The cinematic presentation must have given director Robert Wise a problem. Video footage of the explosion and collapse is widely available. Everybody has seen it. That makes it difficult to create in model form, and there are no CGIs in 1975. So Wise chops the newsreel footage up into sections, some magnified, of this magnificent disaster. Each section of newsreel lasts a few seconds and stops on a freeze frame. Then, for a minute or so, we cut to the passengers that we've come to know, scrambling desperately for their lives amid the flaming, falling wreckage. Then back to another few seconds of the original news footage. Then back to the passengers for a minute or so. What took only about a minute of real time is stretched out to about ten minutes on the screen.

The Nazi vs. anti-Nazi plot is to be expected. The other back stories are routine, including the shell of a romance between Scott and Bancroft. More interesting are the scenes inside the airship -- the cat walks, the gas balloons, a dangerous extra-vehicle trip to repair a rip in the outer canvas. And then there are the picturesque ice bergs near Newfoundland, the smokestacks of New York City, and snotty remarks about New Jersey, where I was born, being a land of moonshiners. I'm here to tell you that there were no moonshiners in New Jersey in 1937, just truck farmers growing tomatoes and other vegetables to be sold to the corrupt and "sophisiticated" urbanites of New York City. I suspect the Hindenburg chose to blow up where it did because Manhattan was simply not GOOD enough for it to happen there. Better for it to provide an unforgettable spectacle for those God-fearing sons of the soil living in the Garden State.

Very entertaining but for a rather small audience

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 11 October 2008]

This is very much a niche film--one that will appeal to some viewers but probably not most. I was attracted to it for two reasons--my love of George C. Scott films as well as because I am a huge airship lover and have always wondered what it would have been like to ride in one of these behemoths. However, given that most people DON'T have this fantasy and Scott is quickly becoming a forgotten name in films, I honestly can't see most people seeing or enjoying the film.

The film is a fictionalized account of the final voyage of the Hindenburg. While it is all supposition and guesswork, it is pretty exciting. Plus at the end of the film they did a nice job of integrating existing newsreel footage into the body of the movie. The acting is pretty good and the special effects excellent, but much of the spectacle is lost on television--it was amazing on the big screen.

Overall, history lovers will be happy but most others who have no idea about this event or its context will probably be left bored and confused.

Ho The Humanity!

[sol1218 · 7/10 · 22 March 2007]

(There are Spoilers) Put in charge of the German airship Hindenberg's security by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Geobbles, David Mauro, Luftwaffe Col.Franz Ritter, George C. Scott, is very certain that there's a very strong possibility that members of the anti-Nazi resistance movement were planning to blow the ship up in a public statement against the Hitler regime. Ritter's worst fears turned out to be right dead right for over 30 passengers and crew on the ship.

Even though the movie "The Hindenberg" was universally panned by many critics at the time of its release in 1975 it still remains, as far as I know, the only major disaster movie released back then that was in fact based on a true story. That makes it somewhat of a novelty itself in that everyone watching the film knew exactly what was to happen to it when it was about to moor, or anchor, at the Lakehurst NJ Naval airfield back in the spring, May 6, of 1937.

Having his own doubts about what bad, not good, the Nazi regime is doing to his country from what he experienced in Spain, the bombing of Guernica, Ritter is still at heart a German national and loyal member of Hitler's Luftwaffe. Still he's bitterly divided in his emotions when he finds out that one of the riggers on the airship Nazi Youth leader Boerth, William Atherton, is planning to blow up the blimp. Boerth a bit unstable himself after his girlfriend, and fellow anti-Nazi resistance member, was shot and killed by the Gestapo during questioning. All this made Col. Ritter try to get him to reveal how he planned to down the airship in order to play on his humanistic qualities, in having Boerth abort his suicide mission. Col. Ritter knowing that what Boerth plans to do tries to get him to understand that he'll only in the end help, not hurt, the Nazi regime.

We have the usual cast of characters on the flight where we try to figure out who, by the time he movie is over, will survive this impending disaster with Countess Ursula, Anne Bancroft, by far the most interesting. Ursala an old flame of Col. Ritter is trying to sneak out of Germany with all the gold jewels and diamonds that she can carry to start a new life, with her relatives in Boston, as an American citizen.

The Hindenbergs flight over the vast Atlantic Ocean is even more interesting, with far better special effects, then the ship explosion itself with the movie makers using actual newsreel films inter-cut with the actors in the movie, all in black and white, of the Hindenberg disaster. The explosion and crash of the giant airship actually lasted under 40 seconds but was stretched out to over ten minutes in the film.

In the end nothing even the on board and undercover Gestapo chief and fanatical Nazi Martin Vogle, Roy Thinnes, couldn't stop the very determined Boerth from carrying out his plans. What was really the big surprise in the movie was that Boerth had help from a very unexpected and, at first, unwilling person on the flight! Who in him trying to disarm the explosive device, that Boerth planted, actually activated it!

P.S Even though the movie makes it look like the destruction of the German airship Hindenberg was the result of sabotage the true facts of it's demise were never fully found out. A joint US/German investigation determined that it was either an "Act of God" or the result of a freak electro-magnetic spark or St. Elmos's fire igniting the flammable hydrogen, not harmless helium, that was pumped into it's massive Hull.

The Sabotage Theory On Film

[sddavis63 · 6/10 · 2 February 2015]

Everyone's familiar with the Hindenburg disaster. "Oh the humanity" (cried out by radio reporter Herbert Morrison as he reported on the crash live) has entered our vocabulary when horrible things happen (or when flightless turkeys are dropped from a helicopter, as in WKRP in Cincinnati.) In any event, no one really knows why the Hindenburg crashed. The most widely accepted hypothesis is an electrical spark caused by a buildup of static electricity. This movie goes in a different direction. It emphasizes the sabotage theory - a theory rejected by both German and American investigators, but nevertheless tailor made for conspiracy enthusiasts and movie making.

The movie's pretty well done. It has a feel of authenticity to it. I know about the Hindenburg disaster, but I never really had a sense of what the Hindenburg was like for its passengers. The movie gives us a pretty good sense of what it would be like to be a passenger on such an airship. It's not as luxurious as an ocean liner, apparently, but it would have been a pretty exciting voyage. I liked the sets, and the bit of a picture we get of how the airship flew. That was all well done.

There's a large cast of characters in this, headed by George C. Scott playing Col. Ritter, a Luftwaffe intelligence officer who's assigned as head of security for the ship. The sabotage angle is played up with that character, plus a Gestapo agent who's both helping him and watching him, in that delightful fashion Nazi Germany had. Both suspect sabotage; both are looking. As is normal with this kind of movie, there are all sorts of possible suspects on board the ship, and no particular reason to suspect one above any other. In that sense, the movie lost a bit of an opportunity to create more suspense by giving away the identity of the saboteur maybe half way through. Ritter turned out to be anti-Nazi enough to be willing to let the sabotage happen, as long as it didn't endanger the passengers. In the end, the real tension comes from the fact that the Hindenburg's landing at a Naval Air Station in New Jersey was delayed, meaning that the bomb would go off before the passengers disembarked, unless Ritter could stop it - which, of course, he couldn't.

The movie has a good cast. Aside from Scott, there's Ann Bancroft and Burgess Meredith and Charles Durning among others. There's even a bit of humour thrown in as a pianist and acrobat on board put on a show for the passengers and crew that turns out to be a shot at the Nazis, poking fun at Hitler and the party with a song called "There's A Lot To Be Said For The Fuhrer." In the end, the portrayal of the fire and crash of the airship is extremely dramatic and well done.

"The Hindenburg" is an interesting movie. It's highly speculative, but if you're interested in the sabotage theory, this presents at least one plausible sabotage scenario to consider. (6/10)

The flying crematorium

[Coventry · 7/10 · 18 February 2015]

There simply couldn't have been a better period to turn the case of the Hindenburg into a cinematic event than during the 1970s! It was the glorious heyday of immense and overwhelming disaster movies, and even though the vast majority of classic titles back then were purely fictionalized stories, the fundamentally facts-based story of the last and fatal flight of the legendary passenger zeppelin perfectly fits in the tone and style of the disaster-era. The Hindenburg crash as it occurred in May 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, is a truly fascinating historical news fact. I read many articles and watched a lot of archive footage, thanks to the well reserved news coverage on the spot, and I'm glad to have finally watched the film. "The Hindenburg" is definitely a showcasing of pure cinematic craftsmanship. The multi-talented and versatile Robert Wise proved himself to be the ideal captain for such a bombastic and politically sensitive movie-flight, and this resulted in a tense atmosphere on board, stupendous acting performances, terrific dialogs, awesome set designs and sound effects and – above everything – some of the best editing ever witnessed on film, during the climax when actual news footage of the burning crash is mixed with sequences of the film in black and white. There exist many theories on what, in fact, caused the dramatic combustion of the mastodon airship (for example static electricity and engine trouble hypothesizes) but the film obviously revolves entirely around the most intriguing theory of them all: sabotage! When a clairvoyant US woman out of the blue claims that the Hindenburg will explode on American soil, former Luftwaffe Colonel Franz Ritter is promptly assigned to board the ship and identify the potential saboteur(s). Ritter has a large number of suspects to choose from, from prominent German citizens to some of his own personal friends, as well as crew members, on-board entertainers and disillusioned Hitlerjugend veterans. With the emphasis on Ritter's complex and delicate investigation, 90% of the film is of course very talkative and slow- paced. Robert Wise, with the help of George C. Scott in great shape and the rest of the excellent ensemble cast, nevertheless keeps the level of suspense quite high and constant and you'll quickly find yourself guessing along with Franz about who on board might have a hidden agenda. Being a perfectionist director, Robert Wise was clearly also obsessed with recreating the era and delivering props, costumes and models to exacting standards, which makes "The Hindenburg" all the more captivating to behold. The last 10-15 minutes are downright phenomenal (and not at all exploitative and sick, like some other reviewers around here suggest) because you are watching a real tragedy and you feel helpless. The vast majority of victims are Nazis, true, but a tragedy nonetheless. In good old 70s disaster-movie tradition, the cast list is full of elite names (George C. Scott, Charles Durning, Anne Bancroft, Burgess Meredith, William Atherton …) and they all deliver.

Good suspense film based on the historical aviation tragedy that occurred on May 06th, 1937 on the Hindenburg zeppelin

[Ed-Shullivan · 7/10 · 8 May 2017]

This is a pretty good dramatization of an historical and tragic event based on theory only and not all factual is known about that fatal day on May 06th, in 1937. George C. Scott is very good as the leading actor as is Anne Bancroft as the leading actress.

There are some very suspenseful scenes in the film that grab the audiences attention and you cannot let go until you see what happens next. An example of which is when the flight crew discover there is a gaping hole in the outer skin of the Hindenburg and two brave crew men go out on top of the Hindenburg as it is flying low and slow. The two crew men are tied to a rope around their waste in an attempt to seal the gaping hole before the captain of the Hindenburg gives the order to go full throttle to avoid the Hindenburg crashing and killing everyone aboard.

Hindenburg began its last flight on May 3, 1937, carrying 36 passengers and 61 officers, crew members, and trainees. It was the airship's 63rd flight. The film quality on Blu Ray is excellent and the film makers designed the Hindenburg's seating and viewing area identical to the actual air ship. Although this is more of a dramatization of certain events the facts are true that the Hindenburg exploded at Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937, caught fire as it was filled with hydrogen and burned to the ground. This was a very tragic day for aviation history and it caused the deaths of thirteen (13) of the 36 passengers, and twenty-two (22) of the 61 crew, who died as a result of the zeppelin's crash.

Historically, there is no evidence of sabotage that was ever found, and no convincing theory of sabotaged has ever been advanced. George C. Scott plays the lead investigator Colonel Franz Ritter charged with determining if the written warning the Kremlin received prior to the Hindenburg flight departing that the Hindenburg was going to be destroyed and Colonel Franz Ritter's known relationship with the passenger Countess Ursula von Reugen (Anne Bancroft) who chose to travel on the Hindenburg in an attempt to escape to New Jersey with her most valuable jewels to stay with her daughter who was away at boarding school.

Will these two characters and the many other interesting passengers survive, and who is responsible if there is in fact a bomb aboard the Hindenburg? This is a suspenseful film worth watching.

I give The Hindenburg a 7/10 rating.

There's Not a Lot to Be Said for "The Hindenburg"

[JamesHitchcock · 5/10 · 25 May 2012]

Apart from the sinking of the "Titanic", the loss of the German airship "Hindenburg" at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937 was perhaps the most famous disaster of the twentieth century, so it is perhaps unsurprising that this film should have been made during the 1970s, the Golden Age of the disaster movie. There is, however, a difference between "The Hindenburg" and the standard seventies disaster flick in that it is a period piece based on a real-life disaster; most such films were set in the present day and told fictional stories.

There is another difference between this film and films like "The Towering Inferno", "The Poseidon Adventure" or the various versions of the "Titanic" story. In those films the disaster happened over a longer period of time; the "Titanic", for example, took over two hours to sink after hitting the iceberg, so when James Cameron filmed the story he was able to use the second half of the movie to show the disaster as it happened, in virtually real time. The fire which destroyed the "Hindenburg", by contrast, took only a few minutes to consume the airship, and only takes up a small part of the film's running time. The film-makers, therefore, needed to come up with something else to make a full-length feature film out of the disaster.

The true cause of the "Hindenburg" disaster remains unknown to this day, but the film explores the theory that the airship was destroyed as a deliberate act of sabotage by forces opposed to the Nazi regime. The main character is Franz Ritter, a Colonel in the Luftwaffe and the "Hindenburg's" security officer. Ritter discovers that there is a plot to destroy the airship and works desperately to thwart it. He himself, however, is becoming disillusioned with the Nazis (whom he originally supported) so has some sympathy with the anti-Nazi opposition. In reality no firm evidence for sabotage has ever been found, but there is also no firm evidence which would definitely rule it out, so this aspect of the film is not so much a distortion of history as an exploration of a possible, if unproven, theory. In some respects, however, the film-makers do alter the facts to suit the story. For example, in the film the airship's captain Max Pruss delays his landing because of adverse weather conditions (a key plot point), whereas in fact no such delay took place.

The film's main drawback is that it just does not work as a thriller. We all know that the "Hindenburg" was indeed destroyed and we therefore realise that Ritter's efforts to prevent its destruction will prove vain. It therefore generates very little tension. Films about the "Titanic" disaster suffer from the same drawback, but both Cameron and the makers of the earlier 1953 film about the sinking are able to overcome this problem by creating characters we can care about. The important question therefore becomes, not "will the ship sink?" (we know it will), but rather "can Jack and Rose, or the Sturges family, survive the sinking?" "The Hindenburg" does not give us any characters we can identify with in this way. Most of them, including the saboteur, are fairly sketchily drawn. The only one to be fully developed is George C. Scott's Ritter, and even he is not particularly sympathetic. A man who has taken four years to realise that Hitler might not actually be the great saviour of the nation he was hoping for makes an unlikely hero for a Hollywood blockbuster. The other major star in this production is Anne Bancroft as Countess Ursula von Reugen, an old friend of Ritter, but she does not have a lot to do. (Although both Scott and Bancroft were big stars in their day, and had leading roles in many films, both today are largely remembered for one single role, General Patton in his case and Mrs Robinson from "The Graduate" in hers).

On the plus side, the final scenes of the disaster are reasonably convincing, as is the period reconstruction of the 1930s, and there is a witty comic song called "There's a Lot to Be Said for the Fuehrer", actually an ironic piece of anti-Nazi propaganda, which sounds like something . Overall, however, this is one of the weaker disaster movies of the seventies, better than "The Cassandra Crossing"- it would be difficult to be worse- but not as good as, say, "Jaws", "Earthquake" or "The Towering Inferno". There's not a lot to be said for "The Hindenburg". 5/10

A goof. One of the German characters has the surname "Boerth". In German this would be pronounced (approximately) like the name "Bert", but throughout the film it is mispronounced to rhyme with "fourth".

The Tragedy In Lakehurst

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 31 October 2009]

If a film about The Hindenburg had to be made it certainly would have been made in the decade of the disaster film, the Seventies. But this film labored under a unique handicap that none of the other disaster films of the decade had.

Unlike the sinking of the Titanic or the blowing up of Mount Krakatoa and certainly not like any of the potential but fictional disaster events that were film subjects, The Hindenburg was recorded on sight with newsreel cameras and on radio with Herbert Morrison's never to be forgotten broadcast. A lot of people now still remember it, let alone back in 1975.

What Robert Wise did and maybe more successfully than any other director was make full use of the famous newsreel footage and carefully edited it into his film, with slow motion techniques into the personal attempts by the cast to try and escape the holocaust. The Hindenburg received Oscar nominations for sound, cinematography, and art&set design with a special award for special effects. Yet no nomination for editing which the main plus this film has going for it.

Of course we don't know what ever really happened to the Hindenburg and the film takes account of all the theories put forth. It also uses the real names of the people who were passengers, crew, and officials of the Third Reich. The Nazi government had a big stake in the dirigible fleet they had built, they were as much propaganda value for them as Max Schmeling in boxing and Gottfried Von Cramm in tennis.

Of course had they had access to helium to float the big guys this might never have happened. But the USA had a near total monopoly on the world's helium and was not selling it to Hitler. Hence they used the lighter, but flammable hydrogen with the result of the tragedy.

George C. Scott and Anne Bancroft head the cast as a Luftwaffe official and a worldly old world countess traveling to the USA to visit her deaf mute daughter going to school for same in Boston. The Nazis didn't believe in helping those they considered defectives, another lovable quality about them.

The Hindenburg is a sobering and near factual account of what happened in Lakehurst, New Jersey that afternoon. It's one of the best of the Seventies disaster films and should not be missed.

Pride of the Fatherland

[nickenchuggets · 7/10 · 26 February 2023]

One type of travel many people were sad to see get axed was the airship. Blimps (as they're commonly called) offered people the chance to see the world from high above the clouds in a unique way. The nail in the coffin for airships was the infamous Hindenburg disaster, which involved the Nazi German airship LZ-129 named after the famed WW1 general bursting into flames as it attempted to land at a field in New Jersey. This movie is very clearly historical fiction, and tries to put a conspiracy spin on the Hindenburg's demise, attempting to show that it blew up because it was sabotaged by those who wanted to bring down Nazi Germany's biggest status symbol. The plot follows a Colonel in the Luftwaffe, Franz Ritter (George C Scott) who has been assigned to the Hindenburg's voyage in order to protect it from those wishing to damage it in any way. A nazi secret police officer named Hauptsturmführer Vogel is tasked with assisting Ritter on the voyage, investigating the backgrounds of the passengers while pretending to be a photographer. One passenger on the airship is the Countess Ursula von Reugen, a friend of Ritter's. Her ancestral home in Peenemünde was recently seized by Hitler's government in order to oversee Von Braun's rocket research. Another passenger named Joe Spah makes pencil sketches of the Hindenburg's interior and says he's trying to get inspirations for a Vaudeville show, but his real motives are obviously sinister. On the journey to America, Ritter begins to suspect a rigger named Karl Boerth, who seems to take an interest in snooping around the ship's metal frame (off limits to passengers). Ritter knows Karl is a former Hitler Youth leader, but he's since become sick of the nazi's way of doing things. While suspicious of Ritter, Karl feels bad for him after he learns Ritter's son was killed in an accident while in the Hitler Youth. Later on, Karl's girlfriend Freda is arrested by the Gestapo for asking too many questions about where the airship is going. She is later killed for attempting escape. When Ritter tells Karl what became of his lover, he vows to blow up the Hindenburg and kill himself in the process, but only after all the other passengers have left. Ritter tries arresting Karl, but the latter says not to force his hand, since he can blow up the airship right now if he wants. While trying to set the explosive in one of the Hindenburg's gas cells, Karl accidentally drops his knife, which is picked up by a crewmate later. Meanwhile, Vogel starts to investigate matters on his own behind Ritter's back, even though he isn't supposed to. Vogel arrests Karl and takes away Ursula's passport. With the blimp coming into view for awaiting spectators at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, Ritter tries to tell captain Max Pruss the landing will have to wait. Ritter tries to find from Karl where the bomb is located, but comes across Vogel trying to mutilate Karl. He says the bomb is in the repair patch of the fourth gas cell. As Ritter climbs a ladder and attempts to defuse the bomb, Vogel pursues him. Ritter's attempts to defuse the bomb are unsuccessful, and he's killed. Vogel manages to escape the now burning airship. As the Hindenburg goes down in flames, some other lucky passengers manage to jump to safety, including Ursula, but Karl burns alive. The day after, news reports about investigations into the disaster start coming in. The nazis refuse to admit the cause was sabotage, since in their minds, it was impossible for their most prized possession to be destroyed by a single person. Hitler therefore declares the Hindenburg's destruction was an act of God. After seeing this movie, I was kind of disappointed. I think I put a little too much faith in TCM and thought it was impossible for them to show mediocre films, but this is not the case. Aside from the fact that most of the movie just feels pretty boring because most of it takes place inside the Hindenburg, this film isn't exactly historically accurate. In the movie, the airship's second in command Ernst Lehmann is portrayed as being distrustful of the nazis, when in real life he was a known supporter of Hitler, at least when he wanted to benefit the Zeppelin company. Another scene has a crew member almost swept off one of the Hindenburg's fins after he ventures onto one in order to fix a rip in it. This never happened. Lastly, Hugo Eckener, head of the Zeppelin company, says in the movie he didn't want to name the airship after Hitler because he doesn't support nazis. In real life, Hitler himself refused to have his name attached to the Hindenburg, god forbid something bad happened to it. Overall, I was somewhat unimpressed by this film. I thought it was pretty idiotic how they try to tell the audience this event happened because of spies, but Hollywood needs to make money somehow I suppose.

Not One of Robert Wise's Best

[ragosaal · 5/10 · 26 December 2006]

The Hindenburg disaster didn't last more than 3 minutes or so; then, if you want to make a movie with that subject, how do you complete the rest of the time a film is supposed to last? Not an easy task.

Robert Wise puts his best in trying but "Hindenburg" doesn't rise beyond a just standard disaster film. Some good sequences of the ship in the air and good performances from a reliable cast are not enough to raise such level. The plot, sort of interesting with the sabotage focus, is not great either.

Finally, the airship's destruction scenes mixed up with real footage is not bad, but you always wonder if including real shooting (that most of us have seen before), doesn't appear as a sort of cheating the easy way when it comes to movies about real facts; this is not a documentary film and I would have liked to see special effects on the crash we all knew was coming.

Robert Wise was indeed one of the most recognized directors in films and gave as such good products in different genres as "The Sound of Music", "Helen of Troy" or "The Day the Earth Stood Still" just to name a few. But "Hindemburg" -though watchable- is not among his best works and it didn't fulfill my expectations; not with Robert Wise in the direction.

Not the Disaster Some Make It Out to Be

[Michael_Elliott · 11 January 2014]

The Hindenburg (1975)

** (out of 4)

If you listen to most critics, THE HINDENBURG is the worst disaster movie ever made but I personally wouldn't go that far. The film tells a somewhat fictionalized account of what happened on the mighty ship's voyage to America, which turned out to be its last. The film's main focus is a man played by George C. Scott who begins to think that there's something not right going on. THE HINDENBURG was a hit with crowds back when it was released and it won a couple Oscar's for its special effects but I don't think there's any question that there are quite a few flaws scattered throughout this thing. The key to most disaster movies is that we're introduced to the cast, we like the cast, a disaster happens and then we see the likable cast try to survive the disaster. That doesn't happen here because the disaster doesn't happen until the final minutes of the moment and everyone going into this film knows what's going to happen. This "thriller" simply doesn't have any thrills because you know the disaster is going to be the final thing and everything leading up to it is just a bunch of dialogue that really adds up to nothing. None of the stories we're told or the characters we're introduced to really mean anything because we know what we're waiting for. I'm really not sure how they could have told this story better but perhaps have the disaster happen at the middle point and then the rest of the film focus on an investigation? I'm not sure but there's just not enough drama or thrills here to sustain a 125-minute running time. The performances are pretty much what you'd expect from a film like this. Scott is certainly good in his role and we get nice support from the likes of Anne Bancroft, Charles Durning, Gig Young, Burgess Meredith and William Atherton. The special effects are quite good but director Robert Wise's choice to switch things over to B&W during the final moments was a little strange. THE HINDENBURG isn't a good movie but I think fans of the genre will at least want to watch it once.

Disaster Movies Are Rubbernecking

[LeonLouisRicci · 6/10 · 23 June 2012]

Disaster movies are easy targets, but not for the obvious reasons.

There is something cynical and voyeuristic about watching mass destruction and wholesale slaughter as entertainment. So after viewing such things our guilt reflex kicks in and we lash out at the source of our embarrassment and don't take the personal responsibility for our behavior.

Most of the these films are a mediocre mishmash of boring characters played by big-name stars and big-budget special effects that are a mixed bag.

The reason these keep being made is that most of the time they are money makers from movie makers that have no qualms about exploiting this rubbernecking public neurosis. The Hindenburg has as much to offer as any of its DM cousins and as much to criticize. Disturbingly stylistic, the actual demise is different and dramatized in a way that is surprising and distressing. Listen closely for some excellent sound editing.

The odd, after the disaster ending and the detached overly punctuated way of listing the casualties is rather a curiosity. It is delivered something like this...

dead...dead...dead...survived...survived...survived...dead dead...survived survived...dead dead dead dead dead...survived survived survived survived...dead survived dead dead dead

Fair Portrayal of NAL Crew?

[GeoPierpont · 6/10 · 26 September 2014]

My biggest question of this film relates to the portrayal of the Naval Air Sailors at Lakehurst. Was it intentional to depict them as flat out incompetent. When the airship was prepping to land they dump streams of liquid (sewage, leftovers, water?) all over scrambling crew in disbelief, to imply they should have dodged a known protocol. Also, in trying to collect the tie down lines they behave in the manner of Keystone Cops, running in circles bumping into another. More running away from accident victims than helping. I never saw a hint of a 1937 era Firetruck or extinguisher. One would assume military style preparation landing a HUGE HELIUM filled balloon! The US was already chastised for such mismanagement in the film script. Hence, one assumed there were lessons learned with the increased inherent dangers closely after a LIGTHNING storm.

I found the greatly muffled dialogue in the baggage compartment to be in need of captions. This was supposed to be a very quiet ride, why would they replicate excessive noise. No one appeared to have difficulty hearing one another, why should we? I found the real footage of the disaster immensely compelling knowing how many survived this horrific incident. Limited exploration of organized, competent personnel responsible for this outcome, a loss for the humanity aspect.

I had difficulty comprehending the cartoonish bomb detonation scene. With other very complicated visuals, ship interior shots, editing of real vs model interplay, etc., why would the director resort to such a cheesy option. Who was the flayed man consuming the entire screen followed by an arbitrary stationary head shown with no expression? Very distracting when you expect to see a more life like replica of the most climactic event in the film.

Overall, I did appreciate the commentary of the 1937 political climate of Nazi Germany. I was unaware there were concentration camps so early as well as the negative treatment of passengers by Gestapo i.e. interference with passports, luggage, inspections, and overall paranoia. This postulates a process of how the TSA could transition, if not close enough.

The young deaf girl and the accompanying nuns evoked the most emotion requiring separation of mother and daughter to prevent 'classification' in her own country. Many elements of this film were intriguing, and the plot fairly believable save for one line. Hitler claiming this was an Act of God! Shocked to hear him give credit to an Almighty Being.

Recommend for Zeppelin design, Hindenburg actual footage, and the memorable recording of "Oh the Humanity!"

Impressive and depressive (Airport '37) !

[elshikh4 · 7/10 · 20 April 2012]

The disaster movie was a trend in the 1970s. The "Airport" movies, that took place in the 1970s, with titles that referred their years of releases, became a series in specific. Apparently, that brought some money. So why not making an "Airport movie" yet with a different time, vehicle, premise, and true story!

(The Hindenburg) was the answer for all of that. It took place in 1937, while the Nazi Germany was turning into an international ogre, with a tyrannical fascist policy that forced many to run away or think of running away, and an active propaganda machine that used the German airships as a giant flying ad for the Third Reich's technological development. Moreover, we're introduced to a zeppelin, sort of a hotel in the sky that's full of rich people, exactly like what the plane looked the year before in Airport 1975 (1974). However, it's bigger this time, with fabulous interior and grand internal. The plot utilized an excitement of "Who has the bomb? What's his or her motive? When it's going to explode? And how can we stop it?". The detective searching for the criminal was sure missed in the Airport series, and added "thriller" beside "disaster" in this movie's genre, with more heat and attractiveness. And finally, the "fact" factor, since this movie retells a real story, with the same events, and nearly characters, let alone presenting its own point of view concerning the reason of The Hindenburg's blowup, which's embarrassing Hitler's regime by the hands of its very men who - at one point - preferred to be its resistance.

This formula generally worked. The movie is non-stop thriller, making me on the edge on my seat for every minute. All the time we're searching for the bomb, living a time-bomb pace ourselves. Unlike all the Airport movies, where the characters are just a drama sideshow or relief, they are used here smartly as a long list of suspects. Although (The Hindenburg) has its share of Excess Baggage, like uninteresting characters (an old pregnant wife, a man with a pen full of diamonds, etc..) and redundant scenes (the police asks about someone on a ship, ..and ponies!), but the editing managed to create a graceful movie, with no flabbiness or bore. (George C. Scott) is a perfect lead. His seriousness carried the movie all along. He was the most charismatic actor around, with the best character too. The line of "I hate Nazism" was well served, saving - for instance - some irony for (Scott) to play. And I liked how it propounds a theory to explain the historical disaster, disagreeing totally with the much known declared reason (nothing but a technical error). It makes (The Hindenburg) precede movie like (JFK) in terms of being a political paranoia, with a theory to present.

The different age provided the image with nice details that were very elegantly cinematographed. The airship's décor impresses highly, you can't find similar visions in the Airport movies. The special effects were no less than great. The shots of the airship flying over many places, day or night, seemed so real (seeing this movie for the first time in 2012, I personally thought that they used a full-size airship, not a small model as I read later!). And the final sequence was inflaming literally. Its factualness, while cutting to the actual Newsreel footage, was undoubtedly freaky. I just hated the matter of freezing the Newsreel footage for seconds; it's where the documentary feel contradicted the drama feel badly.

Speaking about "badness", while achieving a good moment like in which (Scott) facing himself in the mirror with a deep guilt, seeing himself as a monster (albeit he's serving Nazism, participating in one of its massacres, he doesn't believe in it, losing his son somehow due to it too)--some of the other moment's cinematic depiction wasn't effective or taken care of originally; like the moment of discovering the real bomber. Then, the unintentional comedy, which includes a row of shameful moments at the end: The swindler gambler acts like a gentleman and makes way for the countess while all hell is breaking loose! (Richard A. Dysart), as Capt. Lehmann, walks some steps while looking around then falls on his face with smoke coming out of his back (it fits a slapstick!). The picture of the dog comes up among the other passengers' ones while a venerable voice says "Survived"! Or when the bomb explodes because the clumsy (Scott) didn't think of delaying its time of explosion or got scared when his loyal Nazi co-investigator shouted his name! Well, Roger Ebert said that this movie "makes people laugh out loud at all the wrong times." Hmm, few times Rog, only few!

Still the biggest flaw that this movie has is its end. Not for being known, but for being a bit depressive. Yes, almost all of the passengers we knew survived, but the idea of the ideal lead getting killed, as randomly as we've seen, is pure turn off. Let alone the matter of patriotic cause like embarrassing the Nazi, which - without a given statement - got eventually lost.

At its time, (The Hindenburg) was a sacrifice for some hungry angry reviewers. However, despite its minor flaws and depressive sense, this is big and absorbing kind of Airport movie that left me stunned. And it will live longer than many similar disaster movies, due to its nature as a political paranoia. Proved to be right or wrong someday, its theory endows it with a load of interestingness.

A fictionalized and overlong dramatization of what might have happened the Hinderburg in 1937

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 3 August 2022]

Aerial suspense and thriller with intriguing events , drama , and excessive dialogue . The riveting idea that the 1937 Hindenburg disaster might have been an act of sabotage is rather overwhelmed by star-studded-cast . Film features wisescreen and Panavision format retelling a fictionalized account about the spectacular travel of the German airship and what happened on the fateful night it exploded over on Lakehurst , New Jersey in 1937 in which a zeppelin burst into flames due to tons of hydrogen . Of 97 aboard, eight had a motive for sabotage , then our starring : George C. Scott races against time to prevent a hateful scheme a cause a catastrophe and thwart the plans of cunning blackmailers on the fateful destination . The truth at last? What really happened to The Hindenburg?. One had a plot. Of 97 aboard, eight had a motive. One had a plot. By some miracle, 62 survived. Germany's greatest chance for victory. The monster of the skies you've been hearing about on radio and T. V. The Screen Explodes... with This Summer's Action Hit! .High! - In Action! Adventure!

This intriguing film gets a magnificent creation of suspense , thriller and emotional drama including some exciting and well staged aerial images . It is an acceptable disaster movie , but major disaster results to be its own boring and tiring script . This nail-biting picture results to be a compendium of the thrilling deeds and imaginative fiction of the happenings leading up to the famous catastrophe. For a dramatic effect, a twisted sabotage was chosen as the cause, rather than the failed electricity lashing out at an impressive blow-up . It displays the Disaster Movie sub-genre style with a plot structure, including a large presentation of roles until the known final . George C. Scott plays an investigator who is aware that something is up, and has numerous suspects to investigate and interrogate , while Roy Thinnes is the typical nasty Gestapo officer who goes after him . There's brief character studio with ordinary Grand Hotel-type roles and an interesting premise , that 1937 airship disaster was an act of sabotage, but being undermined by an overlong runtime . Packing an unexciting denouement mingling newly shot material and original newsreel footage . This earned special Academy Award for its sound and visual effects. And 5 min were added to film for TV showing . Main and support are pretty well with a lot of familiar faces : Ann Bancroft , Charles Durning , Richard Dysart, Robert Clary , Peter Donat , Alan Oppenheimer , Katherine Helmond , Joanna Moore , Stephen Elliott , Jan Merlin, while Rene Auberjonois and Burguess Meredith are nice enough as a couple of cardsharps to merit more screen time .

Musical score from David Shire is highly commendable and including a catching leitmotif . Colorful and brilliant cinematography in Technicolor and Panavision by Robert Surtees , a classic cameraman expert on superproductions. Being filmed on location in Munich, Bavaria, Germany , Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Naval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey, and Hollywood Burbank , USA . Produced and released by Universal Pictures and professionally directed by Robert Wise who never lets the action sag , in spite of its slow-movement . Wise was a good director who made films in all kinds of genres , nowadays , some of them considered classic movies , such as : Musical : West side story , The sound of music ; SciFi: The day the Earth stood , Andromeda strain , Star Trek the motion picture ; Terror : The haunting , The body snatchers, , Audrey Rose , Curse of cat people ; Wartime : Run silent Run deep , The Desert Rats ; Historical : Helen of Troy ; Western : Tribute to a bad man ; Drama : I want to live , The Set-up , among others . Rating : 6/10 , acceptable and passable . The picture will appeal to catastrophe genre enthusiasts.

Reasonable

[TurboarrowIII · 6/10 · 21 September 2014]

I think this is a reasonable film.

It goes down the sabotage route. I found it to be believable. George C Scott isn't too bad but I thought Roy Thinnes, best known for his role in The Invaders, here playing a typically nasty SS man was better.

It mixes actual footage of the disaster with modern film and this doesn't look too great because some is black and white while the rest is in colour. It helps to convey the enormity of what happened though and it must have been terrifying for all those caught up in it. It seems like a bit of a miracle that there were any survivors.

William Atherton plays the saboteur who planted the fatal bomb shown as the cause in the film. He was quite convincing although better later on in Ghostbusters I think.

It does drag a bit in places but overall I found this film reasonably exciting although tension isn't that high because the eventual outcome is already known.

That Ending Had Me in Tears

[Rainey-Dawn · 7/10 · 4 September 2022]

At the time of this film it was anyone's guess as to what really happened to the Hindenburg: Elmo's fire, static electricity, sabotage among other theories and the film plays on the idea of sabotage. Today we're sure that there was a hydrogen gas leak and a thunderstorm that caused static electricity to occur - that created the spark that destroyed the beautiful airship.

A very good cast with a script that drags forever at times. There are a few scenes that was unnecessary but over all a good film.

The film turns black and white when the ship was destroyed which gives the feeling of watching real news footage of the tragic event.

What got to me most was the REAL or actual broadcast at the end of the film - the broadcaster couldn't hardly speak for crying at what he was witnessing. Hearing him had me in tears. A dark reminder that this was REAL history.

7/10.

The Hindenburg is a bomb!

[jrs-8 · 3/10 · 16 March 2003]

The problem with making true stories is that the viewer already knows the outcome of the story. Most true stories center on someone's life thus giving the filmmakers a chance to show us insights we the viewer may not have known. When doing a film about an incident, the filmmakers are challenged to keep our interest high despite knowing how it all comes out.

The problem with "The Hindenburg", and it's a big one, is that the filmmakers have created a possible though unlikely scenario to explain why the infamous blimp exploded just prior to landing in 1936. The scenario created is that the explosion was caused by sabotage via a mad bomber. This would have worked fine had they remembered one thing. We already know coming in that the Hindenburg exploded and killed 36 people. Any tension that could have been created is then lost. When George C. Scott as a sympathetic(?) Nazi figures it all out it's a race against time to see if he can find the bomb and then diffuse it. But we know that can't happen so the only real tension in the whole movie is waiting to see which of the big name cast members are going to die. And it is a long, tedious wait until the final scenes.

Director Robert Wise incorporates real footage of the explosion with staged shots that mix together nicely. Again this comes in the last 10 minutes of the movie so we have to wait a while for the expected explosion. The final scenes are quite compelling. Unfortunately the first 110 minutes or so are a raging bore as we meet the cast and watch their individual stories. Anne Bancroft, Burgess Meredith, Charles Durning, and others join Scott for the flight but none of these characters are the least bit interesting. Only when their lives are in peril does any interest perk us up. And the only interest we have is seeing who survives but not caring who does and doesn't.

Director Wise has had a distinguished career but "The Hindenburg" will not be remembered as one of his best works. In the large group of disaster films of the 70's this was the worst up to that point ("The Swarm" and "When Time Ran Out" would come later and were much worse). It isn't even fun to watch in a bad movie kind of way the way you can with "Earthquake" or the later "Airport" movies. With all the talent involved "The Hindenburg" should have gone a different direction with its script. As it stands it's a dud.

One of my favorite Movies...

[horseloverab · 9/10 · 28 November 2002]

This film is a unique illustration of the Hindenberg disaster, which occurred on the evening of May 6, 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey when the gigantic hydrogen-filled zeppelin exploded on landing. Although a common theory for this event's cause was a discharge of electricity from the atmosphere triggering the fire, here it is suggested as form sabotage. As a result of the explosion, 36 people (one third of those on-board the German airship) were killed.

The movie goes along quite well in the way it is presented as a series of chronological events leading up to the explosion. The cast is flawless and in turn so is the superb and vivid acting. George C. Scott (as Colonel Franz Ritter, a German security officer) and Anne Bancroft (as the reluctant Countess) seem to be very suited and prepared for their parts as the main characters in the film. Other passengers to watch for include: Gig Young (as the sly Edward Douglass), Burgess Meredith (as gambler Emilio Pajetta) and Robert Clary, from the hit sitcom, "Hogan's Heroes", (as Joseph Spahn, a comedian.) These and many others provide an enjoyable overall performance in the movie while not only based on historical accounts, also provides other common genres of drama, suspense, comedy and even elements of romance between the two main characters.

This film may have a general theme of seriousness, as Colonel Ritter proceeds to investigate an array of people aboard who are suspects to an anti-Nazi conspiracy, yet it also resolves to make way for other moods as well. For example, midway through the film there is a very amusing sequence in which passenger Reed Channing (Peter Donat) plays on the airship's famous baby grand piano and sings a song entitled: "There's A Lot to be Said for the Fuhrer" while Joe Spahn performs. This scene obviously demonstrates how both passengers are clearly against the Nazi party, and here it is also interesting to note that during WWII, actor Robert Clary actually was confined to the Nazi concentration camps as countless other unfortunates were subject to during the Holocaust. There are also several humorous one-liners spoken throughout the film, such as: "Next time we'll take the Titanic!" followed by other memorable quotes.

As the film progresses, complications arise in the piloting of the Hindenberg as the crew and passengers encounter a brief experience with turbulence and St. Elmo's fire, (a flickering bluish glow sometimes appearing during storms) and repairing a rip in the fabric cover on the port side of the airship as it hovers over the frigid Atlantic Ocean. Events such as these, and Colonel Ritter's continuing investigation, prove to bring together desired elements of suspense, which certainly add up nearing the movie's climax ending.

Shortly before the Hindenberg's doomed landing, Ritter finally discovers the suspected sabotage and the passenger behind it in a perplexing turn of events. In doing so, he also finds that this well-planned demolition is i n the form of a timed-bomb that has been hidden in the airship's structure and that it is up to him to reach in time for deactivation. The last few thrilling seconds before the explosion in which Colonel Ritter slowly struggles to defuse the bomb have enough apprehension to make it seem an eternity as he meticulously works, but to no avail. From the moment in which the bomb goes off, there is enough action to keep you on the edge of your seat until the movie's end. The last few minutes (which combine both color, black and white images, and still frames of the fire as innocent passengers attempt to escape the flames) are exceedingly well filmed as well as both exciting and horrific. Through this vivid portrayal, one may wonder just what it would have been like to witness this tragic disaster. To any viewer its plain to see just why "The Hindenberg" received a special achievements award for its sound and visual effects and nominations for best cinematography and film editing.

With excellent writing credits provided by Nelson Gidding and under the careful direction of Robert Wise "The Hindenberg" proves to be a genuine and enjoyable movie to watch. This is a film that will undeniably age well, still seeming as timeless as it was the first time through. One of my favorite movies of all time, "The Hindenberg" can be highly recommended.

Eyewitness a terrible disaster. Zeppelin explodes.

[michaelRokeefe · 6/10 · 20 June 2002]

Robert Wise directs this dramatization of the fateful flight of the zeppelin Hindenburg, which exploded during landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937. Black and white scenes help mix the use of the actual newsreel footage. Special effects are very interesting. The story line strays from the belief that the disaster was caused by static electricity or mechanical malfunction...we see the dramatization of the Nazi pride and joy being sabotaged. An assortment of characters are on this flight and we see the goings on in the last hours of their lives as well as the conspirators wanting to bomb the craft. Tensions build and climax with the explosion of the Hindenburg.

Some very talented actors make this a very interesting movie. Notable cast members: George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, Roy Thinnes, Charles Durning and Burgess Meredith. No matter your theory of what caused this disaster; anxiety, intrigue and tension are all elements that make this film very watchable.

Big budget disaster flick destroyed by ludicrous dialogue and characters

[preppy-3 · 5/10 · 29 August 2008]

**MINOR SPOILERS** Fictional story about what happened on the Hinderburg back in 1937 on its last journey where it exploded. German Col. Franz Ritter (George C. Scott) is assigned to be security on the zeppelin. On board we find the same sort of one-dimensional characters and situations that were in every other disaster flick of the time. There also is a anti-Nazi man on board who plants a bomb to blow up the zeppelin.

This (supposedly) took two years to make. Universal went all out with this one. They took great pains to recreate exactly what the Hindenburg looked like inside and out. It paid off--the movie looks and sounds great. It won well deserved Oscars for special effects, sound effects and cinematography. Unfortunately the characters aboard are ridiculously fake and their back stories uninteresting. Bad dialogue too makes this hard to sit through. It's a crime to see good actors like Burgess Meredith, Katherine Helmond, Gig Young, Charles Durning and William Atherton working with material well below their talents. Also Anne Bancroft plays the Countess (that's exactly how she's introduced in the opening credits) and overacts to an embarrassing degree. However Scott gives a great performance in his role. Also, as a big disaster flick, this doesn't work. Everybody knows how it ends so there isn't much suspense and you could care less about which characters are going to live or die.

Universal promoted this film nonstop when it came out. I still remember the huge color ads they had in newspapers. From what I remember this was not a big hit and faded away fairly quick. This is worth seeing just for the technical and sound effects. The final 10 minutes, which show actual footage of the disaster inter cut with new footage showing who lived and died, is impressive but depressing. All the other disaster movies were based on fictional characters and events--this was based on a true tragedy which makes it sort of disturbing. I give this a 5.