The Hindenburg (film)
The Hindenburg is a 1975 American Technicolor disaster film based on the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. The film stars George C. Scott. It was produced and directed by Robert Wise, and was written by Nelson Gidding, Richard Levinson and William Link, based on the 1972 book of the same name by Michael M. Mooney.
For film footage of the disaster, see Hindenburg disaster newsreel footage.
A highly speculative thriller, the film and the book on which it is based depict a conspiracy involving sabotage, which leads to the destruction of the German airship Hindenburg. In reality, while the Zeppelins were certainly used as propaganda symbols by Nazi Germany, and anti-Nazi forces may have been motivated to sabotage them, the possibility of such an act was investigated at the time; ultimately, no firm evidence was uncovered to substantiate the theory.[Note 1] A. A. Hoehling, author of the 1962 book Who Destroyed the Hindenburg?, also about the sabotage theory, sued Mooney along with the film developers for copyright infringement as well as unfair competition. However, Judge Charles M. Metzner dismissed his allegations.[3]
Filmed largely in color (with a mock newsreel presented in black-and-white at the beginning of the film), a portion of the film is presented in monochrome, edited between portions of the historical Hindenburg newsreel footage shot on May 6, 1937.
Plot[edit]
Kathie Rauch from Milwaukee, Wisconsin sends a letter to the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., claiming the German zeppelin Hindenburg will explode while flying over New York City during its first flight of the season. In the meantime, Luftwaffe Colonel Franz Ritter has been named the security officer to protect the Hindenburg as various threats have been made to sabotage the airship, which some see as a symbol of Nazi Germany.
Ritter is assisted by a Nazi government official, SS/Gestapo Hauptsturmführer Martin Vogel, who poses as the "official photographer" aboard the Hindenburg. However, both operate independently in investigating the background of all passengers and crew on the voyage. Ritter has reason to suspect everyone, even his old friend, Countess Ursula von Reugen, whose Baltic estate in Peenemünde had been taken over by the Nazis for weapons testing and appears to be escaping Germany while visiting her young hearing-impaired daughter in Boston.
Other prime suspects include Edward Douglas, a suspicious German-American advertising executive, card sharps Emilio Pajetta and Major Napier, as well as several crew members and even the Hindenburg captains Max Pruss and Ernst Lehmann. Many possible clues turn out to be red herrings, such as Joe Spah sketching the ship's interior as an idea for a vaudeville show and mysterious names which later turned out to be the name of race horses two of the passengers are making bets on. Two other code names, for carnivorous air and sea animals, turn out to refer to the Hindenburg itself and the Queen Mary, where Douglas's competitor is in a race to beat him to port to secure a business deal in New York.
As the Hindenburg continues to Lakehurst Naval Air Station, events conspire against Ritter and Vogel. They soon suspect crewman Karl Boerth, a former Hitler Youth leader who has become disillusioned with the Nazi regime. Ritter attempts to arrest Boerth but he resists and requests help from Ritter, who sympathizes with him because Ritter's son was killed in an accident the previous year while in the Hitler Youth. Ritter later receives news that Boerth's girlfriend, Freda Halle, was killed while trying to escape the Gestapo, who had arrested her for questioning after she was seen asking too many pointed questions about the ship's exact position and arrival time at Lakehurst. Boerth, upon hearing the news of Halle's death, plans to commit suicide by staying aboard the airship as the bomb goes off, to show that there is a resistance against the Nazi regime. Ritter reluctantly agrees with Boerth to set the bomb to 7:30, when the airship should have landed and passengers disembarked, saying an explosion which kills passengers is the "last thing he wants".
While setting up the bomb, Boerth drops his knife which is recovered by a crew member. To cover up the loss of the knife, Boerth steals a knife from fellow rigger Ludwig Knorr. Vogel starts to work behind Ritter's back, arresting Boerth and confiscating the Countess's passport.
As the airship approaches Lakehurst Naval Air Station, Ritter, now realizing the landing will be delayed, frantically searches for Boerth to find out where the bomb is hidden. Ritter discovers Vogel in the cargo bay torturing Boerth; Ritter fights with Vogel, knocking him unconscious. An injured Boerth tells Ritter the bomb is in the repair patch of gas cell 4. Ritter attempts to defuse the bomb, but is distracted by a now-awakened Vogel and is unable to do so in time. The bomb explodes, killing Ritter instantly and sending Vogel flying down the catwalk. Vogel survives, being carried by ground crewmen. Boerth was injured from being tortured by Vogel and dies of his burns, but manages to set the Channings' Dalmatian dog free before the airship crashes to the ground. The Countess survives and is reunited with her daughter.
The following day, while newsreel footage of the wreckage is shown, a narrator lists some of the survivors and casualties of the disaster, as well as some of the possible theories. The wreckage is examined for the inquiry before being cleaned up. As Herbert Morrison's memorable radio commentary is played, the Hindenburg is seen flying once again, only to disappear again in the clouds as the credits roll.
Although the film is largely accurate to its setting, there were numerous differences between the film and reality. Some aspects were added for dramatic purposes. The scene when the port fin's fabric rips did not happen to the Hindenburg, but a similar event occurred on the Graf Zeppelin during its first flight to America in 1928.[15] Additionally, although the Hindenburg did have a specially constructed aluminum Blüthner baby grand piano aboard for the 1936 season, it was not aboard the final flight in 1937.[16] While the interior of the ship was accurately recreated utilizing original blueprints and photographs, a stairway was added to the lower fin for dramatic purposes; in the real Hindenburg, access to the fin was provided by a ladder from the interior of the ship for crew members to use.[17] Several aspects of the airship's takeoff and landing procedures were also inaccurate.
The zeppelin hangar seen when the Hindenburg departs Germany for America is actually a World War II US Navy blimp hangar located at Tustin, California, the architecture of which is quite different from the actual German zeppelin hangars (the same hangar is also used in the scenes at Lakehurst; a similar hangar was built at Lakehurst in the 1940s, but did not exist in 1937).
The mooring mast used in the landing sequence is black, while the real mooring mast was red and white. During the landing sequence the ship drops water ballast through windows near the nose instead of at the tail section, as it did during the final approach. The Hindenburg's former captain Ernst A. Lehmann is portrayed in the film as having died immediately from severe burns after the crash at the crash site while in reality he died one day after the crash in hospital from severe burns.
A few anachronisms occur as well: At the beginning of the story, two senior Luftwaffe Generals discuss the possibility of Colonel Franz Ritter receiving the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for actions in the Spanish Civil War. The Knight's Cross did not exist in 1937 (when the film is set), first being created at the start of World War II in 1939.
Also, at one point, Edward Douglas refers to the fact that the German car manufacturer Opel is to be taken over by General Motors "the next day." In fact, Opel had been taken over completely by General Motors during the Great Depression in 1931, six years previously. When Col. Ritter empties the fountain pen in the sink, it is clearly a modern stainless steel design with modern taps. At Berlin, there are French Citroën HY delivery vans which were built in the late 1940s. [18] And Ursula is seen reading a paperback version of Gone With The Wind, which did not exist in paperback form in 1937.
Several dramatic escapes depicted were based on fact, slightly altered for dramatic purposes, including:
Reception[edit]
Although well received by the public as typical "disaster movie" fare, critical reception of The Hindenburg was generally unfavorable. Roger Ebert's one-star review from the Chicago Sun-Times dismissed it as a failed project, writing: "The Hindenburg is a disaster picture, all right. How else can you describe a movie that cost $12 million and makes people laugh out loud at all the wrong times?"[19] Vincent Canby of The New York Times described the film as "brainless" and "pricelessly funny at the wrong moments ... Yet I wouldn't have missed a single foolish frame of it. I sort of like disaster movies, even bad ones, for reasons that have to do with the special effects and with other things that probably go back to the prenatal state."[20] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety wrote "Dull and formula scripting, a lack of real empathy and phoned-in acting shoot down some good though unspectacular special effects."[21] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars out of four, faulting it for "really dumb dialog" and a "fake story" but finding it redeemed somewhat by "terrific" special effects and David Shire's music. He concluded, "As it stands, the only way to enjoy the film is to get in the mood for trash and to laugh a lot."[22] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote "Technically, the film is a triumph; dramaturgically, it is somewhat less than that. Its climax is terrifyingly, horrendously spectacular, but the two hours getting there are not as gripping as they might have been."[23] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote "The film has begun to drag by the time the climatic explosion occurs, and the climax itself is somewhat less than thrilling. Wise has tried to integrate the newsreel footage of the disaster with vignettes of the fictional characters inside attempting to escape, but there's an impossible esthetic gulf between the documentary and staged scenes."[24] Pauline Kael voiced her disapproval of the film and Wise's direction with the phrase "One gasbag meets another."[25] Frank Rich, in his year-end review of films released that year, named The Hindenburg the year's worst disaster film, stating "The hero is a Nazi and the special effects couldn't fool Gerald Ford." Similar reactions were recounted, and when the film eventually made it to television screens, the TV Guide summed up a near-universal review: "This insipid, boring, implausible, senseless, deliciously funny, and expensively mounted film... There's no tension whatsoever and none of the characters is remotely interesting, let alone sympathetic."[26]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a score of 33% based on 15 reviews.[27]
The Hindenburg opened on Christmas Day 1975 (Thursday) and in its opening four-day weekend (Thursday to Sunday) grossed $3,729,907 from 289 theatres in the United States.[28]
The Hindenburg was noted for its use of special effects and won two Special Achievement Academy Awards in 1976:[29][30]
The film was also nominated for Best Art Direction (Art Direction: Edward Carfagno; Set Decoration: Frank R. McKelvy), Best Cinematography and Best Sound (Leonard Peterson, John A. Bolger Jr., John L. Mack and Don Sharpless).
In the same year, The Hindenburg was nominated for an "Eddie" in the category of Best Edited Feature Film in the American Cinema Editors Awards.