The Hindenburg (film)

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The Hindenburg
Directed by Robert Wise
Produced by Robert Wise
Written by Nelson Gidding
Richard Levinson
William Link
Starring George C. Scott
Anne Bancroft
Music by David Shire
Cinematography Robert Surtees
Editing by Donn Cambern
Distributed by Universal
Release date(s) December 25, 1975
Running time 125 min.
Language English
IMDb profile

The Hindenburg (1975) is a movie based on the disaster of the German airship Hindenburg. The film was produced and directed by Robert Wise, and was written by Nelson Gidding, Richard Levinson, and William Link based on the novel by Michael M. Mooney. The movie has an ensemble cast, including George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, Burgess Meredith, and Charles Durning.

A highly speculative thriller, The Hindenburg portrays a conspiracy leading to the destruction of the airship. In reality, while the zeppelins were certainly used as a propaganda symbol by the Third Reich, and anti-Nazi forces might have had the motivation for sabotage, the theory of sabotage was investigated at the time and no firm evidence for such sabotage was ever put forward.

An interesting aspect of the film was its transition from black and white to technicolor and back to greyscale. The film began with a Universal Studios newsreel that gave a lighthearted view to the history of the lighter-than-air craft. Afterwards the movie began, covering the events before the bomb's explosion. After the bomb exploded, a unique animated segue was presented, taking the film back to the black and white mode appropriate to the news films taken at the scene.

The film ended with a tribute to Herbert Morrison's footage, with the memorable quotation, "Oh the Humanity!".

The Hindenburg made extensive use of matte paintings to bring the Zeppelin to life, in addition to a highly-detailed 25-foot long miniature which was "flown" via wires on a Universal Studios soundstage. The miniature of the Hindenburg today rests in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Contents

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Historical errors

The film tried to stay fairly accurate although a few inaccuracies occurred:

  • There are two minor historical errors on the model used in the film. One is that the letters and numbers "D-LZ129" should be on the top of the ship, while the model is missing this and only has "D-LZ129s" on the sides. Another inaccuracy is that the "D-LZ129s" on the sides are written too small and too much to the back of the ship although it is still between the "space" of the two engine cars.
  • The landing wheel always "folds" back in the model, while the wheel is often swiveled backwards during flight in the real Hindenburg.
  • The passenger gangway doors are swung open unaccurately because in reality they had to be opened manually and wouldn't land directly on the ground (rolling stairs were provided to let passengers walk down without jumping)
  • The part when the port fin fabric rips did not happen to the Hindenburg but is based on an incident that happened to the Graf Zeppelin.
  • A historical error in the film is the addition of a Blüthner baby grand piano on the last flight. While the Hindenburg did indeed have a piano aboard for the 1936 season, it was removed in 1937 to save weight.
  • The mooring mast used in the landing sequence is of the wrong color, as it is black while the original mooring mast was actually red and white.
  • During the landing sequence the ship drops water ballast through some the windows on the keel near the nose. This is very inaccurate, as water ballast was actually dropped through holes much more towards the gondola as well as near the tail section.
  • While the explosion sequence when the model is "blown up" is very realistic and is in black and white, in reality the explosion should have started a bit more to the back and that two strange objects were seen in the photographs of the disaster, which were most likely fuel tanks and/or water tanks, were missing in the explosion sequence.
  • Also, in the sequence when the ground crew are running away from the ship, the ship's port side seems to be losing more fabric, while in reality the port side did not spread that fast (The fire might have spread more on the starboard side in the real disaster because a few witnesses said that the fire began in the tail on the starboard side).

[edit] Other

  • Many of the fictional characters are based on actual people. For example: Franz Ritter is based on Fritz Erdmann, Karl Boerth is based on Eric Spehl, Captain Fellows is clearly based on Commander Charles Rosendahl, as well as a few others.
  • Although sabotage may be only a theory to the disaster, the sequence in the beginning about a bomb threat from a Kathie Rauch of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is fact.
  • There are at least three different versions of the film for both VHS and DVD. One version for VHS often has the model (especially the tail fins) out of sight more while the other versions has more of the ship being shown. One version (possibly the DVD version) also has more of the ship being shown as well a small part after Ritter talks to Joseph Goebbels about time bombs found aboard other airships, aircraft and possibly ships, such as the Graf Zeppelin.
  • It is unknown if the service wind and gusts chart with the flashing light in the landing sequence really existed.
  • It is unknown if crew members really pressed a button in order to drop the mooring lines.

[edit] Cast

  • *beside name means actual name of person on the last flight of the Hindenburg.
  • ** beside name means real person involved with zeppelins.

[edit] External link

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