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The Hindenburg
original movie poster
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.
Country	United States
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
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 grayscale. 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 explodes, a unique segue is presented utilizing special effects (a combination of a matte painting of the Zeppelin, animation and a superimposed explosion), to recreate the first moments of the actual explosion (which were missed by all newsreel cameras at the actual event), 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 radio commentary, 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 Universal Studios largest and tallest soundstage, Stage 12. The miniature of the Hindenburg today rests in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The film tries 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 word "D-LZ129" should be on the top of the ship, while the model is missing this and only has the word "D-LZ129" on the sides. Another inaccuracy is that the word "D-LZ129" on the sides is 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 forward during flight in the real Hindenburg.
• The passenger gangway doors are swung open inaccurately 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's 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 real mooring mast was actually red and white.
• During the landing sequence the ship drops water ballast through some of 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 realistic and is in black and white, in reality the explosion should have spread to the stern more and 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.
• In the film, the characters of Ernst Lehmann and Hugo Eckener are portrayed as very wary of the Nazi party. In reality, while Eckener hated the Nazis and spoke against them openly, Lehmann was very accommodating to the powers in Berlin in order to advance his career and the fortunes of the Zeppelin Company. In fact, while the movie shows Lehmann protesting using the ship in the previous year to drop propaganda leaflets, in reality Lehmann was eager and glad to oblige in this undertaking, to the extent that he launched the ship in a dangerous wind condition, bashing in the tail. In real life Eckener lashed out at Lehmann for endangering the ship to please the Nazis, resulting in Propaganda Minister Goebbels blacklisting Eckener in the press forever after, despite his being a national (and international) hero.
• The film is set in 1937. At one time the dialog 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 already been taken over completely in 1929.
• Although a military band plays the German national anthem during the start of The Hindenburg, no male spectator removes his hat and no military personnel salute, which would have been simply impossible in the Nazi era.
• At the beginning of the film during the fake newsreel, the name of the airship Graf Zeppelin is shown painted on its side. But it is painted in a different font, a dead giveaway that the airship shown is actually the LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II, which was not built until the year after the Hindenburg crashed, and therefore a 1937 newsreel would not show it.
• On board the Hindenburg, the Countess is reading a paperback book, which is a German-language edition of Gone with the Wind. Paperback books were introduced in Germany no earlier than 1948.
• At one of the Airports there are Citroën delivery cars which were built in the 1950s.
• The landing approach is also very inaccurate. The Hindenburg appears to approach making turn to the left and skids to starboard when the wind shifts. Then the Captain orders a sharp turn to port. In reality the Hindenburg approached with a turn to the left to circle the field and then made a final sharp turn to starboard, skidding to port at the very end.

• 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, as well as a few others.
• The possibility of Boerth's (i.e. Spehl's) deliberate sabotage is one theory of the fire that had been the subject of a book, around the time of the film's development. It has never been proven definitively.
• 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.
• A real-life tragedy nearly happened during the filming of the Hindenburg's fiery death. A full-scale section of the Zeppelin's nose was built for the film on Universal Studios' Stage 12, and was set to be destroyed by fire for the film's final destruction sequence. A half-dozen stunt artists wearing fire-retardant gear were placed in the nose replica as it was set afire; however, the fire quickly got out of control, causing several stunt artists to get lost in the smoke, damaging several cameras filming the action, and nearly destroyed the sound stage. Some of the footage from this sequence was used in the final cut of the film, but the full sequence, as it had been planned, was not included.
• Two dramatic escapes depicted in the film were based on fact (though one was slightly inaccurate).
  • Werner Franz, a 14 year old cabin boy, escaped the flames after a water ballast tank overhead burst open and soaked him with water. He then made his way to the hatch and turned around and ran the other way, because the flames were being pushed by the wind towards the starboard side. In the movie however, he is depicted being doused by the water after he jumped out. He is one of the two people aboard who are still alive as of 2007.
  • Passenger Joseph Spah, a circus performer, escaped by smashing a window with his home movie camera (the film survived the disaster), and grabbed a landing line, jumping to the ground when the ship was low enough. He survived with only a broken ankle.

The Hindenburg won two Special Achievement Academy Awards:

• Peter Berkos for Sound effects
• Albert Whitlock and Glen Robinson for Visual Effects

The film was also nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Sound.

The film and the book it was based on by Michael Mooney was once sued by A. A. Hoehling (author of a previous book also about the sabotage theory, Who Destroyed The Hindenburg?) for copyright infringement as well as unfair competition. However, the Judge, Charles M. Metzner, had dismissed his allegations. [1].

• George C. Scott as Col. Franz Ritter
• Anne Bancroft as Ursula, The Countess
• William Atherton as Boerth
• Roy Thinnes as Martin Vogel
• Gig Young as Edward Douglas*
• Burgess Meredith as Emilio Pajetta
• Charles Durning as Capt. Pruss*
• Richard A. Dysart as Capt. Lehmann*
• Robert Clary as Joe Spah*(miscredited or erroneously credited as Joe Spahn)
• Rene Auberjonois as Maj. Napier
• Peter Donat as Reed Channing
• Alan Oppenheimer as Albert Breslau
• Katherine Helmond as Mrs. Mildred Breslau
• Joanna Moore as Mrs. Channing
• Stephen Elliott as Capt. Fellows
• Joyce Davis as Eleanore Ritter
• Colby Chester as Eliot Howell III
• Michael Richardson as Rigger Neuhaus
• Herbert Nelson as Dr. Hugo Eckener**
• William Sylvester as Luftwaffe Colonel

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

• The Hindenburg at the Internet Movie Database
• The Hindenburg at All Movie Guide