Product Description

A german security officer finds a bomb on the zeppelin as it prepares to dock at lakehurst n.J. on may 6 1937. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 04/12/2005 Starring: George C. Scott William Atherton Run time: 125 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Robert Wise

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5506 in DVD
• Brand: Universal
• Released on: 1998-10-27
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 127 minutes

Amazon.com
"One gasbag meets another" is how critic Pauline Kael described the "flatulent seriousness" that director Robert Wise brought to this 1975 thriller about the ill-fated German zeppelin which exploded while landing in New Jersey in 1937. The great air disaster is speculatively depicted here as an act of sabotage, and the airship's trans-Atlantic journey gives the saboteur's plot plenty of time to unfold while the story introduces a variety of characters aboard for the luxurious flight. While the anti-Nazi message is delivered loud and clear, Anne Bancroft and George C. Scott lead an illustrious cast in what amounts to a pre-World War II episode of The Love Blimp, only there's not much romance and precious little suspense. It's all rather flatly intriguing, but aviation buffs will certainly appreciate the meticulous attention to period detail, and the film won special achievement Oscars for its impressive sound and visual effects. Worth a look, if you're a student of this particular chapter of history, and the movie earns some credit for having at least the kernel of a good idea. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Good attempt to dramatize the Hindenburg disaster...
"Hindenburg" is a pretty good film that unfortunately falls a bit flat. The concept, sets, effects, and the cast are all excellent, but there just seems to be some element missing.

The cast is populated with famous faces from yesterday, a standard practice in all 70's disaster movies. Here we have the incomparable Gig Young, Burgess Meredith, Charles Durning, Richard A. Dysart, Robert Clary (late from "Hogan's Heroes" at this point), future Star Trek actor Rene Auberjonois, and Roy Thinnes. And of course, we have Anne Bancroft and George C. Scott. Scott and Thinnes really do their best, too (look at their confrontation scene when Thinnes' character mentions Scott's dead son!).

Still, the cast just seems to be shuffling through this one, with little or no true tension generated, other than an emergency repair by some crewmen who must venture out onto the hull of the ship (an act that was accomplished, but never happened on Hindenburg's last trip).

The end result is somewhat sparse, even strangely emotionless for the most part. Despite the overall blandness in tone, the film is compelling to watch anyway (thanks in large part to the cast and the effects).

Knowing as we do what will eventually happen at Lakehurst, one cannot help but marvel at the ironic line the Hindenburg's Captain Proust utters several times throughout the course of film. In regards to the United States' bad luck with dirigibles he remarks, "It's no wonder they lose all their airships."

The ending of the film seems to mystify some viewers today, but it is, in reality, an incredibly artistic, stylish (and daring), choice on the part of director Robert Wise and the producers. Capturing the action in black and white, with actual newsreel footage of the disaster added, and freezing images in place, Wise makes a stunning montage of the disaster and of the cast members as they flee the impending peril. Even though the end result is only partially effective, the montage makes an artistic statement nevertheless, the kind that Hollywood avoids today. With noisy garbage like "XXX" and "Ace Ventura" littering our cineplexes, it's nice to know that at one time in the recent past, there was room in Hollywood for some creative and bold artistry in films! Would that it could become fashionable again!

An interesting side note here is the night time launch of the Hindenburg. The ship is lit with searchlights that create odd, circular patches of light on the airship's hull. Five years later, Wise directed the critically panned "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". In that film, the Starship Enterprise is lit in a similar fashion, with spotlights on the ship's various insignia that create pools of light from odd angles.

A lost classic is found
I never even heard of this movie until I saw it on AMC. What a film.

...First of all the movie is not about the Hindenburg disaster. Unlike 'Titanic' it's not about the crash.

'Hindenburg' is a suspense mystery. Germany learns the Hindenburg will be destroyed before it reaches New Jersy. But instead of canceling the flight, they send it George C. Scott as a spy to find the bomber on board. 'Hindenburg' gives us many interesting suspects.

I can see why it won for best FX. Back when they used models and super imposing before this computer animation crap. Suprisingly after 2 hours of great FX, they cheap out at the end and go to black and white so they can splice in that famous footage of the crash. Cheesy, bust as I said the movie isn't about the crash.

It's also interesting to see how we were once on good terms with the Nazis. Yeah we even had the Olympics there.

If you want a great suspense film with great production quality, this is it. Look else where for big explosions.

Gripping Final Moments
This fictionalized account of the real life disaster takes a while to get going, but does deliver some good scenes in the final third of the film. George C. Scott is a Nazi colonel sent aboard the Hindenburg due to threats made about its voyage. He is joined by a cast of familiar actors, including Anne Bancroft as a bitter German countess. As was typical with disaster films of the Seventies, there are several small stories involving the various passengers, but none of them are particularly interesting. I found the set up scenes for the bombing plotline confusing to follow. The film's strength is the terrific set pieces for the Hindenburg and its final thirty minutes. The actual explosion doesn't feature the level of special effects we're used to seeing, but since it combines real footage of the disaster, it made a strong impact on me. By no means a great film, The Hindenburg is salvaged by its final moments and by the audience's knowledge that it really did happen, although perhaps not for the reasons presented in the movie.