The Hindenburg
D R A M A

Disaster drama. 1975. US. Colour and black and white. 109 minutes. PG.

Before we get to the movie, think of the subject matter. The Hindenburg: the LZ 129 Hindenburg. The mother of all airships. Jewel in the crown of the Zeppelin Company (Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH). The German zeppelin. This Germanic hymn to the skies; this massive, powerhouse of a beast reigning literally over the world; symbolic of the inexorable rise of the Nazi party in Germany in the 1930s. It is like a floating Reichstag in the skies; floating through the darkest days the world has ever seen...more

HINDENBURG DISASTER, MAY 6, 1937
Lakehurst Naval Air Station, New Jersey, US | Enlarge Image

It had departed from Frankfurt three days before, with 35 passengers and 61 crew members and hovered over Lakehurst Naval Air Station, its final destination, attempting to dock with its mooring mast. That moment, the moment it was engulfed in flames, is one of the iconic images of the 20th century. An image hand in glove with the famous, breathless words of Herbert Morrison's commentary for the radio station WLS in Chicago. He had been there to report its landing; he left leaving a legacy on how disasters are reported which continues to this day.

Those words, ghostly words giving flesh to the bones of a catastrophe are words from the other side of death:

'It's practically standing still now. They've dropped ropes out of the nose of the ship, and they've been taken a hold of down on the field by a number of men.

It's starting to rain again; it's—the rain has slacked up a little bit. The back motors of the ship are just holding it just, just enough to keep it from — It burst into flames! Get this, Charlie! Get this, Charlie! It's fire—and it's crashing! It's crashing terrible! Oh, my, get out of the way, please! It's burning and bursting into flames, and the—and it's falling on the mooring-mast and all the folks agree that this is terrible, this is the worst of the worst catastrophes in the world. [Indecipherable word(s)] It's–it's–it's the flames, [indecipherable, possibly the word "climbing"] oh, four- or five-hundred feet into the sky and it ... it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. It's smoke, and it's flames now ... and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring-mast. Oh, the humanity and all the passengers screaming around here. I told you, I can't even talk to people whose friends are on there. Ah! It's–it's–it's–it's ... o–ohhh! I–I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen. Honest, it's just laying there, a mass of smoking wreckage. Ah! And everybody can hardly breathe and talk, and the screaming. Lady, I–I'm sorry. Honest: I–I can hardly breathe. I–I'm going to step inside where I cannot see it. Charlie, that's terrible. Ah, ah—I can't. I, listen, folks, I–I'm gonna have to stop for a minute because I've lost my voice. This is the worst thing I've ever witnessed.'

'Oh, the humanity and all the passengers screaming around here...' those words for me sum up the hugeness of a catastrophe in a small sentence.

35 people died in the disaster, but not only that: a mode of air transport, a poetic mode of transport, died in those flames. Wouldn't it be wonderful, beautiful even, if this type of transport was a viable alternative to the prosaic for-the-masses types of transport we currently have? If the Hindenburg hadn't gone up in flames, if instead of turning their backs on it the authorities had looked at what to do about safety and kept the dream of these motherships alive then there would still be, regularly, absolute beauty gliding through our skies. Cathedrals towering over mountains, vast oceans, the Manhatten skyline. It is mind blowing if you think about it: being able to look up and see these floating palaces on a daily basis.

The future doesn't always bring improvements but it brings what we deserve, I guess. Maybe the dream of the airship was sealed by the speed of its demise. The Hindenburg went up so quickly, the name of the big ship on the side stripped by the flames as though with an eraser, gone gone gone...

I don't think you can ever forget the Hindenburg disaster once you have seen the old newsreel and heard the words. The imagery lingers in the mind, the Germanic powerhouse of a thing brought to its knees. The tragic events, of course, were a presage to the disasters that were to come in the following eight years for the Fatherland itself. The Fatherland and the Mothership linked inextricably in the flames of utter destruction.

While the passing of the Fascist regime will never be mourned by the majority, I do mourn the passing of this mode of transport. Today, more so than ever, it would be good to have an alternative.

A little sidenote: it is interesting to note that this little part of the US will forever be associated with a little piece of Germany, or rather the death of a little piece of Germany.

So you would think that with this subject matter a great movie could have be made. I'm sure a great movie will be realised one day but for now we are left with this. The only positive note to the movie is how well they use the actual old newsreels. They are entwined perfectly with the new footage at the climax. That should be applauded but it is the only thing that is well done in the entire movie. Somehow the director Robert Wise has turned it into the mothership of all bores. The characters are no more than wafer-thin, soap-opera characters; there is no beginning to the depth of them. I think Variety summed up the fim best by saying: 'it's as exciting as watching butter melt'.

So sad but I think the problem lies not only with the script but with the stars. Don't get me wrong: they're all great actors, George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, Burgess Meredith and co but they are Hollywood actors and this is not a Hollywood movie. It would have been a brave decision but the right one to have gone with German actors and a German script, for it is a German story as Germanic as Das Boot or Downfall. It needed its German roots for its authenticity as surely as we need air. I think this movie can only be made by a German film company with a German writer, a German director...someone who understands the whole culture behind the birth of the zeppelins. Then we would have the chance of a half-decent movie at the very least.

Until then this will have to do.

Oh, and if you think the 2011 made-for-tv release is the answer than think again. Reviewed here.

Oscar Honorary Award: Visual and Sound Effects.
Nominations: Best Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound.

2 stars out of 5.

© Paul Page, Lenin, 2013

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Best Film Review Book: Radio Times Guide to Films 2013

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