The Hindenburg is a 1975 American Technicolor disaster film based on the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. The film stars George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft and William Atherton and was produced and directed by Robert Wise. The screenplay was by Nelson Gidding, Richard Levinson and William Link, based on the 1972 book of the same name by Michael M. Mooney.
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. 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."Lexsee 618 F2D 972, A. A. Hoehling, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Universal City Studios, Inc., and Michael Macdonald Mooney, Defendants." An Introduction to Intellectual Property, 1980. Retrieved: April 17, 2011.
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 In April 1937 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 , 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. Although Rauch turns out to be a self-proclaimed clairvoyant upon investigation by the FBI, 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, Boerth insisting 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 crewman, 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 hold 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 Vogel, who has regained consciousness. Unable to disarm the bomb, it detonates, killing Ritter instantly, and sending Vogel flying down the catwalk. Vogel survives the fall but is badly burned by the inferno and is later carried off by ground crewmen after emerging from the wreckage. Boerth, injured from being tortured by Vogel, dies of burns, but manages to set the Channing's Dalmatian dog free after 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 and disappears into the clouds as the credits roll.
Characters Colonel Franz Ritter — A Luftwaffe Colonel assigned by Joseph Goebbels to board the Hindenburg as a security officer in response to the bomb threat. Ritter won the Knight's Cross as the chief of intelligence during the Bombing of Guernica. His son Alfred was in the Hitler Youth and died the previous year falling from a synagogue after vandalizing it with slogans. In early versions of the screenplay, the character was known as "Fritz Kessler." Ritter is based upon Colonel Fritz Erdmann who was aboard the final flight, though there is no evidence that he nor the other two Luftwaffe officers were aboard as a security officer to investigate a bomb threat. Ursula von Reugen — Ursula is a Baltic German countess and old friend of Ritter, who lived in her estate in Peenemünde. After it had been taken over by the Nazis, she boards the Hindenburg to fly to America. She previously became acquainted to Ritter through her deceased husband who was in the same flying club with him; she went to live on her estate after he died in a plane crash. Her young daughter, Trudi, is deaf and goes to a school in Boston, living with her friends. Karl Boerth — A rigger, and the saboteur of the airship. Boerth was a former Hitler Youth leader, but claims he became inactive because he helped build the Hindenburg. His girlfriend, Freda Halle, worked with foreigners in a French bank in Frankfurt, and her ex-lover was killed fighting for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, leading the Gestapo to investigate. SS/Gestapo Hauptsturmführer Martin Vogel — The antagonist of the film. Vogel is an undercover Gestapo agent posing as the official photographer for the airship. Initially, Vogel works cooperatively with Ritter, but after Ritter dismisses the suspicious behavior of some of the passengers and has apparent sympathies for Boerth and the Countess, Vogel begins to work behind Ritter's back. He also has a romantic interest in a young American passenger, Valerie Breslau, referring to her as a "Jewish model." Vogel is loosely based on Karl Otto Clemens, who was a semi-official photographer for the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei (a passenger list shown in the film lists him as "Otto Vogel") as well as Luftwaffe Major Hans-Hugo Witt, but there is no evidence that either Clemens or Witt were connected with the Gestapo. Rigger Ludecke — A rigger who also works for the Gestapo, helping Vogel catch Boerth. Captain Max Pruss — The ship's commander. Unlike the real Pruss, he acts dismissively towards safety concerns voiced by Ernst Lehmann. In fact, the real Pruss may have been under Lehmann's pressure to rush the landing of the airship. Captain Ernst Lehmann — Senior observer who has been a zeppelin captain since before World War 1. He is on the flight at the request of Ritter, and also to appeal to the United States Congress to supply Germany with helium for their airships. He is portrayed as being wary of the Nazis, more conscious of the ship's safety than Pruss and on good terms with Dr. Eckener. In actuality, the real Lehmann was well known as a Nazi supporter (or at least pretended to be) in order to advance his career and the fortunes of the Zeppelin Company. However, in 1929 Lehmann filed a declaration of intent to become a United States citizen, but changed his mind when he was given charge of the Hindenburg in 1936."Injuries fatal to war hero." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 8, 1937, pp. 1, 8. Retrieved: February 23, 2014. In the film Lehmann mentions reluctantly dropping leaflets from the Hindenburg during a propaganda flight. In reality, he was eager to oblige in this undertaking, to the extent that he attempted to launch the ship in unfavorable wind conditions, resulting in damage to the lower fin. Infuriated, Hugo Eckener, Lehmann's superior in the Zeppelin Company, angrily berated him for endangering the ship to appease the Nazis, resulting in Propaganda Minister Goebbels blacklisting Eckener in the press, despite his being honored as a hero both in Germany and abroad.Botting 2001, p. 7. Reed & Bess Channing — Broadway show promoters and composers, who also own a Dalmatian named Heidi. They took the Hindenburg because Mrs. Channing was pregnant for the first time and did not want to risk the turbulent seas on the . Reed Channing and Joe Späh perform a concert for the passengers, satirizing the Nazi regime, which offends Captain Pruss who abruptly leaves. The Channings are very loosely based upon the Adelts, journalists who were closely affiliated with the Zeppelin Company. In reality, German acrobat Joseph Späh owned a dog, a German Shepherd named Ulla. There was also another dog aboard. The dog in the film survives the disaster. Neither of the two dogs aboard the last flight actually survived, and there was no passenger on board the last flight who was known to be pregnant. The Breslaus — A family of German-Americans, consisting of Albert and Mildred Breslau and their three children Valerie, Peter, and Paul. Albert Breslau was to sell some diamonds hidden in a pen to get funding for his grandmother's family, the Milsteins, out of Germany because they were Jewish. Breslau refused to do this but the pen was given by a Zeppelin staff member to Valerie Breslau before the flight. The family is based upon the Herman Doehner family that was aboard on the last flight (though the Doehners were not Jewish, and while Mrs. Breslau and all three Breslau children survive in the film, Mr. Doehner died in the crash and his daughter Irene died later of burns). Joseph Späh — A German-American Vaudeville acrobat who comes under suspicion for making unaccompanied visits to see the Channings' dog and drawing detailed sketches of the ship's interior as an idea for a theatre show. The real Späh made unaccompanied visits into the hull to visit his own dog, and was accused of sabotaging the airship by some members of the Hindenburg crew.