(There are Spoilers) Put in charge of the German airship Hindenberg's security by Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Geobbles, David Mauro, Luftwaffe Col.Franz Ritter, George C. Scott, is very certain that there's a very strong possibility that members of the anti-Nazi resistance movement were planning to blow the ship up in a public statement against the Hitler regime. Ritter's worst fears turned out to be right dead right for over 30 passengers and crew on the ship.
Even though the movie "The Hindenberg" was universally panned by many critics at the time of its release in 1975 it still remains, as far as I know, the only major disaster movie released back then that was in fact based on a true story. That makes it somewhat of a novelty itself in that everyone watching the film knew exactly what was to happen to it when it was about to moor, or anchor, at the Lakehurst NJ Naval airfield back in the spring, May 6, of 1937.
Having his own doubts about what bad, not good, the Nazi regime is doing to his country from what he experienced in Spain, the bombing of Guernica, Ritter is still at heart a German national and loyal member of Hitler's Luftwaffe. Still he's bitterly divided in his emotions when he finds out that one of the riggers on the airship Nazi Youth leader Boerth, William Atherton, is planning to blow up the blimp. Boerth a bit unstable himself after his girlfriend, and fellow anti-Nazi resistance member, was shot and killed by the Gestapo during questioning. All this made Col. Ritter try to get him to reveal how he planned to down the airship in order to play on his humanistic qualities, in having Boerth abort his suicide mission. Col. Ritter knowing that what Boerth plans to do tries to get him to understand that he'll only in the end help, not hurt, the Nazi regime.
We have the usual cast of characters on the flight where we try to figure out who, by the time he movie is over, will survive this impending disaster with Countess Ursula, Anne Bancroft, by far the most interesting. Ursala an old flame of Col. Ritter is trying to sneak out of Germany with all the gold jewels and diamonds that she can carry to start a new life, with her relatives in Boston, as an American citizen.
The Hindenbergs flight over the vast Atlantic Ocean is even more interesting, with far better special effects, then the ship explosion itself with the movie makers using actual newsreel films inter-cut with the actors in the movie, all in black and white, of the Hindenberg disaster. The explosion and crash of the giant airship actually lasted under 40 seconds but was stretched out to over ten minutes in the film.
In the end nothing even the on board and undercover Gestapo chief and fanatical Nazi Martin Vogle, Roy Thinnes, couldn't stop the very determined Boerth from carrying out his plans. What was really the big surprise in the movie was that Boerth had help from a very unexpected and, at first, unwilling person on the flight! Who in him trying to disarm the explosive device, that Boerth planted, actually activated it!
P.S Even though the movie makes it look like the destruction of the German airship Hindenberg was the result of sabotage the true facts of it's demise were never fully found out. A joint US/German investigation determined that it was either an "Act of God" or the result of a freak electro-magnetic spark or St. Elmos's fire igniting the flammable hydrogen, not harmless helium, that was pumped into it's massive Hull.
Even though the movie "The Hindenberg" was universally panned by many critics at the time of its release in 1975 it still remains, as far as I know, the only major disaster movie released back then that was in fact based on a true story. That makes it somewhat of a novelty itself in that everyone watching the film knew exactly what was to happen to it when it was about to moor, or anchor, at the Lakehurst NJ Naval airfield back in the spring, May 6, of 1937.
Having his own doubts about what bad, not good, the Nazi regime is doing to his country from what he experienced in Spain, the bombing of Guernica, Ritter is still at heart a German national and loyal member of Hitler's Luftwaffe. Still he's bitterly divided in his emotions when he finds out that one of the riggers on the airship Nazi Youth leader Boerth, William Atherton, is planning to blow up the blimp. Boerth a bit unstable himself after his girlfriend, and fellow anti-Nazi resistance member, was shot and killed by the Gestapo during questioning. All this made Col. Ritter try to get him to reveal how he planned to down the airship in order to play on his humanistic qualities, in having Boerth abort his suicide mission. Col. Ritter knowing that what Boerth plans to do tries to get him to understand that he'll only in the end help, not hurt, the Nazi regime.
We have the usual cast of characters on the flight where we try to figure out who, by the time he movie is over, will survive this impending disaster with Countess Ursula, Anne Bancroft, by far the most interesting. Ursala an old flame of Col. Ritter is trying to sneak out of Germany with all the gold jewels and diamonds that she can carry to start a new life, with her relatives in Boston, as an American citizen.
The Hindenbergs flight over the vast Atlantic Ocean is even more interesting, with far better special effects, then the ship explosion itself with the movie makers using actual newsreel films inter-cut with the actors in the movie, all in black and white, of the Hindenberg disaster. The explosion and crash of the giant airship actually lasted under 40 seconds but was stretched out to over ten minutes in the film.
In the end nothing even the on board and undercover Gestapo chief and fanatical Nazi Martin Vogle, Roy Thinnes, couldn't stop the very determined Boerth from carrying out his plans. What was really the big surprise in the movie was that Boerth had help from a very unexpected and, at first, unwilling person on the flight! Who in him trying to disarm the explosive device, that Boerth planted, actually activated it!
P.S Even though the movie makes it look like the destruction of the German airship Hindenberg was the result of sabotage the true facts of it's demise were never fully found out. A joint US/German investigation determined that it was either an "Act of God" or the result of a freak electro-magnetic spark or St. Elmos's fire igniting the flammable hydrogen, not harmless helium, that was pumped into it's massive Hull.