Customer Reviews

The Hindenburg [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

"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.

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.

No film that Pauline Kael despised on principle (in this case the principle that it was directed by Robert Wise) can be all bad, and so it proves with The Hindenburg, which falls somewhere between a countdown-to-catastrophe period political thriller a la Tora! Tora! Tora!, 70s conspiracy movie and by-the-numbers disaster movie. It's as a disaster movie that it fails the most: the destruction of the Hindenburg was simply too quick to make for much of a climax, and playing the famous black and white newsreel footage intercut with unimpressive cutaways to the less than stellar cast at the end feels like a real cheat, especially since it's often clumsily handled. On the plus side it offers a clever screen story from legendary Monday Mystery Movie TV scribes William Levinson and Richard Link that sees George C. Scott's reluctant Luftwaffe Colonel sent by Goebbels on the airship's last voyage to uncover a plot to destroy the ship and thus embarrass the Nazi regime that uses it for their own propaganda. While the real investigations in Germany and America give the film some momentum, unfortunately the search for suspects among this particular sedately paced Airship of Fools is less than urgent: indeed, it's pretty obvious who is behind the plot and how Scott will react when he uncovers him.

That the supporting cast is more solid than glittering doesn't help: Anne Bancroft's aristocratic old flame has little to do but bemoan the way the Nazis have taken over her estate, cheat at cards and smoke the kind of cigarettes you don't get over the counter, but still manages to make more of her part than the script does; Roy Thinnes does well as the Gestapo man hitting on a young Jewish passenger because "I'm anxious to try one before they run out"; Richard Dysart does the good German wondering what's happening to his country routine as one of the owners (who historically was more than happy to cosy up to the Nazis if it was good for business); Charles Durning keeps the glowering to a minimum as the pro-Nazi captain; Gig Young is clearly drunk in a couple of scenes (yes, I know he's playing a drunk, but he slurs even when he's supposed to be sober half the time); while star-that-never-was William Atherton lurks in the rigging moodily before saving the ship from the danger that his own incompetence puts it in the first place. Shame they couldn't have afforded a couple of British actors for Burgess Meredith and Rene Auberjonois' parts. However, it does boast one of Scott's more natural and likeably underplayed performances before his penchant for drunken Long John Silver impersonations took over, managing to keep it all together until things go bang. The production design is excellent, Albert Whitlock's special effects, while dated, are often impressive and there's a lovely score by David Shire that's recently been released as an extremely limited edition CD. And it's hard to write off a film entirely that has one nervous passenger suggest "Next time, let's take the Titanic."

Sadly, Universal's DVD is an appalling transfer: it may be in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio, but it looks like a public domain videocassette, with ghosting, edge enhancement problems and serious problems dealing with the airship's struts. It's watchable, but added to the lack of extras (aside from some production notes), it makes this one a reluctant purchase for the film's more ardent fans only until it gets remastered. Alternately, you might seek out Anchor Bay's UK Region 2 PAL DVD, which boasts a much better 2.35:1 widescreen transfer with a fine stereo soundtrack (though no extras).

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.

"The Hindenburg" is a wonderful film that is in desperate need of a re-mastering. The DVD uses the standard definition (480-I, with 120 lines of color) master created for the stereo Widescreen LaserDisc that was released on April 18, 1991. Sadly, that transfer was so bad that the very first release of "The Hindenburg" to home video, on December 15, 1978, (as a CAV - Standard Play - 5-sided MCA DiscoVision LaserDisc release for $15.95) actually has better definition and sharpness - and without the bugaboo of the widescreen transfer's HORRIBLY excessive edge enhancement - the DiscoVision discs' only drawback is a pan & scan transfer and mono sound from an optical release print. The edge enhancement of the Widescreen LD/DVD transfer is so excessive that I really can't think of any other title, not even bootleg videos, that contain a higher amount. Everything seen on the DVD looks as if it's a 2nd generation VHS dupe that's been put through a Photoshop "emboss" filter about five times. It's really that bad - anything smaller than about 100 lines of resolution is etched out of the image with a HUGE white line around it. It's so bad that the Widescreen LD edition from '91 was considered over-sharpened even back then! And add to the fact that the image isn't enhanced for 16x9 televisions only makes it look worse. In addition, the transfer shows the garbage mattes around Albert Whitlock's breathtaking matte paintings and the beautiful model work of the ship as it's floating through the sky - kinda like the garbage mattes around all the ships in the original Beta, VHS and LaserDisc releases of "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back". In every respect, a new High Definition transfer is called for - and one that doesn't suffer from ANY edge enhancement, unlike many Blu-ray's on the market now (such as "2001: A Space Odyssey")

MCA/Universal Studios originally considered releasing "The Hindenburg" in SENSURROUND, but didn't beacuse "Midway" was in production with its release date up in the air and SENSURROUND was being re-engineered into SENSURROUND MOD-II, which made it unsuitable for magnetic stereo prints - plus, many 2nd run theaters were still showing "Earthquake" in SENSURROUND, which was tying up all the SENSURROUND Horns and Control Boxes (which were slated for circuit modifications into Mod-II when the equipment was returned to MCA Systems (the technical subsidiary of MCA/Universal) So, "The Hindenburg" went into theaters with 35mm Panavision prints and a STUNNING 4-track magnetic stereo mix. The stereo/surround sound mix was considered so advanced and breathtaking, with such deep bass and sparkling treble, that many in the industry said that they had never heard anything that matched it. Not only did it have incredible surround sound and fidelity, but also fully directional dialog and, thanks to Westrex, Ampex, RCA and MCA's own work on the mag print striping, recording/playback heads, mag equalizers and the actual magnetic particles, the film had a frequency response and dynamic range that rivaled 70mm mag prints - plus, the re-engineered mag surround track (which was narrower than the 3 other tracks on mag prints and thus noisier) was quiet enough that it no longer required a 12kHz switching tone to turn it on and off (which, before Dolby and dbx noise reduction, was used on mag prints to prevent audiences from hearing mag hiss from the surround/effects speakers). The DVD and WS LD releases are plain old 2-channel Dolby Stereo - in other words, 2-channel stereo sound with the Surround and Center matrixed in (and the beautiful directional dialog de-directionalized into mono), requiring decoding with a Dolby Pro-Logic decoder. Because of this, Pro-Logic decoders have a heck of a time separating the sounds and steering them correctly without audible sound pumping or sounds shifting. In many scenes set in the Hindenburg's interior, there is dialog in the Center Front channel with other sounds, such as the creaks and groans of the airships Duralumnium skeleton and wires in left and right, while the surround track contains other sounds and deep, full rumble of the airships exterior engines. This is a no-no for Dolby Stereo (surround) soundtracks because it's absolutely impossible for the channels to be separated at the same time. The theatrical release got around this because of the fully discrete 4 channel prints. Now that we have 8-channel discrete digital sound - lossless on Blu-ray even - the Hindenburg deserves an HD release that takes full advantage of its wonderful sound mix.

In terms of extras, except for the trailer, there aren't any on the DVD - which is sad considering that Universal made a documentary about the making of the film - it was a 15 million dollar production, which was a LOT of movie at the time, and Universal was rightly proud of it - any new release should have this included. Plus the deleted scenes - while the film didn't suffer from extensive editing, there were a few scenes cut before it opened, and these should be available too. Universal has treated "Earthquake" and "Rollercoaster" similarly on DVD with their lack of easily available extras. At least "Earthquake" on DVD is from a newer, anamorphic, 24 fps, 1080-P High Definition transfer with an "attempt" to give the effect of SENSURROUND in the home. And the same goes with "Midway", but in that case, the DVD is chock full of extras, plus the shot-later, made-for-TV scenes.

In terms of historical accuracy, the inside of the ship is spot on. The Zeppelin company gave the filmmakers previously un-released blueprints, diagrams and specifications for the Hindenburg, and Universal copied them exactly for the sets. Even minor things, such as the number of rivets and their placement, were duplicated precisely. The walls of the staterooms were made from the same lightweight materials as the original - leather was used for the walls in the dining room, etc. Placement of items such as ballast storage pouches and Duralumnium tanks were correct, as was their exact size. Details, that most people would never notice, such as the emergency steering wheel in the bottom tail fin of the ship, are correct. "The Hindenburg" is James Cameron's "Titanic" of 1975 in terms of getting the ship right. Even Hindenburg historians have to be careful because they can't tell otherwise un-identified photos of the movie's sets apart from photos of the actual ship. It's THAT good.

Now we just have to get Universal - Comcast, ugh! - to give us a Blu-ray release! Along with "Earthquake", "Midway", "Rollercoaster" and "Battlestar Galactica"!

This has always been one of my all-time favorite films. Yes, I am aware of some liberities taken with the facts surrounding the Hindenburg's last flight (the tear in the skin of the ship's fin, for example - that actually happened to the Graf Zeppelin some years before, not the Hindenburg.) Then again, this film is historical fiction, and should be enjoyed as such. In addition, the Hindenburg flight sequences are stunning, as is the attention to detail throughout the production. A must see!

The Hindenburg Widescreen DVD

The picture quality is not bad, it is TERRIBLE! How can a such a poor quality film be released? I would send it back, but Amazon will only give you 50% of the purchase price if opened. Live and learn and take the loss.

Amazon.com often asks reviewers to talk about the DVD, itself, rather than about story-line or acting. Ok. I have had experience in the studio system supervising the transfer of films to tape. Some studios have established a good reputation for their quality transfers, while others simply "dump" product on the market, a practice well known in the VHS format. Universal (THE HINDENBURG) is one of the "guality" studios. That's why I was surprised, and deeply disappointed in this DVD. The opening title sequence is a lovely shot of the Hindenburg flying through the clouds. The film element is loaded with huge scratches and much negative dirt; hardly a "quality" picture element. Throughout, the picture is often grainy, and negative scratches abound. The soundtrack is also very thin, presenting a tin-like quality; again, hardly the rich soundtracks that Universal is known for. I belong to NETFLIX and use the service to preview those films I might want to own later. Unfortunately, due to the poor quality of the transfer, this is one DVD I will pass on owning.

Despite the sometimes cheese effects especially towards the end and the newsreels back and fourth,I actually liked the film and since it is a part of the disaster genre of films in the 1970's I could not pass off on watching instantly.Another compliant would be it drags on,Yes it is a fictionalized account,however I could not pass off on George C.Scott,Who I feel pulls the movie through even through it's most drawn out boring moments and Burgess Meredith(yer'abum rocky!)I simply cannot ignore their performances.It's a product of it's time but A guilty pleasure.

Horrible picture quality on large screen TVs. This is probably the worst picture quality since the DVD release of Bilitis.