Hot Bag of Wind

The Hindenburg is basically a collection of stars in walk-on parts or one and two scene pieces to pad out the conspiracy theory of the collapse and burning of the largest lighter-than-air craft.  There has never been a sufficient answer as to why the maiden voyage of the world's largest zeppelin resulted in a fiery explosive end.  Many believe that it was a technical malfunction while others believe that political sabotage was the cause.

The movie opens with a newsreel reporting on the new Hindenburg and the history of how the craft came to be, and also some of the suspicions surrounding the flight of the craft.  We cut to the narrative as Col. Ritter (George C. Scott) is called up by the German high command to settle concerns that a sabotage conspiracy is at work on blowing up the Hindenburg at some point in its highly reported voyage to New Jersey in the United States.  Ritter moves into action by monitoring all the passengers as they board the lighter-than-air craft taking the opportunity to find out specifics about each one and reasons for traveling.  After the craft is afloat, Ritter continues to look over the mechanics and the servicing of the craft doggedly determined to quell any possible problems.  After determining that there is indeed a plot afoot to destroy the aircraft, Ritter responds by trying to get the craft to land and get the passengers off safely.

Although working from actual materials concerning Hitler's Germany and the maiden voyage of possibly one of the most famous aircrafts in history, the film plods along like an episode of The Love Boat.  From the boarding of the passengers to climactic moments trying to repair in mid-air a damaged ship, everything is shot with the even lighting of television Daytime Television.  Despite the shadowy background and motives of many of the characters, none of the lighting suggests anything except the plain view of a well-produced studio docudrama.

The plainness of the Hollywood production may have been the intention of direction Robert Wise to re-emphasize the factual presentation of events as we know them, as the true cause of the well-investigated reasons behind the demise of the Hindenburg have never been sufficiently settled.  Some have pointed to basic malfunctioning mechanical problems, while others have established that there was a plot to bring down whatever the Nazi political powers in Germany in 1937 were in control.  

Coming out when it did in 1975, it was perfect timing for comparing the fate of the Hindenburg to the post-Watergate cover-up due to the fact that the investigation in Hitler's Germany uncovered no political plot responsible for the destruction of the zeppelin.  This in effect was considered to be a cover story much like the Richard Nixon White House covered up the break-in at the Democratic Campaign Office.

The performances are all good considering that many of the roles are ciphers of the real characters that traveled on the craft.  The pivotal roles are George C. Scott as Col. Ritter and his re-acquainting himself with Anne Bancroft's Countess Ursula develops some nice moments, but how this connection affects the fate of the air ship is a mystery. 

William Atherton as Boerth one of the ship crew is perfect as the politicized German who represents the voice of the German people.  He plays the troubled, driven patriot well with his searing eyes.  And Roy Thinnes is perfect as Vogel the secret service agent who works with Ritter to uncover the identity of the person they know is onboard to sabotage the Hindenburg. 

The whole company of excellent actors comes off blandly in the film due to the very safe direction and the crippled pacing of the story.  For one thing all the Hollywood talent is acting their little hearts out but the script doesn't allow them any room to stretch their instruments- also the cast all speak in a mixture of American dialect regardless of the fact that they are playing Germans, so the whole thing feels like an odd staged reading of a potentially good script.

The clunky thing about the film is that no one attempts to use an accent to create character.  With American's in many of the roles the combination of indigenous inflections creates an unusual stew of vocal stresses that tends to water down the underlying value of the story.  The laid-back palate of the California tongue mixed in with the North-Eastern accent underlines the fact that this is a Hollywood film made in America with an emphasis on itself above any need to represent actual events- it reaffirms the myth-making movie machinery that transcends historical fact, and in many ways states that the actual document of Film superseding any facts or speculations.

There are some pretty good opportunities for dark humor like when Reed Canning (Peter Donat) sings "There's a lot to be said for the Fuhrer" with Robert Clary's Circus performer Joe Spahn miming the action, to an un-amused ship staff but very amused passenger group who revel in the naughty sense of humor of the performer.  I think it's great to see Robert Clary in a role that highlights his talents- he was typecast for so long from the role of Lebeau which he played in Hogan's Heroes.

There's also generally good perfs in somewhat ineffectual roles that abuse the actor and his craft.  Gig Young is spot on as Edward Douglas, the Ad man who is attempting to beat a competitor on the Queen Mary to New York in order to clinch a career-saving deal.  Gig Young rarely tuned in a bad perf, one of those actors who will not allow himself to look bad regardless of the myopic challenges of a director.  Young's ad man Edward Douglas and his burdensome alcoholism matched the actor's own battle against the bottle, and affected his performance generally in positive ways- one of those art-reflects-live things.

The whole side story with Burgess Meredith's con man Emilio Pajetta traveling with fellow scammer Rene Auberjonois' Maj. Napier are little more than Background characters, possibly the lowest rung on the character breakdown for a film production, just above the filler that Extras supply to a movie- the talent of these actors is wasted on these nothing roles, but I'm sure they went to the bank with the movie.

Some of the scenes that are intended to create suspense never deliver partially because we already know much of the back story (like watching a remake of the maiden voyage of the Titanic and wondering if the boat will survive)- so much about The Hindenburg is like a paint-by-numbers kit, a well-made film with little substance.