This is a pretty good dramatization of an historical and tragic event based on theory only and not all factual is known about that fatal day on May 06th, in 1937. George C. Scott is very good as the leading actor as is Anne Bancroft as the leading actress.There are some very suspenseful scenes in the film that grab the audiences attention and you cannot let go until you see what happens next. An example of which is when the flight crew discover there is a gaping hole in the outer skin of the Hindenburg and two brave crew men go out on top of the Hindenburg as it is flying low and slow. The two crew men are tied to a rope around their waste in an attempt to seal the gaping hole before the captain of the Hindenburg gives the order to go full throttle to avoid the Hindenburg crashing and killing everyone aboard.Hindenburg began its last flight on May 3, 1937, carrying 36 passengers and 61 officers, crew members, and trainees. It was the airship's 63rd flight. The film quality on Blu Ray is excellent and the film makers designed the Hindenburg's seating and viewing area identical to the actual air ship. Although this is more of a dramatization of certain events the facts are true that the Hindenburg exploded at Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 6, 1937, caught fire as it was filled with hydrogen and burned to the ground. This was a very tragic day for aviation history and it caused the deaths of thirteen (13) of the 36 passengers, and twenty-two (22) of the 61 crew, who died as a result of the zeppelin's crash.Historically, there is no evidence of sabotage that was ever found, and no convincing theory of sabotaged has ever been advanced. George C. Scott plays the lead investigator Colonel Franz Ritter charged with determining if the written warning the Kremlin received prior to the Hindenburg flight departing that the Hindenburg was going to be destroyed and Colonel Franz Ritter's known relationship with the passenger Countess Ursula von Reugen (Anne Bancroft) who chose to travel on the Hindenburg in an attempt to escape to New Jersey with her most valuable jewels to stay with her daughter who was away at boarding school.Will these two characters and the many other interesting passengers survive, and who is responsible if there is in fact a bomb aboard the Hindenburg? This is a suspenseful film worth watching.I give The Hindenburg a 7/10 rating.

There simply couldn't have been a better period to turn the case of the Hindenburg into a cinematic event than during the 1970s! It was the glorious heyday of immense and overwhelming disaster movies, and even though the vast majority of classic titles back then were purely fictionalized stories, the fundamentally facts-based story of the last and fatal flight of the legendary passenger zeppelin perfectly fits in the tone and style of the disaster-era. The Hindenburg crash as it occurred in May 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, is a truly fascinating historical news fact. I read many articles and watched a lot of archive footage, thanks to the well reserved news coverage on the spot, and I'm glad to have finally watched the film. "The Hindenburg" is definitely a showcasing of pure cinematic craftsmanship. The multi-talented and versatile Robert Wise proved himself to be the ideal captain for such a bombastic and politically sensitive movie-flight, and this resulted in a tense atmosphere on board, stupendous acting performances, terrific dialogs, awesome set designs and sound effects and – above everything – some of the best editing ever witnessed on film, during the climax when actual news footage of the burning crash is mixed with sequences of the film in black and white. There exist many theories on what, in fact, caused the dramatic combustion of the mastodon airship (for example static electricity and engine trouble hypothesizes) but the film obviously revolves entirely around the most intriguing theory of them all: sabotage! When a clairvoyant US woman out of the blue claims that the Hindenburg will explode on American soil, former Luftwaffe Colonel Franz Ritter is promptly assigned to board the ship and identify the potential saboteur(s). Ritter has a large number of suspects to choose from, from prominent German citizens to some of his own personal friends, as well as crew members, on-board entertainers and disillusioned Hitlerjugend veterans. With the emphasis on Ritter's complex and delicate investigation, 90% of the film is of course very talkative and slow- paced. Robert Wise, with the help of George C. Scott in great shape and the rest of the excellent ensemble cast, nevertheless keeps the level of suspense quite high and constant and you'll quickly find yourself guessing along with Franz about who on board might have a hidden agenda. Being a perfectionist director, Robert Wise was clearly also obsessed with recreating the era and delivering props, costumes and models to exacting standards, which makes "The Hindenburg" all the more captivating to behold. The last 10-15 minutes are downright phenomenal (and not at all exploitative and sick, like some other reviewers around here suggest) because you are watching a real tragedy and you feel helpless. The vast majority of victims are Nazis, true, but a tragedy nonetheless. In good old 70s disaster-movie tradition, the cast list is full of elite names (George C. Scott, Charles Durning, Anne Bancroft, Burgess Meredith, William Atherton …) and they all deliver.

I think this is a reasonable film.It goes down the sabotage route. I found it to be believable. George C Scott isn't too bad but I thought Roy Thinnes, best known for his role in The Invaders, here playing a typically nasty SS man was better.It mixes actual footage of the disaster with modern film and this doesn't look too great because some is black and white while the rest is in colour. It helps to convey the enormity of what happened though and it must have been terrifying for all those caught up in it. It seems like a bit of a miracle that there were any survivors.William Atherton plays the saboteur who planted the fatal bomb shown as the cause in the film. He was quite convincing although better later on in Ghostbusters I think.It does drag a bit in places but overall I found this film reasonably exciting although tension isn't that high because the eventual outcome is already known.

But they did that to slip in actual footage of the Hindenburg blowing up into the cheaply done special effects. Honestly, it would just have been better to simulate actually blowing up the ship in miniature. (They'd probably do it in CGI Today.) Okay, the "Melodrama" here is that a Luftwaffe officer played by George C. Scott is trying to uncover a plot to destroy the Hindenburg. Lots of really good actors make up the suspect list, some of whom were past their prime (Burgess Meredith, Anne Bancroft) others you hadn't heard of yet. (Roy Thinnes, Rene Auberjonis.) What probably got this greenlighted was it was the early 70's, and they had all sorts of disaster movies- Earthquake, Airport, Towering Inferno, Poseiden Adventure - so why not a dirigible? Get an ensemble cast of b-list actors and whether they survive or not is up to their q-score.I would be remiss if I didn't point out the other factor here. All the characters we are supposed to sympathize with hate the Nazis. The ones we don't think Hitler was the best thing since sliced bread. Again, this is kind of typical for a movie where the plot is someone sabotaging the ship, I guess, but it's not really credible. It's really a lot of backtracking.