Hindenburg: The Last Flight

This two part TV-movie was part of a three movie box set of not so well known war movies that we bought for my son as a Christmas present. So far we have watched two of them and they have both been worthwhile to watch.

Unfortunately we found out that this one was one of those cheap DVD's that some arrogant French publisher had dumped on a DVD dubbed to French only. No original language and not even subtitles. That's just so crappy but unfortunately this used to be quite common with DVD's in France and there was no way of seeing it without opening the box set.

Anyway, the movie itself is actually not bad. It spans three hours split into two one and a half hour episodes. The actual story is pure fiction loosely based on the bomb conspiracy theories. It is a fairly okay thriller/drama story and, despite knowing that the zeppelin is going to blow up, I took enough interest to follow the characters throughout the movie.

It was fun to see Stacy Keach again as well. I always liked watching Mike Hammer when I was younger.

The visual effects are not bad. Some people are probably going to complain about historical accuracy. The available space for the passengers, especially their sleeping compartments, seems to have been "enlarged" somewhat for the benefit of the visual impression but that doesn't really bother me that much. It's a fiction movie based on the Hindenburg disaster, not a historical documentary after all.

The one thing that bothered me, apart from the French only DVD version, was the way too modern music in the movie. It's supposed to be a 1937 setting so that modern e-guitar stuff was simply disturbing. Very poor choice indeed.

I enjoyed this version better than the 1975 Hollywood production simply because it wasn't filled with anti-German ideas. Was obvious that the 1975 movie wasn't made to educate people on the Hindenburg or to simply entertain, but to add more and more "instruction" on the horrors of National Socialist Germany. I also enjoyed the modern music and the hint of a love story without all the typical heavy panting love scenes. Yes, some of the acting was wooden but the effects were much more believable than the 1975 version. I also enjoyed the gliding scene at the beginning of the movie as this was a popular activity in 1930's Germany. All in all I found this was a worthwhile distraction from a boring evening without the usual Hollywood political BS that usually accompanies these types of movies.

The film I saw was only about two hours including adverts so must have been cut from the three hours mentioned in the listing.

I think this movie is a good mix of mainly fictional plot, history, politics, relationships, romance, drama, some suspense and surprise, photography and special effects but one character that didn't work for me was the lead man who was too wooden and passive, yet could perform heroic feats throughout the movie including emerging unscathed and apparently totally unaffected from the most trying of situations!

Throughout the movie there are the usual unlikely circumstances, contrivances and coincidences in which our hero succeeds where common sense says he couldn't possibly do so.

I am by no means a James Bond expert but perhaps this could be seen in some ways as a poor example of a film with a lot of similarities in the format to James Bond films, as the best way to describe the genre perhaps. (A man on a mission, heroic exploits, political intrigue and a relationship with a girl!).

Stupid direction, horrible music, weak lead actors. Some of the visual effects are good. I was weirdly entertained for the first 20 minutes. This movie is certainly unique in its shallowness and awkwardness. Almost funny.

I did not understand what the black guy was doing in this movie. just out of place.