{"id":347,"date":"2016-07-19T14:51:25","date_gmt":"2016-07-19T18:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zrsthemovie.com\/?page_id=347"},"modified":"2021-06-28T19:00:24","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T23:00:24","slug":"hollywood-and-the-airship","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/zrsthemovie.com\/?page_id=347","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood and the Airship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Motion pictures featuring airships may be hard to find, but films about airships themselves are very rare. High quality LTA-subject entertainment projects can be counted without removing one\u2019s shoes. (This ex-Navy “L” ship was used to advertise for\u00a0“The Outlaw” though it was a Western – some have suggested Howard Hughes should have used two(!) for that Jane Russell film. Oddly \"\"enough a sister ship appeared in a Western – see listings.) Nonetheless, anyone considering creating a new airship movie should be aware of what\u2019s come before. \u00a0This list was\u00a0updated from the seventh chapter of our book, \u201cA Century of Airships<\/span><\/a>,\u201d which itself is mainly concerned with actual airship footage from newsreel cameras and other sources.<\/p>\n

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(Silents)<\/b> \u201cThe Airship Destroyer\u201d, 1909 Also known as \u201cAerial Warfare\u201d \u201cAerial Torpedo\u201d, produced by Charles Urban. Clever model work as London bombed by a fleet of moored dirigibles. Radio controlled torpedoes (rockets) are used to defeat the airship and end the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pirates of 1920\u201d, 1911 film. Bad guys use an airship to attack a surface vessel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Aerial Anarchists\u201d, 1911. A fifteen minute film depicting an airship attack on London.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Twentieth Century Tramp, Or, Happy Hooligan And His Airship\u201d (Prior to 1913) – This film was unique for the time inasmuch as the producer or cameraman attempted to show that a man suspended from a small gas bag could pedal-propel himself about and above NYC. The in-camera horizontal split screen process was accomplished by covering the lower half of the lens while the tramp was pumping his bicycle and the picture was photographed. The lens was then covered, the film was reversed, and the upper half exposed while the cameraman photographed the panorama of the city. The actor riding the bicycle suspended from the airship represents a comic strip character called Happy Hooligan.<\/p>\n

\"Dixon\"Right: This is Cromwell Dixon, who really did fly his pedal-powered air<\/i>ship in many American cities prior to 1913. Dixon eventually adopted <\/i>an engine like his competitors, and copied their procedure, filling his airship with local CitiGas, which <\/i>was mostly hydrogen. Dixon later purchased an aeroplane, which killed him. <\/i><\/p>\n

(Prior to 1913)<\/b> ‘S.1’, German, made by the Danish company Nordisk. Set in Germany, it features a general\u2019s daughter, played by Asta Nielsen, who gets a ride in LZ10 Schwaben<\/i>. The film used the airship extensively, with it in the hangar, on the ground, and there were also Ruhr shots from the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cWon in the Clouds\u201d, 1928 Roy Knabenshue\u2019s earlier airship (possibly \u201cCity of Pasadena\u201d) appears.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s Take A Trip In My Airship\u201d, possibly a silent version remade into a sound version later, animated short from Fleischer Studios (later of Betty Boop fame) featuring animation of flying vehicles and live action bouncing-ball sing-a-long. (Prior to 1929)<\/p>\n

(Talkies from 1929 on)<\/b> “The Lost Zeppelin”, 1929, Conway Tearle, Virginia Valli. Story and technology obviously inspired by Arctic exploration flights of Italian semi-rigids Norge<\/i> and Italia<\/i>. Surprisingly elaborate sets and moving mockups simulate semi-rigid airship exploring the South Pole.<\/p>\n

(Producer\u2019s. Note: A later German film also told the story of the ill-fated Itlaia. )<\/i><\/p>\n

\"SKMBT_22316071905210\"<\/p>\n

“Madame Satan”, 1930, Kay Johnson, Reginald Denny. Possibly the worst film ever produced by Cecil B. DeMille, second half has costumed partygoers climbing mast stairs and boarding R-101-like airship singing “on the cat-walk” find it has hangar-like interior for elaborate dance numbers with a cast of seeming hundreds. Storms causes ship to break away and drift, passengers don harnesses and jump as ‘chutes strung in vertical tubes open above them.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHell\u2019s Angeles\u201d, 1930, Jean Harlow, Ben Lyon, produced by Howard Hughes. WWI aerial drama featuring British pilots attacking a Zeppelin raider. Very accurate re-creation if hokey drama. Originally shot silent, film was re-done in sound; became the most expensive picture made to date. Source of “WWI Zeppelin footage” in most TV documentaries since it was used in official USN Rigid Airship History and is therefore sorta-public domain. Zep models supervised by Dr. Karl Arnstien himself and filmed in an Army blimp hangar.<\/p>\n

\u201cLottery Bride,\u201d 1930, first film of Bing Crosby, plays a radio operator on an airship.<\/p>\n

\"SKMBT_22316071904190“Dirigible,\u201d 1931, Jack Holt, released the week USS Akron<\/i> was christened. Real USS Los Angeles<\/i> used, most interesting hook-on footage ever filmed, from pilot\u2019s POV via fuselage-mounted camera. (Used in official USN Rigid Airship History and is therefore sorta-public domain.) Opening scene of Navy Day Lakehurst 1930 with all types of airships aloft is stunning. Crewman reporting “All Present” is “Shaky” Davis, later the hero who saved<\/span> Macon<\/em> over Texas<\/a>. Imaginary airship rescue of stranded HTA pilot at South Pole, melodrama with two-timing love interest (Fay Wray).<\/p>\n

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\u201cHell Divers,\u201d 1931 Wallace Beery, Clark Gable. Flattop airplane crew sailors encounter three dirigibles during war games. Stock footage of ZR-3 landing on CV-3, mockup car built for movie. Producer\u2019s Note: Other models inspired by early ZRS design, before Bu Aer design change #2 made the fins taller, and without radiators. Footage source for closing of USN rigid airship history, thereby believed to be public domain, repeatedly used in TV documentaries.<\/i><\/p>\n

“Hidden Valley”, 1932(?) Bob Steele, Gertie Messinger. Usual grade B Western, except girl chases and rescues wrongfully accused good guy via Goodyear Blimp. Actual California-based blimp, ladder and pilot used.<\/p>\n

\u201cClyde Beatty\u201d, 1934 Cecelia Parker, Syd Saylor, Warner Richmond. Passengers in dirigible panic during electric storm. Man with parachute, jumps from air-ship.<\/p>\n

“The Flirty Sleepwalker”, 1934 2 reel comedy Arthur Stone, Dorothy Granser, Wade Boteler . Dirigible flies w\/ sign reverend Barnes skypilot.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHere Comes The Navy\u201d, 1934 James Cagney. USS Arizona<\/i> sailor (Cagney) transferred to USS Macon<\/i>. Chief Petty Officer rival (Pat O\u2019Brien) is hauled aloft in incident inspired by actual tragedy of USS Akron<\/i>. Real-time on location at Moffett Field, undocking Macon<\/i> stern-first shown in great detail. Set re-creations.<\/p>\n

“Murder in the Air,” 1935, Ronald Reagan. Imaginary airship USS Mason<\/i> (some stock footage of USS Macon<\/i>) to test new death ray weapon, is lost at sea. \u00a0Elaborate set re-creations of rigid airship. This film is the source of some wreck scenes used in USN Rigid Airship History, and thereby sorta public domain, usually seen on TV documentaries.<\/p>\n

“Devil Dogs of the Air\u201d,\u00a01935 James Cagney. No LTA other than a unique bit of actual USS Macon<\/em> dropping a plane during war games.<\/p>\n

\u201cTailspin Tommy and the Great Air Mystery\u201d, 1935, 12-chapter Universal serial. Clark Williams, Noah Berry, Jr. Much stock footage of half-dozen airships portraying \u201cDirigible 76\u201d as Tommy hooks-on before chapter-ending crash. Unique model has many features of original Akron-Macon <\/i>design including staggered engines and three-mainframe fins.<\/p>\n

“Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island”, 1936, 14-chapter Republic serial. Mamo Clark, Herbert Rawlinson, John Ward. Newsreel footage of dirigibles. Mala (Ray Mala) is a special investigator who is sent by pacific Dirigible Airlines to learn who has destroyed their base.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlibi For Murder\u201d, 1936 Columbia Pictures, Perry Travis, Lois Allen. Character steps off Hindenburg<\/i> after arriving at Lakehurst. (Producer\u2019s Note: The first episodes of the original “Buck Rogers” serial feature Buck [Buster Crabbe] losing an airship in a snowstorm.)<\/i><\/p>\n

“Charlie Chan At The Olympics\u201d, 1937. Detective and No.1 son (Key Luke) must chase bad guys across the Atlantic. To overcome head start, they board the Hindenburg<\/i>. Usual stock footage of the airship, but only print\u00a0seen has fin swastikas scratched out frame by frame(!). Interior a rather imaginative set, but airship is rather small part of story.<\/p>\n

\u201cFly-Away Baby\u201d, 1937 stars Barton MacLane and Glenda Farrell. It is the story of a jewel robbery \/ murder that becomes a round-the-world air race, starting in New York and going west. The last leg will be flown on a Zeppelin (un-named) from Germany to New York. In the final reel, the principals get on the Zeppelin, one suspect is murdered.<\/p>\n

\u201cSerial Adventures of Dick Tracy\u201d, 1937, Dirigible on fire making a nose dive. Explosion. Parachuter survives crash. The Gold Ship. Dirigible in flight\/double-winged airplane in flight \/ fist fight in dirigible’s gondola\/dirigible goes down on fire\/two men jump from airplane with only one parachute between them. Sinister mole-like looking character with hunchback. Inside ship’s radio room with all its controls and gizmos.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThunder in the City\u201d, 1937 film featuring three\u00a0TC-14 like airships with ads over London.<\/p>\n

\u201cStunden der Entscheidung\u201d (\u201cHours of Decision\u201d), 1938(?) German film about life of Count Zeppelin. Pre-WWII, contains LZ-129. Producer\u2019s note: This the source of some of the too-good-to-be-true footage of the early Zeppelins often seen in documentaries.<\/i><\/p>\n

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“King of the Texas Rangers”, 1941 Republic 12-chapter serial. Ranger King (\u201cSlingin’\u201c Sammy Baugh) battles Nazi-like fifth columnists and sabotage agents aided by a Mexican Federal (Duncan Renaldo). Agents report to a Nazi-like uniformed bad guy aboard a LZ-126 style Zeppelin. Bad guy agent reports to leader by flying his airplane up to hook on to the airship. King is unable to shoot down the Zeppelin since bad guy leader says the airship is quite bullet-proof. Airship blows up (of course).<\/p>\n

\"EPSON<\/p>\n

“This Man’s Navy”, 1945 , Wallace Beery, Tom Drake, Jan Clayton (right) Selena Royle, James Gleason, Noah Beery Sr. Henry O’Neill, directed by William Wellman.\u00a0 Locations used were operational bases Lakehurst, Moffett, Santa Ana, and Del Mar. Romantic daylight re-creation of only WWII blimp-vs-sub combat admitted by the Navy.\u00a0 Only known motion footage of “M” ship J-2 Cub-dropping experiments. Working title of this film was \u201cAirship Squadron Four.\u201d Finest example of WWII real-time LTA Hollywood ever did.<\/p>\n

Cartoon Fragment of a George Pal puppet film, featuring strange animation of an aerial battle, from the 1950s is listed in footage sources. A squadron of bat-like airplanes engages others in a dogfight; a Mexican bandit drops bombs on a town; a dirigible unloads war planes. (These shorts were called \u201cPuppetoons.\u201d)<\/i><\/p>\n

Producer’s note: \u201cThe Dam Busters\u201d, 1954, \u201cThe Court Martial of Billy Mitchell\u201d, 1955, and \u201cWings of Eagles\u201d, 1957 all feature bits about airships or airship people without actual footage or model work. “Hole in the Head” features a blimp in the opening.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mysterians\u201d, 1957 Japanese. Toho film shows rocket propelled rigid airships with laser nose cannon destroying alien flying saucers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaster of the World\u201d, 1964 Vincent Price. Quick shots of Jules Verne dirigible over city.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngineer Garin\u2019s Hyperboloid\u201d, 1965 Russian, Gorky Studios. Jules Verne-style s-f based on Alexi Tolstoy story. One source says ship made for film, 82 ft. long, flew over Moscow on March 16, 1965. (Producer\u2019s Note: \u201cHelp\u201d United Artists, 1965. Bealtes film features Goodyear blimp in the Bahamas. \u201cA Ticklish Affair,\u201d 1963 Gig Young and Doris Day Features a hokey blimp model, may also be titled \u201cMoon Walk.\u201d1960s films \u201cThose Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines\u201d and \u201cThe Great Race\u201d had small LTA content. )<\/i><\/p>\n

\"SKMBT_22316071903591\"“Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, 1968 Universal, Dick Van Dyk, Sally Ann Howes. Bad Guy (Gert Forbe) employs Lebuday-type airship to capture Grandpa and fly back to Vugaria. Actual airship was built and flown 10 hours, somewhat used in the film; miniatures; studio work with airship set pieces.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Assassination Bureau\u201d, 1970. Rich looking campy film starring Oliver Reed and Diana Rigg features elaborate re-creation of early Zeppelin to be used in bombing attempt. Detailed car mockups but fantasy interior and capabilities.<\/p>\n

\"\"“Darling Lili\u201d, 1970, Julie Andrews, Rock Hudson, produced by Blake Edwards. Film opens with Zeppelin raid on London featuring control car set. \u2018Blue Max\u2019 painted on control car, L-54 style.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cThe Red Tent\u201d, 1971 Paramount, Sean Connery, Claudia Cardinale, and Peter Finch as Nobile. Based on the story of Italia\u2019s <\/i>ill-fated polar exploration trip. Somewhat difficult to follow film style, but one of the\u00a0most entertaining\u00a0films ever produced featuring an airship. Fairly good model work. Haunting musical soundtrack by Ennio Morricone is a masterpiece\u00a0by itself.<\/p>\n

Worth noting here is the media’s insistence that airship accidents are not only “disasters” but that they must include fire to make a profitable spectacle.\u00a0 In the actual ITALIA grounding (and even in the movie) there was structural failure, but no fire. Released in the US, the film’s promotional poster depicts the airship was burning from the bow. In the poster selling the film in Italy, we see the imagined fire has the aft alight.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 \"\"<\/p>\n

The next film’s promotion followed this same formula.<\/p>\n

\"SKMBT_22316071904210<\/p>\n

\u201cZeppelin\u201d, 1971 Warner Brothers, Michael York, Elke Sommer. Fictional story of a WWI\u00a0Zeppelin\u2019s mission to steal British treasures in Scotland. Somewhat enhanced airship features and capabilities, but very elaborate models and sets. Cardington hangars seen. Paperback novel also written after screenplay by Arthur Rowe and Donald Churchill. Airship blows up (of course).<\/p>\n

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“Island At The Top of the World”, 1971, Disney. David Hartman, Donald Sinden. Expedition to find lost son in the North employs Lebuady-type airship to overfly whales’ dying ground, locate lost civilization, etc. Noteworthy is treatment of exposed mechanic (poor guy must have been cold!)<\/p>\n

\"SKMBT_22316071903590\"“The Hindenburg”, 1975 Universal Studios, George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft. Based on Mooney novel, concerns plot to explode a small bomb aboard the airship after landing as anti-Nazi statement by rigger \u201cBoerth.\u201d Most elaborate and expensive airship movie released in the century at 15 million 1975 dollars. WWII blimp base Santa Ana (then MCAS Tustin) stars as both airship bases. “Rivet-counters” delight, lots to like, and lots of technical detail slips. Principal model used in film donated to National Air & Space Museum and is on display in the lobby in Washington, D. C. with a plaque that reads: \u201cThis 1\/28th<\/sup> scale model of the airship Hindenburg<\/i> was built by Universal Studios for the feature film Hindenburg<\/i>\u2026 As the Hindenburg<\/i> attempted to land at Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6th<\/sup>, 1937, it burst into flames. Static electricity apparently ignited the flammable lacquer-doped fabric covering starting the resulting conflagration. Amazingly, 62 of the 97 passengers and crew on board survived the disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n