Zeppelin (1971)
The outbreak of World War I places Scots officer Geoffrey Richter-Douglas in an uncomfortable position. Although his allegiance is to Britain, his mother was from an aristocratic Bavarian family, and he spent his summers in Germany as a child. When Geoffrey is approached by a German spy who offers him a chance to defect, he reports the incident to his superiors, but instead of arresting the spy they suggest that he accept her offer--and become an Allied agent. In Germany, among old friends, Geoffrey discovers that loyalty is more complicated than he expected, especially when he finds himself aboard the maiden voyage of a powerful new prototype Zeppelin, headed for Scotland on a secret mission that could decide the outcome of the war.
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It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional
The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
For years, I had heard loosely about the use of zeppelins in WWI. Etienne Perier's movie "Zeppelin" does a very good job telling a specific story. It focuses on ancestrally-German Brit Geoffrey Richter-Douglas (Michael York) getting torn between allegiance to his native country and his ancestral land when he gets a chance to go to Germany to ride a zeppelin; he goes there, but of course doesn't tell his hosts that he's actually there as a UK agent. Then comes the ride aboard the zeppelin.In my opinion, probably the movie's most interesting aspect is Elke Sommer's role. Throughout the '60s, she was one of the go-to women for sex kitten roles. Here, her character is Frau Dr. Erika Altschul, the wife of the zeppelin's inventor. She's a very educated, articulate woman not about to let anyone order her around. Granted, she's still quite pretty - and in one scene, we can see from her shadow on the wall that she's taking off her clothes! - but this is a totally different kind of role for her. Of course, I praise her for accepting a new kind of role for once.Anyway, while this may not be the best movie ever, I certainly recommend it. Some of the early scenes give one the feeling of having been in England during WWI when the Germans were bombing (the truth is, we Americans have never experienced anything like that). Definitely worth seeing.
There's lots of hydrogen-filled action in 1971's Zeppelin, a teddibly British WWI flick about using lighter-than-air ships to bomb, um, I can't remember . . .It's the English against the Hun with Michael York looking young and dependable, Anton Diffring oozing achtung menace kerbibble, and Elke Sommers fulfilling the standardized need for war movie cleavage. It can't be all bad and besides, you get to see the nasty pre-Nazi (still goose-stepping bastards, aren't they all?) Kaiserphiles get their just desserts. Biff, boom, bang, and lots of PG-rated orange movie blood.Why does the phrase "silent and violent" come to mind?
There aren't too many films in which the star of the show is a special effects airship, but this is one. They really make "LZ-36" a reality! But then they use this lovely ship to make a silly, unbelievable, illogical raid on a Scottish castle to steal the Magna Carta! There are spies, love affairs, and quite a nice fight, but the almost convincing feeling of an experience in a real Great War German airship is the main attraction. Now for some realities about large airship handling and aerostation. In the film a considerable company of soldiers are taken aboard. Even allowing that there was no bomb load, the 1915-1917 Zeppelins could not have carried such a complement or troops in addition to operating crew. No airship ever built could have done so, including "Hindenburg", "Akron", or "Macon", the largest ever constructed. The Great War Zeppelins might have carried 30 or 40 persons at most. Then consider the landings shown on water and land. Real airships require very large ground handling crews. In the film "LZ-36" is shown being handled like a small "Goodyear Blimp"! In German airship numbering, the naval airships were designated as "L-#" without the "Z". The Zeppelin Airship Company designated their craft as "LZ-#", but there was no correspondence with the naval numbering. The historic "LZ-36" was naval "L-9", burned in a hanger fire in 1916 after only four raids. Zeppelin "LZ-82" was naval "L-36", lost in February 1917, after a forced landing in water, as in the film. "L-36" made twenty flights, only one raid. Probably it was "L-36" that suggested the film story, but it was one of the "height climbers", designed to reach an altitude of 20,000 feet to avoid the British pursuit planes. Needless to say, it was never used to try to steal the Magna Carta.Oh, as to the film story, did the raid succeed in stealing the Magna Carta? I'll never tell.
Although this was made for the cinema it is like a cheap early 1970s made-for-tv film. I am a great aviation enthusiast and have learned a lot about all aspects of aviation and the film is full of inaccuracies. The technique of mooring an airship to a tower wasn't developed until the 1920s. The film is set in 1915 but the SE5a fighter plane didn't enter service until 1917. The British didn't also have the machinery for firing a machine gun through a spinning propellor until 1916. Yes, there may be similar inaccuracies in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles but they are entertaining and they have a sense of humour. This film has about as much sense of humour as the German officers who appear in it. It's laughable though how svelte and beautiful Elke Sommer could be even remotely interested in sickly middle-aged Marius Goring let alone married to him. If you watch this film, just imagine it's Basil Exposition's grandfather on his first espionage mission (the presence of one of Austin Powers' ancestors would have enlivened proceedings!)