Colonel Franz Ritter, a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to the great Hindenburg airship as its chief of security. As he races against the clock to uncover a possible saboteur aboard the doomed zeppelin he finds that any of the passengers and crew could be the culprit.
Production
Full-scale Hindenburg replica—still one of the largest sets ever built.
Acting
George C. Scott's world-weary exhaustion carries the whole thing.
Direction
Robert Wise wrings tension from static corridors and hydrogen.
Director
Robert Wise
George C. Scott
Col. Franz Ritter
Anne Bancroft
Ursula
William Atherton
Boerth
Roy Thinnes
Martin Vogel
Gig Young
Edward Douglas
Burgess Meredith
Emilio Pajetta
Charles Durning
Captain Pruss
Richard Dysart
Lehman
Robert Clary
Joe Spah
René Auberjonois
Major Napier
Peter Donat
Reed Channing
Alan Oppenheimer
Albert Breslau
Katherine Helmond
Mrs. Mildred Breslau
Joanna Moore
Mrs. Channing
Stephen Elliott
Captain Fellows
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 25-foot miniature Hindenburg took 20 men four months to build and still caught fire accidentally during filming. Art imitating life.
Wise originally wanted black-and-white to match the famous footage, but Universal demanded color for TV sales. The compromise? Muted, newsreel-adjacent sepia tones throughout.
US
