The Hindenburg

The Hindenburg is coming again.

That's what all the excitement is about.

In spite of protests like this...

the pride of Germany is due here on the morning of May 6.

During the 1937 season...

the giant airship is scheduled to make 18 round trips...

from Frankfurt to Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Just 150 years ago, the Montgolfier brothers, two Frenchmen...

made the first controlled flight in a hot-air balloon.

This rock-a-bye baby is perkin' along with a new gas: hydrogen.

Soon, an airborne banana split with four scoops.

In the Gay Nineties, ballooning really got off the ground.

Ladies, check the balloon sleeves on those stylish aeronauts in the basket.

By the early 1900s everyone agreed...

an airship should be shaped like a cigar.

Yes, sir, what the world needed was a good five-cent flying machine.

Alberto Santos-Dumont, a young Brazilian in Paris...

achieved a major breakthrough...

when he hooked a two-cylinder gasoline motor to the basket.

Flat tire, Alberto?

All the same, he went on to win the 100,000-franc prize...

for circling the Eiffel Tower in his 80-foot Tootsie Roll.

Next came the semirigid airship...

with a light metal frame supported by...

Oops!

Things are looking up.

These early birds have more varieties than Heinz.

Bigger and better airships, all of them air-conditioned...

continued to pop up before the World War.

The outdoor types.

With a girl along, that probably was more fun...

than the rumble seat of a Stutz Bearcat.

Around this time, a retired German army officer...

known as the crazy old Count von Zeppelin...

flew a 400-foot sausage equipped with two marine motors for 20 miles.

But seriously, folks, after this amazing feat...

everyone wanted to be associated with the Zeppelin Company.

The count and a young associate, Dr. Hugo Eckener...

founded the world's first air passenger line.

In 1924...

the Zeppelin Company built an airship for the U.S. Navy...

the LZ 126, rechristened "The Los Angeles".

Until last year the Graf Zeppelin...

was considered the marvel of the age.

Since 1928 she has carried 13,000 passengers over a million miles...

without a single mishap.

But then, at the Zeppelin Company works in Friedrichshafen...

German genius created the airship supreme: the Hindenburg.

Her vast, cathedral-like hull, almost three football fields long...

is an intricate web spun from more than ten miles of duralumin girders.

Fifteen stories high...

it houses 16 giant cells containing over 7 million cubic feet of hydrogen...

which lifts her 242 tons of luxury into the clouds.

She is the climax of man's dream to conquer the air...

the new queen of the skies.

The embassy received hundreds of letters like that last year, Mr. Ambassador.

Mostly from cranks. We can expect many more this season.

Mrs. Rauch's letter is different. It's specific.

She spells out how and where the zeppelin will be destroyed.

A time bomb over American territory.

- Franz. - Erwin.

Showing us how you do it in Spain?

I'm afraid I don't fly very much there.

Good to have you back, Franz.

We hear they're giving you a Knight's Cross to your Iron Cross.

For writing up dossiers, I suppose.

Half the time on our own people.

They're turning us into a Gestapo, Erwin.

Get me out of Intelligence. Get me back my Reconnaissance command.

That might not be easy, Franz.

Why not? All you have to do is sign the order.

You've been brought back for a special problem which we've inherited.

We've had our suspicions, Colonel...

and now that letter confirms there is a plot to sabotage the LZ 129 on this flight.

Obviously, Dr. Goebbels, the sane thing to do is to cancel the flight...

until the Gestapo uncovers the plot.

Sane but weak.

The propaganda value of the LZ 129 is highly important.

From a military standpoint, she's a flying dinosaur.

Colonel, the LZ 129 is a world symbol of Nazi power.

It is an honor to guard her safety, and you've been chosen.

My field is the estimation of enemy air operations, it's not espionage.

A zeppelin ride should be a vacation compared to Spain.

You're being loaned to the LZ 129...

as the officer in charge of security for this trip.

You will have the power to do anything you think necessary...

but quietly and discreetly...

or it might appear we have internal opposition.

Ah. And you're afraid it might strengthen the resistance movement.

There is no resistance movement, Colonel.

That's reassuring coming from the Minister of Propaganda.

I mustn't keep you from your next appointment.

Let us hope that you will change your opinion of our "flying dinosaur."

Perhaps I will, unless there's an egg hatching in her.

The Hindenburg is scheduled to leave in two days, Colonel.

Why did the Gestapo wait till now to show us this?

It's inexcusable that our passengers have to make other travel arrangements this late.

- The flight hasn't been canceled. - Not canceled? I thought...

- Why are you here? - I'll be aboard.

A sort of special security officer.

I'd like you along, Captain Lehmann, as senior airship observer.

You may have to work with the Gestapo, Colonel, but I don't.

You built the Hindenburg, Dr. Eckener. Don't you want to protect your interests?

I've protected them for 40 years by taking no risks.

Even if I wanted to go, you'd never be able to clear it.

Dr. Eckener and I are out of favor at the chancellery.

I refused to name the Hindenburg after the Fuhrer.

Captain Pruss, the new commander, is an excellent airshipman.

We trained him.

Don't embarrass yourself by requesting me, Colonel.

They won't allow it, and I prefer to leave it that way.

It's all arranged. I'll see you at the airfield Monday.

Give me a break. Give me a break.

These stupid S.S. men crawling through our ship morning till night...

with dirt on their shoes.

If we hid an elephant in the lounge, they couldn't find it.

They weren't looking for an elephant.

Did you see Karl when the S.S. dog barked?

He jumped ten feet, and the dog bit him in the brains... here!

Better than being bitten by the S.S.

You should've refused to go on that whale.

The crew might think I'm a Jonah.

I can't bear it. Alfred, then Spain, now this.

We aren't far from Switzerland, Franz.

- I was walking along the river today and... - No.

But you hate what you're doing now.

What would you have me tell them in Switzerland?

That yesterday I was a colonel in the German Air Force?

No. It'd be different if we were Jews or pacifists, or even Communists.

- Uncle Gustaf is in Geneva. - I can't.

I'd be a deserter.

Listen to me, Eleanore. I spoke to Erwin.

He says he'll try to get my old group back.

We could live in the south, far from Berlin.

Poor Franz.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!

The winner!

You'll be drunk, Karl!

We'll be dry for two days on board, woman.

Please, Karl. Not tonight.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!

Behave yourselves. You act like Gypsies.

Good night. Good night.

Stewardess, we're going to bed.

We'll ring if we need anything.

Excuse me. Excuse me. I beg your pardon.

I'm just a poor Gypsy.

That Freda Halle.

She's a loose woman.

They say she works for foreigners. Some French bank in Frankfurt.

We should report it, Frau Knorr.

Look, it's women's gossip. I mean, we're all loyal Germans.

Besides, that Karl is no fool. Enough now.

I drink to the one I love.

The Hindenburg.

That song is going to make me sick.

Charlie! Yoo-hoo! We're over here!

It has wrecked more men, blasted more lives...

and dishonored more ladies...

than any other scourge on this earth.

I wish you'd forget this zeppelin crap and come on over to the coronation.

Quaky's rented a duke's palace outside London.

Not for us, Hattie. Reed's finished the score on his new show.

- Rehearsals start the 12th. - We couldn't possibly.

Besides, British quarantine won't let Heidi into the country.

You should've had children instead of dogs.

The evil spell's been lifted. Bess is pregnant.

At your age?

- Finally. - No rooftop announcements just yet. We...

We don't want to push our luck.

- Oh, Bess. - Isn't it wonderful?

How long will you be away from us, Countess?

I suppose until I get homesick.

What is the purpose of your trip?

- To visit my daughter at school in Boston. - Where will you be staying?

With friends. Mr. and Mrs. Alden Winthrop.

In Boston?

Yes. And at their place on Cape Cod.

What does he do?

His occupation.

He's with the Winthrop First National Bank...

and I can assure you, Major, he is not the doorman.

Estelle, I've been looking all over for you.

Mr. Edward Douglas. Cablegram for Mr. Douglas...

- I'm Mr. Douglas. - Here, sir.

Thank you.

Will Mr. Kenji Shimura please come to the information desk.

Mr. Kenji Shimura, please come to the information desk.

Looks like we'll get off a little late.

Yeah. What's the holdup?

- Let's get this show on the road. - I know I had it.

We're keeping all passports this trip, Countess.

They will be returned to you when we arrive at Lakehurst.

Oh. I see.

Your lighter will be returned after we've landed at Lakehurst.

The official photographer should know better.

If you'll just step into the booth for a body search.

It's company policy.

- Stay up here with me. - Stay together.

Oh, Paul. So clumsy.