frank940521 Reviews

Hindenburg Disaster: Probable Cause (2001 TV Movie)

Misleading Documentary

[4/10 · 1 July 2010]

"Probable Cause" attempts to investigate the Hindenburg Disaster using modern methods. They start out claiming that "new evidence" suggested the original inquiry's conclusions were wrong. They talk a lot about metal fatigue and fuel leaks as possible causes of the disaster, but the documentary does not conclude with a definitive cause, saying it will "probably never be known." The CGI used for the documentary was fairly good, considering it was made in 2001, the textures aren't that realistic. Red Vision went on to do CGI for other Hindenburg documentaries as well such as National Geographic's Seconds from Disaster and Pioneer Production's Hindenburg: The Untold Story/Titanic of the Skies.

One big mistake the documentary makes in the beginning is the supposed colour footage of the Hindenburg. This is not the Hindenburg but the LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II. It is rather grainy to tell the difference but you can see the engine cars are somewhat larger and "Graf Zeppelin" is vaguely visible on the side. This footage is very good and rare, but it is very misleading for them to say it's the Hindenburg. Moondance Films even stated in their synopsis of this documentary that it was colour footage from a private collection in 1936. It was filmed by Harold G. Dick, as they had stated, but unfortunately he passed away in 1997, so they contacted his family for the footage. This is unfortunate because Dick would have known better about the footage he had.

Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies (2007 TV Movie)

Superb docudrama

[10/10 · 25 October 2007]

This is by far the best Hindenburg documentary out there. The reenactment is pretty good and the Hindenburg is animated so realistically.

Hindenburg: The Untold Story takes you into the investigation the disaster, which all of it seems interesting. Actual eyewitness testimonies were used, and tell the story of the Hindenburg's demise. Some facts have not been well-known, especially the "Untold Story" or "Secret" mentioned in the titles of the docudrama. Dr. Eckener had been offered a supply of helium which he declined in 1929. This affected him deeply when the Hindenburg exploded.

I know how recent research has suggested stuff about the outer skin being painted with rocket fuel - the film's researchers were probably aware of this. However, this theory has recently been rejected by various experts, explaining why it wasn't mentioned in the film.

Despite many incredible historic accuracies, Untold Story suffers from several historical errors. First of all, the Lakehurst Naval Airstation seems to be lush green grass and concrete! The Hindenburg crashes right on the concrete beside the grass! In reality the station was a sandy area.

However, this remains the best Hindenburg documentary I've watched so far.