Hindenburg (2011)
Hindenburg is a two-part television film by director Philipp Kadelbach from 2011. The screenplay was written by Johannes W. Betz . The film is based on the crash of the Hindenburg airship in 1937, the plot of the film is largely fictitious. It was first broadcast on February 6 and 7, 2011 on RTL and ORF 2 . The DVD was released on February 11, 2011.
action
The fictional plot of the two-part series has several other storylines in addition to the primary plot, which is about a bomb on board the Hindenburg.
The airship designer Merten Kröger sees Jennifer van Zandt again at a reception, with whom he has fallen in love since she was rescued from the water and resuscitated by her after his crash with a school glider in a pond. Jennifer is the daughter of an American chemical manufacturer who wants to supply the Zeppelin shipping company with helium .
Shortly before the departure of the Hindenburg, Kröger found out about a bomb on board. After a physical argument with Fritz Rittenberg, Jennifer's admirer and shareholder of IG Farben , he is suspected of murder and has to go on board undetected. He tries to find out what Jennifer, who is on board with her mother, has to do with the attack.
Kröger is discovered, interrogated and tortured in the Hindenburg . Both the managing director of the Zeppelin shipping company who was on board and two Gestapo officers who were also on board doubt Kröger's story; rather, it is suspected that he wants to smuggle important documents out of the country. These papers, which contain plans of attack by the German Wehrmacht , were, as it turned out later, smuggled on board by the radio operator Schmidt der Hindenburg. Evidence of the bomb is found through the detective work of his friend Alfred Sauter, who is first officer on the Hindenburg, and Jennifers. The search for the bomb begins. Due to the weather-related delay of the Hindenburg, there is a risk that a time fuse set for the time after the landing could detonate the bomb in the air.
As it turns out, the purpose of the assassination attempt is to detonate the Hindenburg after landing in the United States in order to lift the embargo directed by the United States against Germany and thus enable the delivery of tetraethyl lead. With the aviation fuel improved in this way, the attack on Poland should be made possible.
Other storylines include: a. with the variety artist Gilles Broca. He is initially suspected of being the bomber, as he is the only passenger allowed to enter the hold of the Hindenburg to take care of his accompanying sheepdog . Another subplot tells the story of the Jewish Kerner family who secretly intends to emigrate with their wealth. Ms. Kerner is harassed during the trip by the German air force officer Karl Erdmann who is traveling with her .
During a sharp turning maneuver in Lakehurst , a tensioning cable breaks and cracks in one of the gas cells . Kröger succeeds in defusing the bomb at the last minute, but due to the electrostatic discharge of the zeppelin (in the form of Elmsfeuer ) in connection with the escaping hydrogen , the gas finally ignites; the zeppelin burns down and tears u. a. Sauter, Jennifer's mother, Erdmann and the male members of the Kerner family in their deaths. Kröger and Jennifer survive, but in the end they have to deal with the people behind the bomb.
background
The starting scenes were filmed in autumn 2009 with a model of the control gondola on the site of the former Hopsten air base. The Hindenburg was later inserted using CGI effects. The crash scenes were also filmed on the site of the air base between Hopsten and Dreierwalde using a small shell model. The film was produced by TeamWorx and had a budget of over 10 million euros. This makes it the most expensive RTL in-house production to date.
The visual effects of the film were created by Pixomondo . The military historian Rolf-Dieter Müller took on the military history consultancy .
The film regularly speaks of the "flight" of the Hindenburg or of "flying" in the Hindenburg , although this designation is incorrect because the locomotion of "aircraft is easier than air" (aircraft that work according to the Archimedean principle ; i.e. balloons, Airships etc.) is referred to as "driving" and not as "flying". Even figures who ought to know this due to their background (e.g. the managing director of the shipping company, Hugo Eckener, or the captain Max Pruss) use this wrong terminology. Also, zeppelins were usually "male"; H. the name was not "the Hindenburg", but "the Hindenburg"; however, a nomenclature corresponding to ships gradually crept in .
The film sets are only partially based on the original: The duralumin frame was actually painted blue, smoking is only permitted in the closed smoking cabin on the lower deck of the passenger section next to the bar, the lounges and cabins are much smaller and in lighter colors, the 25 standard passenger cabins on the A-deck (upper deck) were windowless (all were in the interior of the passenger facility), and there was a podium structure for the dining and promenade deck only on the Hindenburg's sister ship , the LZ 130 . In addition, the aluminum Blüthner grand piano shown was not on board on the last voyage.
The modifications carried out from 1936 to 1937, during which the wing was removed for weight reasons, were at least partially taken into account in the film. The Hindenburg started the 1937 season with 10 new cabins for a total of 22 additional passengers (9 two-bed, one four-bed cabin), which were added to the starboard side of the B-deck (lower deck). These cabins were larger than the standard A-deck cabins and had large windows; the new wing had its own steward's room and its own toilets opposite. This expansion was made possible by the fact that the Hindenburg was to remain filled with hydrogen gas instead of helium, which resulted in around 10 percent more buoyancy.
reception
Audience ratings
The ratings for the first part on February 6, 2011 were very satisfactory for RTL. 7.84 million viewers watched the first part of the RTL event movie, giving the private broadcaster a 20.9 percent market share. The target group reached 4.43 million viewers and a rate of 27.7 percent. On ORF 2, 815,000 viewers (26 percent national market share) saw the first part and 752,000 the second part. On average there were 783,500 viewers for the two parts.
criticism
“... But how this happens is shown in an RTL two-parter that surpasses the usual disaster routine of German television productions. Because the makers invested: a lot of money, more than ten million euros. A lot of time, more than three years. And a great feeling for a story that cleverly plays with history and fiction. The result is a "Titanic" of the air, a downfall with announcement and - what must be, must be - with a big, dramatic, beautiful love story. "
“Director Philipp Kadelbach pulls out all the stops with the special effects, has put it in the project budget of 10.5 million euros to partially recreate the Hindenburg in the studio - and lets the Zeppelin, which rose into the air as the pride of National Socialist Germany, in spectacular fashion , images generated digitally on the computer go up in flames. The end of the "Titanic of the Skies" is hardly inferior to the spectacular Hollywood film of the sinking of the steamer. "
"Blood and action, sex and children's hearts: For their RTL two-part" Hindenburg ", the film professionals from Teamworx are flaring off all available effects as usual. The legendary airship itself is unfortunately condemned to a supporting role in decoration. "
Awards
- German Television Award 2011 in the category Best Multipart
Web links
- Hindenburg in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- "Hindenburg" producer Schwingel on the € 10 million plant - Interview by DWDL.de
- Official website of RTL
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peer Schader: Do you speak English . FAZ.NET television blog. February 6, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2013.
- ↑ RTL: "Hindenburg" sets standards. (No longer available online.) In: film-tv-video.de. February 8, 2011, archived from the original on February 4, 2015 ; Retrieved February 8, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Tobias Schmitz: It burns! Oh, humanity! In: stern.de. February 6, 2011, accessed February 7, 2011 .
- ↑ cf. Peter Kleinheins: The big zeppelins. The history of airship construction . Springer publishing house. ISBN 3540211705 .
- ↑ see also B-deck of the Hindenburg after conversion for the 1937 season
- ↑ Manuel Weis: "Hindenburg" most watched broadcast. In : quotemeter.de. February 7, 2011, accessed February 7, 2011 .
- ↑ 752,000 saw the "Hindenburg II". In: derStandard.at. February 8, 2011, accessed February 20, 2011 .
- ↑ Friederike Haupt: The giant's last journey. February 6, 2011, accessed February 6, 2011 .
- ↑ Isabella Wallnöfer: "Hindenburg" on ORF: A Nazi dream in flames. February 5, 2011, accessed February 6, 2011 .
- ^ Nikolaus von Festenberg: Peaceful giant, easily inflammable. February 5, 2011, accessed September 26, 2011 .
