User reviews

THE LOST ZEPPELIN (1929) a Tiffany Studio release (who ever they were) features a typical service triangle with the romance of early aviation. Zeppelins (ie Dirigibles) were hot stuff at this time popularized by their successes during World War I (WWI) and commercial traffic developed by Germany postwar.

The best part of the film is the second half that concentrates on the Antartic flight of the titled character, it's wreck and the rescue of the survivors. There is some references to the disaster of the Scott expedition (1912) where the entire polar party died on the way back from the pole. For those unfamiliar with the story read the Roland Huntford book 'The Last Place on Earth' for the triumph of Amundsen and the defeat of Scott.

The film is technically adapt for the time but you can see the problem the actors where having with the early sound equipment. The actors freeze and will not move even their heads in case they miss their marks and the microphones. In many scenes voice overs were used to cover multiple actors. To show how fast things improved in just two (2) years watch DIRIGIBLE (1931) Columbia Pictures, Frank Capra directing. Pretty much the same stuff, romance triangle and Antartic expedition though this time with AeroPlanes (Ford TriMotor) and two (2) Zeppelins. Balloons, Blimps and other period aircraft were also featured. The picture benefits from two (2) years of technical advancements and we would rate it six (6) stars ******.

Dated adventure film about an attempt to be the first to fly a zeppelin over the South Pole.

The film is essentially two movies. The first is a long drawn out sequence at the start showing how the wife of the head of the expedition is in love with the second in command. This runs for about 25 minutes as they dress go to a send off party and then have guilt over the whole thing. Despite some good dialog this part of the movie is deadly dull. The rest of the film concerns the expedition and is much more interesting. Here we follow the flight as we see the airship fly to toward the Pole and eventually run into trouble (this isn't giving anything away because one need only look at the title to see what happens). This part of the film has some fantastic effects work with the shots of the zeppelin in flight and the Antarctic landscape with all its dangers over powering any feelings that this film is anything less than spectacular. What we see on screen is truly amazing since it was done with out computers and comes across looking oh so more real for it. The films flaws are for the most part limited to the fact that this film was made in the early days of sound and so we either have very talky sequences or ones that are very quiet.

If you want to see some stunning effects in a good adventure you might want to try this, though you'll want to fast forward through the first 25 minutes since they really can be dull. (This would make a good double feature with the Red Tent the true story of similar attempt to fly an airship over the North Pole a few years before this was made, and which was probably the inspiration for this film)

Conway Tearle (Commander Hall), Virginia Valli (Mrs Hall), Ricardo Cortez (Tom Armstrong), Duke Martin (Lieutenant Wallace), Kathryn McGuire (Nancy), Winter Hall (Wilson).

Director: EDWARD SLOMAN. Screenplay: Frances Hyland. Dialogue: Charles Kenyon. Story: Jack Natteford. Film editors: Martin G. Cohn, Donn Hayes. Photography: Jackson Rose. Art director: Hervey Libbert. Set decorator: George Sawley. Special effects: Jack Robson, Kenneth Peach. RCA Sound System. A Tiffany-Stahl Production. Recording engineer: Jerry Eisenberg. Sound technician: John Buddy Myers.

Copyright 10 December 1929 by Tiffany Productions, Inc. New York opening at the Gaiety: 1 February 1930. U.S. release: 20 December 1929. 8 reels. 6,882 feet. 76½ minutes.

SYNOPSIS: A dirigible crash-lands near the South Pole.

COMMENT: The Tiffany-Stahl company bills itself as "The Better Entertainment". Better than what, one might ask? The New York Times reviewer had his finger on the pulse when he described all three of the principal performances as "not especially praiseworthy", the story as both unintelligent and uninteresting, the plotting as "clumsy", and the special effects as "far from impressive".

Well, maybe he was a little over-hard on the effects. Aside from one or two remarkable achievements like the fall down the snow- cliff, realistic they are not. But some of the glass shots of the dirigible on the ice have a certain pictorial splendor, and some of the model- work is not bad.

All the same, the story is trash, the principals are a dull, lifeless trio. Mr. Cortez tries hard to instill a bit of vigor into a thankless role, but wooden Tearle and that impossibly painted doll with her silly little voice, Virginia Valli, are a dead loss.

Ed Sloman's tepid, static, colorless direction is no help either.

That this exsists at all is probably a minor miracle. Legend has it that David Selznick purchased all of the Tiffany-Stahl studio's negatives to utilize for the burning of Atlanta sequence in Gone With The Wind. Extant prints of films from this studio are rare, indeed. That aside, The Lost Zeppelin shows that the little studio was indeed trying to be up-to-date in marketing all-talking pictures. The dialouge delivery in the first section of the picture, before we get to the meat of the story, hearkens back to The Lights of New York (1928). Pregnant pauses and actors unsure about how to properly deliver dialouge are apparent. When the story gets to the dirigible party and their problems, the pace picks up and there are some pretty neat (for their time) effects. The studio must be praised for putting forth a story that is at once novel and original. This was released at Christmastime 1929 and it seems to have been successful in some quarters. In it's premiere in St.Louis, for example, the ads reported a take of $30,900 for the Christmas weekend. Pocket change today, but we must remember the time in which it was released. Conway Tearle and Virginia Valli are the top-billed players. The opening credits proclaim that this was "Synchronized by RCA Photophone". The print on the Alpha DVD was acceptably clear. In all, a film which will probably appeal to those who enjoy the early talkies. There are plenty of 20s fashions, hairdos and a huge radio in the living room of the heroine. Radio, in fact, is utilized throughout the film as a way to chart the progress of the Zeppelin. The Zeppelin itself is neatly represented by stock footage and the use of some neat miniatures. This is not an expensive film to buy and will be entertaining to those who enjoy film history.

Stiff upper lips abound in Edward Sloman's frigid tale of love and adventure, not only because zeppelin pilots Conway Tearle and Ricardo Cortez are thoroughly decent chaps at heart, but because the talkies were in their infancy and - with the exception of Tearle - everyone seems to have temporarily forgotten how to act in front of a camera. Cortez's character might be making the moves on Tearle's willing wife (Virginia Valli) but at least he feels awfully guilty about it. Dreary stuff that's only set apart from the countless other drawing room dramas flooding cinemas during the early years of sound by its set-bound Arctic scenes.

"The Lost Zeppelin" is a fascinating story when you think about it. Although the sound effects are a bit crude (such as the droning engines), the sound quality is actually very, very good for 1929. Silents were on their way out, but the quality of sound was still very poor and the fact that you can actually clearly hear the dialog is a major plus--this is NOT the case today when you see many 1929 flicks (such as "Coquette"--an Oscar-winner but with horrible sound). It also has awfully nice special effects for 1929. While today they could do much better, for 1929 it was nice.

Unfortunately, while the film has its technical merits, the story itself is only fair. Part of the problem is the subplot involving the unfaithful wife and the captain--it just didn't make any sense--especially his reaction when he caught her with one of his officers. The other problem is that despite being an action story, it's all rather slow and dull. It's not terrible...it's just not all that good. In many ways, the film is highly reminiscent of the Leni Reifenstahl film, "S.O.S. Iceberg"--a film that debuted several years after "The Lost Zeppelin"--and I am pretty sure the Reifenstahl film was inspired by "The Lost Zeppelin".

Conway Tearle is the stiff-upper lipped commander of a dirigible expedition that sets off on an arduous trip knowing that the wife he leaves behind "Miriam" (Virginia Valli) is in love with one of his colleagues "Tom" (Ricardo Cortez) and wants a divorce! Hardly an happy basis to start such a perilous mission, and when the winds and currents drive them to the frozen Antarctic their goose looks well and truly cooked (or frozen!). Can they survive these hostile climes long enough for rescue planes to arrive? Though there is some aerial photography, the vast majority of this story is relayed to us via his wife listening to updates on the radio, and after a while I found that quite dull. The audio tries far too hard to compensate for the visual wintry conditions - that are clearly studio set-bound, and the stilted acting - especially from a shockingly poor Valli really does spoil the adventure elements that I thought this might include. It's worth remembering that this was made when talkies were in their infancy, so I ought not to be too critical, but there is just too much melodrama and nowhere near enough adventure here and it's just not very good.

I struggled to stay with this film to see it to the end. I give it two stars just for a try at a plot. Besides some very good silent films of the 1920s, I've rated about a dozen talkies of 1929 from 7 to 10 stars. Those were all produced by Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers and a British studio.

"The Lost Zeppelin" was made by one of the 80 or so poverty row studios that existed in the early years of movie making. Tiffany-Stahl lasted longer than most, from 1921 to 1931, and turned out 70 films in that time. This was one of its last. And this film is a good example of why it and the host of poverty row studios didn't last. The few good directors and technicians that started in the lower echelons eventually made it into the big studios or went with a successful independent that would later make it big or merge into one of the other studios.

Normally, I wouldn't bother to review a film I rate so low. But since this is now out on DVD, I thought prospective viewers might like more comment than has been posted on IMDb to this time. I won't urge folks not to watch this – but you should know what to expect before you plunk down cash to buy or rent it. Indeed, I had some inkling of what it was about, but I wanted to see it for myself. And, I'm glad I did – because I now know what the very cheap poverty row films were like.

Everything about this film is poor, with the possible exception of the sound from the dialog. The sets are very amateurish and poor – such as an airplane door that slides open. No kidding – just like a sliding door in a house. Then, when a crew person opens the door, it starts to fall out of its track and he shoves it back. The airplane engine noise is some strange irritating sound created by sound effects, and doesn't sound anything like a plane engine. The film quality itself is barely watchable. The script is something that a third-grade student might create today. But the directing and acting are the very worst.

Conway Tearle and Ricardo Cortez had small movie careers through the 1930s. But those were mostly in B films. The rest of the cast are actors who couldn't make the transition from silent to sound. Virginia Valli had made more than 60 films in the silent era; but after this, she made only two more before retiring from films at age 35. That's when many of the best actors begin to shine. The acting is very hammy in this, and one can see long pauses and long glances at the camera – techniques used in the silent films to allow subtitles to show. While the voices of all this cast were OK, they apparently couldn't transition to real acting. There were many silent film stars who didn't succeed in sound films because their unusual voices didn't fit their images in the minds of the movie-going public.

So, this isn't likely to be very entertaining; but if you want to see an example of the hundreds and even thousands of early films that aren't around anymore – and of the type of films put out by the short-lived and over-night cheap studios, then you may enjoy watching "The Lost Zeppelin."

I found this bit of trivia that movie buffs might enjoy. Apparently, MGM bought Tiffany's original film library and used it for fuel in "Gone with the Wind." It went up in flames in the scene of the burning of Atlanta. I doubt if it was very expensive kindling.

The filmmakers would have been better served filming my relatives fighting over The Last Zeppole on Christmas Eve.

Popular silent star and fading sound star Conway Tearle plays Commander Donald Hall and leads a group of explorers on an expedition to the South Pole, because, you know, it's there, or something. Everybody should have stayed home instead and taken acting lessons. Virginia Valli, as his wife, is atrocious, and sounds too much like Billie Burke to be taken seriously. Valli has the hots for a young officer in the group, played by Ricardo Cortez. Unlike the poor acting of Teale and Valli, Cortez manages to approach sub-mediocrity with his character.

After an incredibly dull first twenty minutes, during which Tearle discovers his wife's indiscretion and the audience discovers they should be somewhere else, the film finally takes off, figuratively and literally. But it doesn't get much better. Tearle's dirigible crashes, the radio conks out, and everyone runs out of clean underwear. Tearle and Cortez are the only ones left when an airplane miraculously shows up; however, the pilot can only take one person with him. This leads to the best scene in the film:

Valli: "What I want to know is, what happened when you and Donald were alone, and that aviator found you?" Cortez: "Please Miriam, not that!"

"Brokeback Iceberg," anyone??

First Off, the Scuttlebutt Says that MGM Bought Up All of the Nitrate Prints from the Defunct Studio "Tiffany" to use as "Fuel" for the "Burning of Atlanta" Scene in "Gone With the Wind" (1939).

Hubris and Insensitivity to the "Arts" Aside, if True, it is Amazing that Any Movies from the "Little" Studio are Found Today (they are very rare).

But Here is "The Lost Zeppelin" for your Consideration...It's Quite Awful.

The Groaning Dialog, the Awkward Pauses, the Forced Repeated Narrative. The Film just Slogs From Beginning to End and is a Tough Watch Today.

Squeaky Voiced, Deer in the Headlights, Actress Virginia Valli Made 60 Silent Films and after Attempting a Few Talkies Retired at the Age of 35. She Literally Brings the Movie to a "Crash-Landing" Anytime She's On-Screen.

Ricardo Cortez Fairs Better But Can't Put HIs "Latin Lover" Persona to Much Use, Given the Stale, Stilted, Story of the "Love-Triangle".

The SFX, Sets, Models, and the Rest are Not On Screen Enough to Make an Impression.

The Sappy Dialog and Headline Readings are Recorded OK, but the "Sound Dept" was Over-Thinking the New Technology and Used Over-Modulated, Irritating "Buzzing" for the Crafts and that "Artic-Wind" Howls, and Howls, and Howls.

Most Movies Made at the Time with this Kind of Talent and Resources were Not Much Better. It was a Tough Transition Time Morphing from the "Silents" to "Talkies".

As a Curiosity it is...Worth a Watch

But Be Prepared for some Major "Retro-Shock" Disappointment.

THE STORY & GENRE -- This is an adventure tale, not genre, but we're reviewing because it's in the ASHSFF book under "Tangential", probably for the quality of special effects, which is quite high, rather than for any fantastical machinery. Good drama subplots.

THE VERDICT -- Even with primitive sound quality, and a bit of stiff acting, this is quite the accomplishment. As well as technically sound, the story-line is interesting and I did not find it unbelievable, as some others have.

FREE ONLINE -- Yes. Full 72 minutes.