Zeppelin

Picture seeing a colossal silver fish resting on the surface of a Norwegian fjord. That image from "Zeppelin" is unforgettable. The story of a secret German airship raid on a Scotish Castle to destroy British historical documents hidden there, is fast moving with little time for character development. There is also a tremendous stretch of believability. Nevertheless the special effects are so superior, that the script deficiencies are easily forgiven. Michael York is adequate as the British spy, and Elke Sommer plays the wife of the zeppelin's designer. Though not always logical, the film is imaginative and surprisingly entertaining, with images that will not soon be forgotten. Recommended. - MERK

I loved it the music was great so was the cast the zeppelin looked just like a real one this is a great movie micheal york was great in it it shows many scenes of the zeppelin and the fight between the airplanes and the zeppelin was exciting I loved the movie I give it *****5 stars

While the film ends with a lot of threads still loose, the film is worth watching for great period costumes, sets, and especially the airship used by the Germans in the raid on England. Whether historically accurate or not in its design, the airship is in a lot of ways the true star of this film. The story does not fully develop the theme of divided loyalty completely and the ending seems a bit abrupt, but the action scenes are exciting and expertly directed. Great aerial footage and many scenes are filmed from very high up - you may not want to watch this one if you are scared of heights! Worth a look for World War I or aviation buffs.

First---I want to say I have always enjoyed this movie since first seeing it some years ago. It explores some aspects of of a (relatively) little-know war i.e. World War I, and especially the use and technology of Zeppelins--which has been rare to non-existent in cinema.

Recently having purchased a video tape of the movie, I noticed something that has raised questions in my mind. In the movie, it is stated more times how critical weight is on a Zeppelin. For instance, when Richter-Douglas is first brought on board, Frau Altschul says "weight is critical on an airship--we haven't allowed for this man!" However, later when the Zeppelin has docked on the ship in the North Sea, a score or more of the men who are the "commandos" board the ship, and nothing is said about extra weight.

The only thing I can surmise is that the men who were to actually perform the commando raid in Scotland replaced the regular Zeppelin crew; who consequently disembarked and were left on the naval ship. If this happened in the movie or was mentioned, did I miss it?

The movie is a fictionalized account from a German-born British official ( Michael York ) since his own point of view . He races against time to prevent a hateful scheme and thwart the plans of cunning , detestable baddies ( Anthon Driffing , Peter Carsten ). The Zeppelin made in scale model is the real star of the film , the enormous Blimp causes damages , wreak havoc , disrupts communications , rampage over cities and destroys vital points and gun positions, nowadays the Zeppelin is led a secret mission.

The film gets a magnificent creation of suspense , thriller and emotional drama including some exciting and well staged aerial images . A first rate cast with a valiant and sympathetic lieutenant well reincarnated by Michael York ( Three Musketeers , Cabaret ), a gorgeous beauty as Elke Sommer ( The prize ), her scientist husband old man ( Marius Goring of Red slippers) , Andrew Keir ( Quatermass and the Pit ) and of course the two top-notch devious villains as Anton Diffring and Peter Carsten , both of whom are usual in Nazi roles . Splendid aerial photography with impressive outdoors and sensational sky-shots by cameraman Alan Hume and good matte cinematography , besides fantastic maquettes of ingenious flying machine . Exceptional and atmospheric musical score by musician Roy Budd with extraordinary leitmotif as when the Zeppelin takes off from hangar . The picture is correctly directed by Etienne Perier . It's an acceptable picture and well produced with high budget and shot in Pinewood studies . Rating : Good , better than average .