I just watched this film on TCM (for the first time in many years).
You can say what you want about its historical accuracy, but the SFX are in fact excellent by 1970's standards, when they only had the use of models & glass plates & trick photography, with no CGI.
The inter-cutting of actual film footage from 1937 was also very well done.
This alone makes it worth watching.
M
I just watched for the first time myself, and I thought the effects were good, but the mock up of the life size exterior when Boerth is looking out is horrible. It looked like they cobbled it together in minutes. It was all dented and the window sills looked like painted over bondo.
shareThe model was huge, 25 feet long, so I'm sure that helped. It's on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
The shots where she appears over Lakehurst and over the icebergs are really quite nice, coupled with the low rumble of those beautiful engines and the majestic sound track.
It's the one good thing about this turd of a movie.
shareThe film is actually much better than its reputation, and a big reason for that is the quality of the effects. It's very stirring seeing the Hindenburg take flight and crossing the Atlantic.
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