# List of films set on zeppelins? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 21, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124 "2009-12-21T23:11:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/21 "2009-12-22T14:37:18Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > I think there’s a Zeppelin in _Kiki’s Delivery Service_, and I expect there are quite a few more scattered through various other animes… _Laputa: Castle in the Sky_, for one. There are a couple of bad-guy military zeppelins bristling with weapons. Also the Vincent Price movie _Master of the World_, loosely based on the Jules Verne tale, and the more recent WWI aviation adventure _Flyboys_. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/22 "2009-12-22T14:46:39Z")
_Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow_ opens with a scene on the Hindenberg III and it is shown docking (if that’s the right word) at the Empire State Building. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/23 "2009-12-22T14:49:29Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > _Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow_ opens with a scene on the Hindenberg III and it is shown docking (if that’s the right word) at the Empire State Building. As mentioned in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/24 "2009-12-22T14:49:57Z")
> [@detop](#): > > In the Howard Hughes movie _Hell’s Angels_, there is a zeppelin raid on London during WWI. I was going to mention this one. This is a really good movie with some great ariel work that isn’t done any more. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/25 "2009-12-22T14:58:49Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > [Zeppelin vs. Pterodactyls](http://www.boingboing.net/2007/07/31/zeppelin-vs-pterodac.html), which, if it had ever been made, would have been the greatest effing film ever! S M Stirling is apparently fond of zeppelins. I’ve found his latest Great Alternate History Series a bit ponderous, but his shorter works would make fine films. If Hollywood could become interested in SF worlds not already done to death. (I’m wiling to give _Avatar_ points for originality, at least.) Or if Syfy could become interested in making less crappy movies. For example, his “[Lords of Creation](http://www.smstirling.com/)” series is set in an “alternate” solar system: > [@](#): > > Thanks to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Leigh Brackett, Otis Adelbert Kline, Leinster, Heinlein, and to all the other great pulpsters for gracing my childhood with John Carter, Northwest Smith, “Wrong-Way” Carson of Venus, and all the heroes gifted with a better solar system than the one we turned out to inhabit. From the jungles of Venus and the Grand Canal of Marsopolis, I salute you! How to make a long trip across those jungles of Venus–wherein saber tooth cats, dinos & beautiful warrior princesses may be found? Why, in a dirigible! Might, perchance, a dirigible encounter a Pteranodon or two? Of course. Not exactly Zeppelin vs. Pterodactyls, but close. No pehistoric beasts in his _The Peshawar Lancers_–but there’s plenty of swashbuckling derring-do in this ripping yarn. And much of it happens aboard a great airship! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/26 "2009-12-22T14:59:24Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I was going to mention this one. This is a really good movie with some great ariel work that isn’t done any more. I don’t know. Disney did some great work with [Ariel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_%28The_Little_Mermaid%29). ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/27 "2009-12-22T16:04:14Z")
Part of _The Golden Compass_ takes place aboard an airship, doesn’t it? I don’t remember the movie very well, so it’s possible I’m confusing it with the book. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/28 "2009-12-22T16:10:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Also the Vincent Price movie Master of the World, loosely based on the Jules Verne tale, Not a Zeppelin – Robur’s ship the _Albatross_ was an _aeronef_ (to use Verne’s own coinage, a heavier-than-air ship held up by a battery of helicopter-like vertical propellors. Always ahead of his time, Robur built his ship out of _composites_, which were known in Verne’s time and used for railroad wheels(!). The _Terrible_, in Verne’s second Robur Book, was completely different. If you’re looking for literary works (as **Bridget Burke** is), try Philip Jose Farmer’s original _Riverworld_ series, especially **The Dark Design**. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/29 "2009-12-22T16:16:16Z")
_Hell’s Angels_ was great fun just because of the stereotypical German crew on the zeppelin - they need to gain altitude to escape the British fighters, so the “excess” guys salute the Kaiser and jump. [Dirigible](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021799/) - cheesy early Frank Capra, but good Antarctic-exploration scenes. [The Airship Destroyer](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000790/) [Madam Satan](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021106/). > [@](#): > > Angela Brooks (Kay Johnson) discovers that her husband Bob (Reginald Denny) is cheating on her with another woman, Trixie (Lillian Roth). Learning that her husband intends to go to a costume ball on a moored dirigible in New York City, Angela disguises herself and attempts to “vamp” her husband. During the ball there are a number of exotic musical numbers. At the climax, a thunderstorm causes the dirigible to break apart and everyone is forced to parachute into the reservoir in Central Park. [Here Comes the Navy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025238/) has some good scenes of the _USS Macon_. [Master of the World](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_the_World_(1961_film)) - not technically a zeppelin, but close enough. [This Man’s Navy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038163/) - a WW2 flagwaver with Wallace Beery and blimps (hard to tell which is which sometimes). [The Stolen Airship](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062412/) - a Czech film of a Verne story. And [Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe_of_Clipper_Island), one of Rex the Wonder Horse’s finest performances. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/30 "2009-12-22T16:27:00Z")
They are probably one of the most dangerous modes of transportation devised. The Akron, Macon, Shenandoah, R-101, Hindenberg almost all the Zeppelins in WW1. They seem to be cursed, I would only fly on the Graf. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/31 "2009-12-22T16:40:50Z")
[Southland Tales](http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/dec/07/drama.justintimberlake) has a very posh event set aboard a new zeppelin-ish airship (except I think it’s kept aloft by other means and has huge reception rooms, etc. instead of airbags) For books, _The War in the Air_ by **H. G. Wells** is about as good as they come! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/32 "2009-12-22T17:08:18Z")
Baron von Bomburst had a small blimp in _Chitty Chitty Bang Bang_, too. Presented for your musical entertainment: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik9WEW2o8FA&feature=PlayList&p=45568002C48C28D9&playnext=1&playnext\_from=PL&index=38](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik9WEW2o8FA&feature=PlayList&p=45568002C48C28D9&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=38) ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/33 "2009-12-22T17:11:04Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I don’t know. Disney did some great work with [Ariel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_%28The_Little_Mermaid%29). Curse you realityChuck! I’ll get you yet, if it’s the last thing I do! ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/34 "2009-12-22T17:29:40Z")
Just remembered another one : [The red tent](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067315/) about the failed Nobile expedition of 1928. ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/35 "2009-12-22T17:34:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > As mentioned in the OP. Jeez, how in the hell did I completely miss an entire sentence in a six sentence post? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/36 "2009-12-22T18:00:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > …If you’re looking for literary works (as **Bridget Burke** is), try Philip Jose Farmer’s original _Riverworld_ series, especially **The Dark Design**. I know the OP talked about films. But there are great Zeppelin tales out there just awaiting film treatment. Syfy is working on [yet another version](http://scifiwire.com/2009/06/how-the-riverworld-movie.php) of Riverworld. If it becomes a series, we might see those lighter than air craft On The River. But I’m not getting my hopes up… ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/37 "2009-12-22T19:33:37Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > They are probably one of the most dangerous modes of transportation devised. The Akron, Macon, Shenandoah, R-101, Hindenberg almost all the Zeppelins in WW1. They seem to be cursed, I would only fly on the Graf. IMHO one of the main reasons for the serial airship disasters was that they came to be viewed as symbols of national pride. Many of them were forced into situations their captains or designers balked at, and paid the price. Particularly this is the case with the R-101 and all of the American airships (Akron, Macon, Shenandoah). Perhaps only politicians would choose a giant gasbag as the symbol of their nation. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/38 "2009-12-22T20:14:49Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > _The Song Remains the Same_ > (Well, _somebody_ had to say it.) No. Somebody didn’t have to say it.:eek: You must be punished. Get ready to mee d’yer maker. thank you, thank you. tip the waitress. 😉 hh ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/39 "2009-12-22T22:56:04Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > IMHO one of the main reasons for the serial airship disasters was that they came to be viewed as symbols of national pride. Many of them were forced into situations their captains or designers balked at, and paid the price. Particularly this is the case with the R-101 and all of the American airships (Akron, Macon, Shenandoah). > > Perhaps only politicians would choose a giant gasbag as the symbol of their nation. On the serious side, heavier-than-air-aircraft had short range in the twenties. What’s cool is that the USN toyed with the idea of making it’s airships into air-carriers. 🙂 [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/ac-usn22/z-types/zrs5-m.htm](http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/ac-usn22/z-types/zrs5-m.htm) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124/40 "2009-12-23T00:47:12Z")
In _ **Charlie Chan at the Olympics** _ (1937), Charlie makes the crossing in the Hindenburg. In later re-releases, the swastikas were expunged from each individual frame of film. (The scenes at the actual Olympics include audience members giving the Nazi salute to the parading athletes.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/list-of-films-set-on-zeppelins/522124.md?page=3)