Reviews & Ratings for
The Lost Zeppelin More at IMDbPro »

17 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
Exciting Early Exploration!, 8 March 2001
Author: Son of Cathode from New England

Exciting early all-talking adventure starts with a classic love triangle, and works its way up to high drama, as explorers attempt to reach the South Pole in a dirigible. There is some impressive f/x work, especially in the miniatures of the doomed ship floating over barren ice-scapes. This film also highlights the decade's obsession with radio, which becomes a most essential part of the drama. A rare and charming primitive.

11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
No Longer Lost Thanks To ALPHA VIDEO..., 6 November 2006

Author: xerses13 from United States

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 ******.

11 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
If you can get past the first 25 minutes this is a really good movie about an attempt to fly an airship over the South Pole, 30 July 2006

Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York

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)

Add another review

Related Links