Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage
Encyclopedia
Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage refers to the footage filmed by several newsreel
companies of the Hindenburg disaster
where the zeppelin
Hindenburg
crashed and burned on May 6, 1937.
The film is frequently played with narration by Herbert Morrison
, who was there to watch the zeppelin's arrival in the United States. Morrison was a 31-year-old Chicago radio reporter, and his commentary was recorded, and not broadcast until later. It has since been combined with the separately filmed newsreel footage. To modern eyes it may appear to have been a live broadcast with pictures and sound, but it was not. Most of the original newsreels have their own narration, and many edited reels exist. One of these is a silent film with Pathe footage of the first 1936 landing at Lakehurst and Universal Newsreel footage of the disaster. Another edit uses footage of the Disaster from Paramount and Movietone Newsreel with Herb Morrison's recording. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F54rqDh2mWA
Four newsreel cameramen were in attendance at the time of the disaster. None captured the initial signs of disaster as most cameras were focused on the ground crew at the start of the fire.
In 1997, the original reels were selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
, Paramount News
, Movietone News
, and Universal Newsreel
. A fifth reel is of unknown origin.
See Herbert Morrison
for more details on the broadcast.
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
companies of the Hindenburg disaster
Hindenburg disaster
The Hindenburg disaster took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, which is located adjacent to the borough of Lakehurst, New Jersey...
where the zeppelin
Zeppelin
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century. It was based on designs he had outlined in 1874 and detailed in 1893. His plans were reviewed by committee in 1894 and patented in the United States on 14 March 1899...
Hindenburg
LZ 129 Hindenburg
LZ 129 Hindenburg was a large German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume...
crashed and burned on May 6, 1937.
The film is frequently played with narration by Herbert Morrison
Herbert Morrison (announcer)
Herbert Morrison was an American radio reporter best known for his dramatic report of the Hindenburg disaster, a catastrophic fire that destroyed the LZ 129 Hindenburg zeppelin on May 6, 1937, killing 36 people.-Hindenburg disaster:...
, who was there to watch the zeppelin's arrival in the United States. Morrison was a 31-year-old Chicago radio reporter, and his commentary was recorded, and not broadcast until later. It has since been combined with the separately filmed newsreel footage. To modern eyes it may appear to have been a live broadcast with pictures and sound, but it was not. Most of the original newsreels have their own narration, and many edited reels exist. One of these is a silent film with Pathe footage of the first 1936 landing at Lakehurst and Universal Newsreel footage of the disaster. Another edit uses footage of the Disaster from Paramount and Movietone Newsreel with Herb Morrison's recording. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F54rqDh2mWA
Four newsreel cameramen were in attendance at the time of the disaster. None captured the initial signs of disaster as most cameras were focused on the ground crew at the start of the fire.
In 1997, the original reels were selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Multiple reels
There are four known newsreels of the fire, filmed and released by Pathé NewsPathe News
Pathé Newsreels were produced from 1910 until the 1970s, when production of newsreels was in general stopped. Pathé News today is known as British Pathé and its archive of over 90,000 reels is fully digitised and online.-History:...
, Paramount News
Paramount News
Paramount News is the name on the newsreels produced by Paramount Pictures .-History:The Paramount Newsreel began operation in 1927 and distributed roughly two movie theater issues per week until their closing in 1957. Movie theaters across the country would run these issues, usually on 35mm...
, Movietone News
Movietone News
Movietone News is a newsreel that ran from 1928 to 1963 in the United States, and from 1929 to 1979 in the United Kingdom.-History:It is known in the U.S. as Fox Movietone News, produced cinema, sound newsreels from 1928 to 1963 in the U.S., from 1929 to 1979 in the UK , and from 1929 to 1975 in...
, and Universal Newsreel
Universal Newsreel
Universal Newsreel was a series of 7- to 10-minute newsreels that were released twice a week between 1929 and 1967 by Universal Studios. A Universal publicity official, Sam B. Jacobson, was involved in originating and producing the newsreels...
. A fifth reel is of unknown origin.
- Pathé: Cameraman William Deeke had focused the camera on the ground crew before he stopped filming, but when the ship exploded his camera was already in focus on the airship. However, his camera malfunctioned due to the blast and had to use a hand crank. The footage only starts when ship's tail was on the ground and the side collapsed inward. The footage suffers from slight camera shake.
- Movietone: Filmed by Al Gold, the Movietone News cameras aimed at the ground crew when the fire broke out. It only started to roll again as the tail touched the ground. Movietone had soundman Addison Tice present as well, and he recorded some of the audio of the disaster (one can hear him say "you alright now, Al!").
- Universal: This newsreel caught most of the explosion. Aimed at the ground crew from a far away distance, the ship explodes and in five seconds (the time it took for the stern to be consumed by the fire) the camera pans upward filming the fire as the tail drops down and the nose burns like a blowtorch. It does not show what is happening below the burning airship as it crashes as the camera focuses more on the fire itself until the bow nears the ground. It is unknown who filmed this newsreel. It may also be possible that the footage was not filmed by a Universal cameraman because they left due to the bad weather; James J. Seeley filmed for Hearst's News of the Day and Universal may have acquired rights to his footage.
- Paramount: Starting slightly after the Universal reel, this reel was filmed by Tommy Cravens using an EyemoEyemoThe Eyemo is a 35 mm motion-picture film camera which was manufactured by the Bell & Howell Co. of Chicago.-Background:Designed and first manufactured in 1925, it was for many years the most compact 35 mm motion-picture film camera of the hundred foot capacity...
, which gave a telephoto view. It shows a close-up view of the fire and people running away from the airship. - Unknown: This footage has been shown in numerous documentaries. It is of poor quality and is rather shaky and filmed from about the same time the Pathé reel started filming. http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675069028_Hindenburg_Lakehurst-Naval-Air-Station_airship-burning_people-run-around
Quotation
- "Oh the humanity!"
See Herbert Morrison
Herbert Morrison (announcer)
Herbert Morrison was an American radio reporter best known for his dramatic report of the Hindenburg disaster, a catastrophic fire that destroyed the LZ 129 Hindenburg zeppelin on May 6, 1937, killing 36 people.-Hindenburg disaster:...
for more details on the broadcast.