''The Lost Zeppelin'' is a 1929

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

adventure film directed by

Edward Sloman Edward Sloman (19 July 1883, London - 29 September 1972, Woodland Hills, California) was an England, English silent film Film director, director, actor, screenwriter and radio broadcaster. He directed over 100 films and starred in over 30 fi ...

and produced and distributed by Tiffany-

Stahl {{Wiktionary, Stahl, stahl Stahl (German language, German: ''steel'') is a surname of German and Swedish origin, which also occurs among Jews and Hutterites. It may refer to: * Agustín Stahl (1842–1917), Puerto Rican physician, ethnologist, an ...

. The film stars

Conway Tearle Conway Tearle (born Frederick Conway Levy, May 17, 1878 – October 1, 1938) was an American stage actor who went on to perform in silent film, silent and early sound films. Early life Tearle was born on May 17, 1878, in New York City, the ...

Virginia Valli Virginia Valli (January 18, 1895 – September 24, 1968) was an American stage and film actress whose motion picture career started in the silent film era and lasted until the beginning of the sound film era of the 1930s. Early life Valli was b ...

and

Ricardo Cortez Ricardo Cortez (born Jacob Kranze or Jacob Krantz; September 19, 1900 – April 28, 1977) was an American actor and film director. He was also credited as Jack Crane early in his acting career. Early years Ricardo Cortez was born Jacob K ...

. Tearle plays a navy officer modeled on U. S. Navy Commander

Richard Evelyn Byrd Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer, and pioneering aviator, polar explorer, and organizer of polar logistics. Aircraft flights in which he served as a navigator and expedition leader cr ...

, who was then a national aviation hero. Byrd made his own genuine Antarctic adventure film, ''

With Byrd at the South Pole ''With Byrd at the South Pole'' (1930) is a sound part-talkie documentary film about Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd and his 1st quest to the South Pole beginning at the Little America-Exploration Base. In addition to sequences with audible dialogu ...

'', during his South Pole Expedition 1928-1929.

Plot

At a banquet preceding his flight to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the point in the Southern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True South Pole to distinguish ...

, Commander Donald Hall (

), a

zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155� ...

commander in charge of the ''Explorer'', learns that his wife, Miriam (

), whom he worships, requests a divorce. She is in love with Lieutenant Tom Armstrong (

), his best friend and partner in the flight. Hall agrees to grant the divorce after the flight. When the zeppelin reaches the South Pole, a sudden gale causes it to crash, and the men divide up into search parties. An aircraft with room for only one survivor leads to a decision by Hall that Armstrong should be the one to be saved. Armstrong is welcomed in Washington as the only survivor but finds that Miriam still loves her husband. Later, news comes of Hall's rescue and miraculous recovery, and he is happily reunited with his wife.

Cast

as Commander Donald Hall *

as Miriam Hall *

as Tom Armstrong *Duke Martin as Lieutenant Wallace *

Kathryn McGuire Kathryn McGuire (December 6, 1903 – October 10, 1978) was an American dancer and actress. Early life Born in Peoria, Illinois, McGuire was said to be recognized by critics and fans alike as one of the rising stars in film. Selected one of ...

as Nancy *

Winter Hall Winter Amos Hall (21 June 1872 – 10 February 1947) was a New Zealand actor of the silent film, silent era who later appeared in sound films. He performed in more than 120 films between 1916 and 1938. Prior to that, he had a career as a st ...

as Mr. Wilson ''uncredited'' *

Richard Cramer Richard Earl Cramer (July 3, 1889 – August 9, 1960) was an American actor in films from the late 1920s to the early 1950s. Cramer specialized in villainous roles in many low-budget westerns, but is today best remembered for his several app ...

as Radio Announcer * Ervin Nyiregyhazi as Pianist *William H. O'Brien as Radio Operator

Production

The stagey early part of ''The Lost Zeppelin'' was dominated by a banquet scene and actors engaged in dialogue from static positions. The early sound equipment was difficult to use, and actors often had to deliver lines "on their marks", afraid to even turn their heads and lose microphone coverage. The "shoddy production" values described by aviation film historian Michael Paris in ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema'' (1995) were typical of the early sound film era. The zeppelin in ''The Lost Zeppelin'' is a combination of stock footage of flights, the use of miniatures, and a

mockup In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''prototype'' if it provides at lea ...

of the gondola. Although the special effects were satisfactory for the era, aviation film historian James H. Farmer in ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1984) considered ''The Lost Zeppelin'' had "disappointing special effects and triangular plot."

Reception

Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' gave a mostly negative review of ''The Lost Zeppelin'', "Presumably the producers of "The Lost Zeppelin," an audible pictorial melodrama now at the Gaiety, do not believe in a very high order of intelligence among cinema audiences, for the best that can be said of the film is that it appears to have been fashioned with a view to appealing to boys from 8 to 10 years of age. Several such youngsters were at the first showing of this offering last Saturday afternoon, and they became volubly enthusiastic over the Antarctic blizzard, the far from impressive airship, the artificial ice fields and the clumsily designed chain of incidents."

Preservation status

''The Lost Zeppelin'' is listed as "preserved" in the Library of Congress database. The film has also been released on Alpha DVD. The

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

has a digitized copy available for download.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1st ed.). Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: TAB Books 1984. . * Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. . * Wynne, H. Hugh. ''The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood's Classic Aviation Movies.'' Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1987. .

External links

''The Lost Zeppelin'' at IMDb.com
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lost Zeppelin, The 1929 films 1929 adventure films 1920s American films American adventure films American aviation films American black-and-white films Films directed by Edward Sloman Tiffany Pictures films