Dirigible 1931

      A French explorer enlists the help of the US Navy in an expedition to the South Pole.  There is a competition between the airship division and fixed wing fliers and there are also triumphs and disasters.  This film is loosely based on the crash of the airship Italia flown by Umberto Nobile around May 25 1928 near the North Pole.  The international rescue effort cost early Polar explorer Roald Amudson his life.
 
     The Pilot who rescued Nobile also crashed when returning to rescue more survivors and had to be rescued himself.  The production was shot during a California heat wave.  To form vapor on the breath and give the impression that the pilots were in the Antarctic, the performers were given lumps of 'dry ice' (frozen carbon dioxide) in metal boxes to put in their mouths.  Unfortunately, Hobart Bosworth found the box cumbersome and simply put the ice in his mouth.  This action caused him to lose his tongue and most of his lower jaw!!  

     The Motion Picture Herald reported that the rough cut before final editing consisted of 28 reels.  125,000 feet of film were shot at the Naval Air Base at Lakehurst New Jersey.  The estimated cost of production of $1,000,000 made it the most expensive Columbia film to that date.

100 min, Adventure directed by Frank Capra and written by Frank Wead with Jack Holt, Ralph Graves, Fay Wray, Hobart Bosworth, Roscoe Karns, Harold Goodwin, Clarence Muse, Emmett Corrigan.

Note:  Imdb 6.3* out of 10* with 554 reviews, Rotes Tomatoes 57% audience score with less than 50 ratings, Letterboxd 3.2* out of 5*, Amazon 4.5* out of 5* with 5 ratings, pre-code.com Danny’s rating: Indifferent, kqek.com very good.

Special Note:  Also titled Das Luftschiff and released 4 April 1931 in the US.  Filmed at Naval Air Station Lakehurst New Jersey and San Gabriel Valley California for the South Pole scenes.  The box office takes was estimated to be $1,000,000.

Mistakes:  In the opening scene, the Capitol Dome is shown outside of Admiral Martin's window.  The Navy Yard is over 2 miles from the Capitol and it would not be seen from inside his office.  At 57:23, when Clarence and Sock are talking, lighting equipment is visible in the reflection of Clarence's glasses.  The name of this Dirigible was the USS Pensacola but there was already a USN heavy cruiser of the same name that was in service since 1928 when this movie was made.  The Navy does not assign duplicate names to ships/air ships in service at the same time.