Zeppelin

Zeppelin is a 1971 British World War I action-drama directed by Étienne Périer in Panavision and Technicolor. The film stars Michael York, Elke Sommer and Anton Diffring. Zeppelin depicts a fictitious attempt to raid Britain in a German Zeppelin to steal the Magna Carta from its hiding place in one of Scotland's castles, or destroy it. Plot in 1915, during the First World War, Geoffrey Richter-Douglas (Michael York), a Scotsman of German descent, is a lieutenant in the British Army. He meets Stephanie (Alexandra Stewart), a German spy to whom he is attracted. She suggests that he escape to Germany, where the other members of his family and his friends are. He reports this contact to his commanding officer, Captain Whitney, who also wants Geoffrey to go to Germany, but on a secret mission to steal the plans of the LZ36, a new type of Zeppelin under development at Friedrichshafen. Geoffrey pretends to be a deserter and travels to Germany, even getting shot in the arm by fellow British agents to sell the Germans the ruse. At Friedrichshafen, he meets his long-time friend Professor Altschul (Marius Goring), who lives with his beautiful and much younger wife, Erika (Elke Sommer), both of whom are scientists working on the new airship. Erika suspects that Geoffrey may be up to something, but keeps her suspicions to herself. Geoffrey quickly learns that German Intelligence recruited him to travel to Germany for a specific military purpose. Following a meeting with Intelligence Colonel Hirsch (Anton Diffring), he is assigned to the LZ36 on its maiden test flight. As soon as it is declared airworthy, to maintain absolute secrecy without first returning to base, the airship is to take part in a military operation to steal or destroy British historical documents, including the copy of Magna Carta, from the National Archives at Balcoven Castle in Scotland. Geoffrey is to play a key role in the mission, using his knowledge of the Scottish countryside to guide the airship very close to the castle at night while the craft is gliding with its engines off. After leaving Germany, the zeppelin lands on a fjord in Norway to refuel and take on board a specially trained unit of soldiers armed with mustard gas.