The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)

Charles 'Slim' Lindbergh struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his New York to Paris flight the first solo transatlantic crossing.

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Charles A. Lindbergh (based on the book by), Billy Wilder (screen play by)

Stars:

James Stewart, Murray Hamilton, Patricia Smith

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
James Stewart	...	Charles Augustus 'Slim' Lindbergh
Murray Hamilton	...	Bud Gurney
Patricia Smith	...	Mirror Girl
Bartlett Robinson	...	Benjamin Frank Mahoney - President, Ryan Airlines Co.
Marc Connelly	...	Father Hussman
Arthur Space	...	Donald Hall - Chief Engineer, Ryan Airlines
Charles Watts	...	O.W. Schultz - Salesman, Atlas Suspender Co.

Storyline

Biography of Charles Lindburgh from his days of precarious mail runs in aviation's infancy to his design of a small transatlantic plane and the vicissitudes of its takeoff and epochal flight from New York to Paris in 1927.

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Plot Keywords:

aviation | atlantic ocean | year 1927 | transatlantic flight | paris france | 

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Taglines:

The once-in-a-lifetime excitement of America's most exciting era!

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Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Drama | History

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 April 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lindbergh - Mein Flug über den Ozean

Filming Locations:

Skellig Michael, County Kerry, Ireland

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Leland Hayward Productions, Billy Wilder Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording) 4-Track Stereo

Color:

Color (WarnerColor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Charles A. Lindbergh became a highly controversial figure during World War II due to his extreme opposition to helping Britain against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. He made remarks which were condemned as anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi.

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Goofs

When taking off from Roosevelt Field, the plane passes the same distant clump of 2 trees four times.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Reporter: [checking his copy] Here at the Garden City Hotel, less than a mile from Roosevelt Field... less than three-quarters of a mile from Roosevelt Field... everyone is waiting, as they have been now for seven days and nights, waiting for the rain to stop...

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Connections

Referenced in Billy Wilder Speaks (2006)

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Soundtracks

La Marseillaise
(uncredited)
Music by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle
Arranged by Franz Waxman
Played briefly during the opening credits

User Reviews

Pretty Good Depiction, But Lindbergh WASN'T First Across the Atlantic

Jimmy Stewart made films that were always watchable, with an amazing variety from the quirky Harvey to the dark Vertigo & even as far as supplying a voice for the cartoon American Tail. Unlike others (Ronald Regan & John Wayne to name but two) he wasn't afraid to fight for his country either & his experience as a USAF pilot during WW2 served him well for this epic.

The central problem for the film makers is the 30 hour flight, there simply wasn't enough material to depict this, the most famous episode of the whole story & the whole reason behind the legend. The use of the flashback here is entirely reasonable & to be expected as a result.

What does annoy me is the fact that he wasn't the first to fly non stop across the Atlantic. He WAS the first to fly SOLO & the first to fly non stop to Paris, but he just wasn't first to fly across the Atlantic non stop. Alcock & Brown flew across, non stop, in 1919, some 8 years before Lindnergh. Don't forget 8 years may not seem much but consider that in 8 years we went from the Mk1 Spitfire to the almost supersonic Sabre jet! Also the Vivkers Vimy bomber Alcock & Brown used was World War 1 surplus equipment, running on gasoline that had more in common with used dishwater. Yet this achievement is side stepped by Hollywood & simply ignored, yet if it was Lindbergh who'd crawled out to chip ice off the wings of his aircraft time after time we'd never have heard the end of it (a daring feat necessary because the Vimy kept accumulating too much ice to keep flying during a storm).

Useful, this film is an incomplete picture, as carefully framed in it's story line as the the impressive camera work. It does, however, continue to present a skewed view of history.