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

There was a scale model (approx. 1/5 the size) of the Spirit in the old Air Museum in San Diego's Balboa Park before the museum burned down in 1976. The museum hired an elderly lady to talk to the visitors who looked at the model. She claimed that her husband was in the group photo of the team who built the original Spirit. She also said that she had some of the scrap fabric left over from the construction. She told a story about each of the team members, including the secretary. Lindbergh is on one end and wearing a crumpled hat. She explained that the hat belonged to a man on the other end of the picture, and Lindbergh grabbed it as a joke and ran around to the other end of the group just before the picture was taken. The taking of this picture is in the movie, but Lindbergh is out of place, and he's not wearing a hat. Sadly, the model was lost in the fire.

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Goofs

At the end, "Lucky Lindy" said that 200,000 people were on hand when he landed. But not one of them seemed inclined to light a runway for him.

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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

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies (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

Good entertainment.

I have watched this film several times over the years and always find it an entertaining experience. As a retired airline pilot, I am interested in most aviation movies and this is one of the better ones. I know that Lindbergh was only 25 years old at the time of his historic solo flight to Paris and that James Stewart was almost 50 when making this movie but I can overlook that fact because Stewart has always been one of my all-time favorite actors and does one of his usual outstanding performances as the "lone eagle".

There is a good mixture of comedy and drama throughout the film and a good use of flashbacks. It also helps that James Stewart was a pilot in real life both in the military and civilian life.