Although Jimmy Stewart was twice the age of the man he portrays in THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS – Charles Lindberg, the world’s first successful transatlantic flyer – he pulls it off with his voice, his walk, and the boyish enthusiasm he projects. Besides Stewart's acting, I admire this movie for its direction. Billy Wilder shows great skill in sustaining audience interest throughout with flashbacks and, though probably Hollywooded up, several in-flight calamities. Unpopular as Lindberg later became for his social and political views, his amazing achievement in 1927 - flying across the Atlantic in a tiny, fraigle aircraft 5,000 kilometers from New York to Paris in 20 hours – deserves this warm homage.
THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS (1957)
James Stewart channels the Lone Eagle
Although Jimmy Stewart was twice the age of the man he portrays in THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS – Charles Lindberg, the world’s first successful transatlantic flyer – he pulls it off with his voice, his walk, and the boyish enthusiasm he projects. Besides Stewart's acting, I admire this movie for its direction. Billy Wilder shows great skill in sustaining audience interest throughout with flashbacks and, though probably Hollywooded up, several in-flight calamities. Unpopular as Lindberg later became for his social and political views, his amazing achievement in 1927 - flying across the Atlantic in a tiny, fraigle aircraft 5,000 kilometers from New York to Paris in 20 hours – deserves this warm homage.
