The Spirit of St. Louis

This is a film that practically deifies Charles Lindburgh because of his amazing solo flight across the Atlantic (from New York to Paris). At times, it just seemed to make the man too super-human and swell--and that is a bit of a problem because the real life Lindburgh was a very, very flawed man. In fact, his many flaws would make his life story a wonderful mini-series--as there's way, way too much for one film! Missing is Lindburgh's pre-WWII adoration of Hitler and the Nazis (as it tended to justify his own antisemitism), the famous and tragic kidnapping of his son, his actually managing to fly combat missions (which were unauthorized) during WWII where he even managed to shoot down a plane as well as the revelation after his death that he led a triple life--with two complete families in Germany in addition to his wife and family at home!! This soap opera-like and sometimes self-destructive pattern make him a person not to be especially admired--but sure an interesting one nevertheless!

As for this film, I love aviation films but I even found it to be a bit ponderous. At well over two hours, the entire production just seemed too long--and could have benefited from a slight trimming. After all, it is a foregone conclusion that he made it to Paris--so dragging this portion of the film out seemed unnecessary. Plus, many of the flashback scenes just seemed like filler. In addition, James Stewart was too old for the part--though at least Stewart was an accomplished pilot--which was a plus. Apparently my complaints about the film being too long, the story being WAAAY too sanitized and incomplete as well as the miscasting were seen as by the public as well in 1957--as the film was a box office failure. Not a bad film, mind you, but it had a lot of room to be better. It's amazing that it can be so long and yet so incomplete.