1957 - THE SPIRIT OF ST LOUIS, an odd Billy Wilder film

Exactly what Jewish director Billy Wilder saw in famed aviator (and probably Nazi) Charles Lindbergh will probably forever remain a mystery.  In any case Wilder got Warner Brothers to shell out seven million dollars and hired James Stewart and actor in his 50's to play Lindbergh a man in his 20's. 

 The result was a box office disaster, Warner Brothers lost their money the public didn't come out and the critics focused on Stewart's age.  As it turned out nobody much remembered who Lindbergh was which probably didn't help the popularity of the movie.

This film on Lindbergh is somewhat of a miss.  Wilder brought his usual professionalism to the project but for some reason he just couldn't seem to get it to come together. Maybe watching a guy sit in a cockpit flying a plane was not the public's idea of exciting film making.  Not a bad film but not the classic about a questionable American hero that Wilder was aiming for.

 

The screenplay was as usual by Billy Wilder with help from Charles Lederer and Wendell Mayes. The film runs 135 minutes.