Today is the birthday of Charles Lindbergh. Up-up-and-away !!!!!
Wikipedia.org Article for Charles Lindbergh:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh
Learn about his amazing accomplishments in the world of aviation in this fantastic Billy Wilder film, The Spirit of St. Louis (1957).
Run Time: 135 mins
Genre: Drama, Historical, Biopic
Format: Widescreen Format, Color
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: James Stewart, Murray Hamilton, Patricia Smith and Bartlett Robinson
IMDB.com Entry for the film:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051003/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
Wikipedia.org Article for the film:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_St._Louis_(film)
Wikipedia.org Article for Jimmy Stewart:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Stewart
Wikipedia.org Article for Director Billy Wilder:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Wilder
Trailer for the film on YouTube:
Most of us reading this grew up in the time of the space race. It was a time when America and Russia started the race to the moon in the 50s-70s, but before that there was the trans-Atlantic race of the 1920s. That was when we were trying to bridge the gap across the Atlantic Ocean. It would be a trip via airplane from New York to Paris. Who would be the first person to ever cross the Atlantic Ocean via airplane? On Friday, May 20, 1927, a young upstart named Charles Lindbergh left Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York and successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a history-making flight. This film chronicles that journey and the young life that Lindbergh had leading up to that trip. It’s told by flashbacks and great narration by, the man, Jimmy Stewart, who plays Lindbergh perfectly, so much so, that Stewart was twice the age as Lindbergh was by that time, so along with a lot of make-up, Jimmy Stewart helps us learn a little bit more about history, with realism.
Wikipedia.org Article on the actual Spirit of St. Louis plane:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_of_St._Louis
This film is directed by the great Billy Wilder and he gives his magical touch to this film brilliantly. Wilder was a director way ahead of his time and you can see it in this film. The film has a grand scale to it. It comes across as a block-buster film, because Billy Wilder's style was to make it as real as possible. It is surprising and a great treat that they used a lot of real actual plane footage in this film …. with real planes. Being as it was 1957, it wouldn’t be surprising if they did cut back on the budget and went with cheaper effects, but not in this film. You see a lot of real-plane action and a lot with Stewart driving the damn thing, albeit on the ground. Wilder is eventually forced to do a lot of plane scenes with miniatures and effects, especially in the scenes over the Atlantic, but that would be expected.
Charles Lindbergh - From New York to Paris 1927 on YouTube:
Either way, it is an amazing film and one you should see. Most people think of Charles Lindbergh as the poor soul who lost his child to an evil kidnapper back in the 1930s. The famous Lindbergh Baby Scandal, also known as, the Crime of the Century, plagued him for the rest of his life and the sweetness of his amazing accomplishment was lost to him. Well, thanks to this film and the history books we can see what he did for the age of air transportation, for as we see in the film, the aviation industry was falling apart. People actually thought flying was a fad and that it would never “get off the ground” and Lindbergh needed to break this barrier in order to move our world into the next era. It was an amazing feat. - Philhttp://gowatchit.com/movies/the-spirit-of-st-louis-51379
Or check out TVGuide.com to see if this film is playing on TV/Cable in your area:
http://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-spirit-of-st-louis/118702/
Check back in tomorrow ......................
For our next Film of the Day .....................
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