The Spirit of St. Louis (film)
| The Spirit of St. Louis | |
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| Directed by | Billy Wilder |
| Produced by | Leland Hayward |
| Written by |
Charles Lederer Wendell Mayes Billy Wilder |
| Starring | James Stewart |
| Music by | Franz Waxman |
| Cinematography |
Robert Burks J. Peverell Marley |
| Edited by | Arthur P. Schmidt |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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135 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6 million (US) |
| Box office | $2.6 million (US) |
The Spirit of St. Louis is a 1957 biographical film in CinemaScope from Warner Bros., directed by Billy Wilder, that stars James Stewart as Charles Lindbergh. The screenplay was adapted by Charles Lederer, Wendell Mayes, and Billy Wilder from Lindbergh's 1953 autobiographical account of his historic flight, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1954.
Along with reminiscences of his early days in aviation, the film's storyline largely focuses on Lindbergh's lengthy preparation for and finally his history-making transatlantic flight in the purpose-built Spirit of St. Louis high-wing monoplane. His take off begins at Roosevelt Field and ends 33-hours later on May 21, 1927 when he lands safely at Le Bourget Field in Paris. The film ends with actual newsreel footage of Lindbergh's ticker tape parade in New York.
On May 19, 1927, after waiting for a week for the rain to stop, pilot Charles A. "Slim" Lindbergh (James Stewart) tries to rest in a hotel near Roosevelt Field on Long Island, New York, prior to a transatlantic flight from New York to Paris. His friend Frank Mahoney (Bartlett Robinson) guards his hotel room door from reporters. Unable to sleep, Lindbergh reminisces about his time as an airmail pilot.
Flying to Chicago in winter, Lindbergh lands his old de Havilland biplane in a small airfield to refuel. Despite the bad weather, he takes off, unaware the Chicago landing field has closed due to snow. After running out of fuel, Lindbergh bails out. Recovering mail from the crashed DH-4, he continues his journey by train and meets a suspender salesman who tells Lindbergh that two airmen just died competing for the Orteig Prize awarded to the first to fly nonstop from New York City to Paris.
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Wikipedia