Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Connianatu How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

grantss Charles Lindbergh's historic, epic solo trans-Atlantic flight in 1927, the first ever solo crossing of the Atlantic in an airplane. We see how Lindbergh set about organising financiers for his flight, purchasing, designing and building the plane, test flights, (through news on other fliers) the potential fates awaiting him and the flight itself, especially the hardships he had to endure and how he overcame them. We also see, though flashbacks, his earlier life - how he learnt to fly and his first few jobs in aviation.Despite being directed by master-director Billy Wilder and starring the great James Stewart, I did not have high hopes for this movie. It seemed like a fairly dry subject and could easily have degenerated into a paint-by-numbers historical drama. However, Wilder makes it interesting, through the flashbacks and, especially, hearing Lindbergh's thoughts. The thoughts show the genius of the man - how he approached problems, his endurance and his resourcefulness. Wilder does a good job at showing the hardships Lindbergh had to go through and how easily he could have failed. Shows well just what an heroic feat it was. Good work from Jimmy Stewart as Lindbergh. At the time he was about 23 years older than his character but it doesn't really show. Interesting, entertaining dramatisation of a very historic event.

moonspinner55 A mail-run pilot gets help financing the construction of a plane to cross the Atlantic from New York to Paris in 1927--with he himself alone at the controls. Director Billy Wilder, who also co-adapted Charles Lindbergh's memoir with Wendell Mayes and Charles Lederer, isn't quite able to work his customary high-toned humor into these proceedings, but his adroit pacing is certainly in evidence. James Stewart carries off the leading role without a hitch, and the final moments are surprisingly emotional. Not a dashing, robust picture, but an earthy, squirrelly film about human endurance and, indeed, spirit. There's a beautiful, seemingly throwaway moment with Stewart flying over Ireland and scaring the sheep, the shadow of the plane on the ground below as seen from Lindbergh's window. Technical details such as this make a tangible connection with audiences; one leaves the picture feeling uniquely satisfied. Supporting cast is workman-like; Stewart and the plane are the drawing cards. *** from ****

ma-cortes Overlong though exciting story behind the story of Lindbergh's incredible flight from New York to Paris. It deals Charles 'Slim' Lindbergh (excellently performed by James Stewart , he always wanted to portray him , when he ultimately got his chance is very old for a young role ; he was given this character after John Kerr had turned it down, owing to his disapproval of Lindbergh's pro-Nazi sympathies and his racist and anti-Semitic views) struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his New York to Paris flight the first solo transatlantic crossing . As a 25-year-old U.S. Air Mail pilot, Lindbergh (Charles wanted Anthony Perkins to play him in the movie) emerged suddenly from virtual obscurity to instantaneous world fame as the result of his Orteig Prize-winning solo nonstop flight on May 20–21, 1927, made from the Roosevelt Field in Garden City on New York's Long Island to Le Bourget Field in Paris, France, a distance of nearly 3,600 statute miles or 5,800 km , in the single-seat, single-engine purpose-built Ryan monoplane Spirit of St. Louis . As a result of this flight, Lindbergh was the first person in history to be in New York one day and Paris the next.Interesting picture with plenty of thrills , emotion , biographic elements and brief touches of humor . The film is pretty well though the action does drag at times and results to be overlong . Magnificent acting by James Stewart -at age 48- who gives a real Tour De Force back by good plethora of secondaries . However , many critics felt he was too old to be believable . In fact , producer Jack L. Warner was strongly opposed to the casting of James Stewart, which he believed caused the film to flop on its release in 1957 . Colorful and evocative cinematography in CinemaScope by two awesome cameramen Peverel Marley and Robert Burks , Hitchcock's ordinary . Impressive and thrilling musical score by Franz Waxman . However , the soundtrack was re-composed but composer Franz Waxman was no longer available so veteran film composer Roy Webb was hired along with Warner Brothers Music Director Ray Heindorf to come up with new cues based on Waxman's original material . The motion picture was compellingly directed by Billy Wilder , but it was a box office flop when originally released . After the film received bad notices from preview audiences, it was extensively re-edited with some new footage shot . Rating : Above average , this one remains a quality movie for the whole family . This exciting and inventive picture well well based on true events , these are the followings : Six well-known aviators had already lost their lives in pursuit of the Orteig Prize when Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field on his successful attempt in the early morning of Friday, May 20, 1927. Burdened by its heavy load of 450 U.S. gallons of gasoline weighing about 1,230 kg, and hampered by a muddy, rain-soaked runway, Lindbergh's Wright Whirlwind-powered monoplane gained speed very slowly as it made its 7:52 am takeoff run, but its J-5C radial engine still proved powerful enough to allow the Spirit to clear the telephone lines at the far end of the field "by about twenty feet or six meters with a fair reserve of flying speed". Over the next 33.5 hours, he and the Spirit faced many challenges, including skimming over both storm clouds at 10,000 ft , 3,000 m, and wave tops at as low at 10 ft (3.0 m), fighting icing, flying blind through fog for several hours, and navigating only by the stars , whenever visible , and dead reckoning before landing at Le Bourget Airport at 10:22 pm (22:22) on Saturday, May 21. The airfield was not marked on his map and Lindbergh knew only that it was some seven miles northeast of the city. He initially mistook the airfield for some large industrial complex with bright lights spreading out in all directions. The lights were, in fact, the headlights of tens of thousands of cars all driven by eager spectators now caught in "the largest traffic jam in Parisian history " . A crowd estimated at 150,000 spectators stormed the field, dragged Lindbergh out of the cockpit, and literally carried him around above their heads for "nearly half an hour".

jimbennett007 This movie was made in the 50's and it is really fun to watch. My mom must have really liked Jimmy Stewart as she found it necessary to name me after him. James Stewart Bennett Sr. :) I have enjoyed all of his work that I have seen to date. I wish I had been able to meet him before he passed, but it wasn't in the cards.Jimmy Stewart was a class act right to the end.I was honored to be able to see the actual "Spirit of St. Louis" hanging in the Smithsonian in Washington DC many years ago. Very cool.