Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A Leland Hayward/Billy Wilder Production. Copyright 1957 by Warner Bros Pictures. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 21 February 1957. U.S. release: 20 April 1957. U.K. release: 11 August 1957. Australian release: 31 October 1957. 12,138 feet. 134 dreary minutes.SYNOPSIS: The story is Charles A. Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. As an airmail pilot Lindbergh (Stewart) becomes aware of the possibility of a successful journey across the Atlantic. He struggles to find backers for his project. He finally gets a group of St Louis business men to promote the trip and a single-engine monoplane is built and then named by the backers, "The Spirit of St Louis". NOTES: Negative cost: $6 million. Initial worldwide rentals gross: just over $4 million. Almost all of this money was earned in the domestic market, making it one of the top 25 box-office attractions in the U.S.A./Canada for 1957. The film lost at least $2 million dollars world-wide when you include advertising and release costs.Louis Lichtenfield was nominated for an Academy Award for his Visual Effects, losing to the only other nominee, The Enemy Below.Filmed on location at Santa Monica Airport, Long Island, Manhattan, Guyancourt, near Versailles, and (aerial scenes) along the Great Circle flight-line, August 1955-March 1956.VIEWERS' GUIDE: A sure-fire deterrent for kids who might be tempted to misbehave. "Johnny, you start just one more fight with little Virgil and I'll make you watch The Spirit of St Louis all the way through."COMMENT: It's a sad but inevitable fact of life that yesterday's super-heroes are today's forgotten men and women. Idols usually do not span generations. There are many reasons for this, but I guess the principal ones are that the new generation is naturally suspicious of the values of the old and - at the other end of the scale - that historical accomplishments have no elements of suspense. We know Lindy is going to successfully overcome all sorts of obstacles to get his plane ready and then accomplish the mission. So I'm not surprised the picture failed at the box-office. I'm not saddened either, because in a way it deserved its fate. The picture is made in a very craftsmanlike fashion - and on a spectacular budget too - but for the most part it's very stolidly and unimaginatively put together. The take-off sequence is inventively and suspensefully cut, but why wasn't the whole film? It could have come in at a third the length and given us as much information, but three times the thrillsWhile Wilder is to be commended for not throwing in a spurious love interest, the net result is to focus all the film's attention on James Stewart. If you're a Stewart fan, fine. He's in just about every frame. All the other players have miniscule roles.Director Wilder fans, however, are advised to avoid this plodding Spirit. There is precious little wit and no incisive social comment here.OTHER VIEWS: With eight box-office hits in a row behind him, it seemed unlikely that-James Stewart would give Warner Brothers what Jack L. Warner a few years later called "the most disastrous failure we ever had". - Allen Eyles in James Stewart.

After reading some of the negative reviews, here comes one that will hopefully shed light or settle some issues.Yes, Stewart was a bit old for the part, but he was very interested in it, was a famous aviator, and was thus qualified to pull it off (he also was the right height and build, and made this film at the peak of his popularity).Yes, the story was told in a somewhat bland manner. Us aviation geeks enjoyed it the most, but there is much to enjoy and learn from watching this film. The cinematography is very well done, and it's not just "a single camera pointing straight ahead." Many viewers tend to miss the subtleties of what they see, or even forget many of them between watching the film and writing a review.No, Lindbergh was NOT married at the time he crossed the Atlantic, and thus there is no wife to include in the story. People need to check the facts.Yes, Lindbergh was a controversial figure in history over time, specifically, AFTER the flight. This movie had no intention of addressing that aspect of his life, it was not on the agenda, and the complaints about his questionable patriotism are not applicable to the making of this film, and sharing this story and history-making event.Lindbergh made history, and further still, contributed significantly to the advancement of aviation all over the world for many decades to come. That's important, and pertinent to this film.

Billy Wilder's biopic "The Spirit of St. Louis" (1957) about the historic transatlantic flight by Charles Lindbergh from New York to Paris in 1927 is not among the director's most well-known or highly evaluated films. Back in the day, it was a box office failure and many critics were not pleased. In the course of time, however, the film's reputation has experienced a slight increase, though one can hardly talk of a sleeper, and especially the performance of James Stewart has come to be seen in a different light. Even as a weaker film of its director, "The Spirit of St. Louis" still holds up well, and stands strong as a portrayal of a man, an era, and the power of the spirit. The film follows the months leading to Charles Lindbergh's flight over the Atlantic as he recalls them in his bed unable to sleep before the big day. This frame of narrative is important in establishing the use of the flashback sequence as a narrative device for the second half of the film which focuses on the long and lonely flight itself. During the second half, the spectator follows the protagonist's physical and emotional struggle, his thoughts and memories through the ordeal both public and private. Apart from the flashbacks, the only pieces of dialogue are exchanged between Lindbergh and a fly in the plane. As a consequence, one might call the film boring when having to watch a man in a small plane for an hour or so. To this I would reply that it might be boring if it was any man, but not if it is James Stewart who plays Lindbergh in the film. It is indeed Stewart's performance -- although playing a character much younger than he was at the time -- which elevates the film. There is something absurdly realistic about his performance, his enduring boyishness. Stewart considered this as one of his favorite roles and he, as a former pilot himself, identified strongly with the character of Charles Lindbergh. It seems to me that this character may trigger another complaint since he is presented to us as an all American man without dark secrets or perversions, thus possibly making for poor drama. I would, once again, disagree and point out that in simply giving the character to us, Wilder does make him interesting. The viewer follows the development of the protagonist's determination, his obsession if you will, to try the transatlantic flight. He is lonely in this passion of his which, on the one hand, isolates him but, on the other, grants him immortality. A major challenge for the film -- any historical film, I suppose -- is to recreate the historical circumstances in which a sense of wonder and importance could be attached to this kind of an event which now might seem trivial to some. Wilder manages to establish the magic of flight, the feeling of awe before a historical event taking place in front of our eyes. An integral role in this task is played by the narrative. It is of paramount importance that the film doesn't show Lindbergh as an older man, retelling his legendary experience; instead a sense of time is created by a flashback structure, but the present doesn't exceed the main event itself, and thus the viewer is held in suspense in the diegetic world despite knowing the facts of history in the other world. Typically for the director, the film relies heavily on the screenplay, and it is very well structured indeed. The protagonist's experience is associated with ordinary characters, making the event even more universal in its human meaning. It is, after all and above all, a miraculous tale of magic and wonder, a piece of cinema celebrating the power of the human spirit.

"The Spirit of St. Louis" is an entertaining gripping film of Charles Lindbergh and the first transatlantic flight from New York to Paris in May 1927. The film directed by the talented Billy Wilder is quite good, from impressive aerial cinematography to James Stewart in one of his best acting performances. The "Spirit of St. Louis" funded by businessmen from St. Louis, and designed in large part by Lindbergh, propels him through extraordinary moments and some close calls documented in the 33 1/2 hours of his famous flight. Once Lindbergh departs from New York, the audience is whisked up in the air and is treated to colorful scenes of his early beginnings as he reminisces on board the plane. The flashbacks showcase Lindbergh's experiences and provides the viewer an insight into his love affair with aviation. The last few hours of Lindbergh's flight are intense. Not only does the film document when the "Spirit of St. Louis" begins to accumulate ice on its wings, but portrays the incredible toll on Lindbergh of sheer exhaustion as he desperately fights from falling asleep. The film culminates with his famous landing to Le Bourget Field outside of Paris greeted by cheering crowds of thousands, followed by a hero's welcome in America woven with footage of the real event. The magnitude of Lindbergh's heroism and historic flight are beautifully captured in this movie. The way this film is shot, along with Jimmy Stewart's natural reactions and incredible performance as he narrates Lindbergh's thoughts, makes this journey a flight not to be missed!