The Spirit of St. Louis in HD!!!!

[MBDiagMan]

I saw "The Spirit of St. Louis" movie for the first time at the theater as an 8 year old in 1957. I was ABSOLUTELY fascinated by the movie and read what I could find about Charles Lindburgh, but did not come across his Pulitzer selling book until last year. What a read!

I saw the movie the second time on the TV late movie ca. 1963. Enjoyed the heck out of it, but it was on the tiny little black and white set.

The third time was in the eighties on cable TV, in color on a little larger set but still very low resolution.

Since then I have seen the movie a number of times, and even on a nice high resolution TV in recent years, but not in HD.

THIS weekend, I DVR'd the movie in HD. It was almost the same thrill as seeing it for the first time as a child. I saw things that I didn't know were in the movie:


In the HD version I could clearly see the plane at a distance coming into Lambert field and he was doing a forward slip and then straightened out for the landing while only a few feet above the field. The Spirit had no flaps.

I could clearly read the gauges on the panel in several scenes and paused to examine. In an early scene the altimeter was a gauge that was marked zero through 20 in a counterclockwise direction. This was in a full panel shot. In later shots they showed what I consider a conventional altimeter, gauge only.

There were some pictures on the wall in Louie's Shack that I think were historic and significant. One of them was Robertson's Flying Service or something like that. This was the outfit for which Lindbergh was the Chief Pilot flying air mail and were on the field where Louie's Shack was located.

The details of the Ryan factory and office were really unbelievable for a movie set. They went to alot of trouble to have things as detailed looking as possible.

Somehow the scenes in Levines office made him appear as much of a prick that Levine really was.


The movie when made was considered as a flop, but I am pleased to see the movie carry a Five Star rating in today's movie world.

I was told many years ago that a reproduction of the Spirit was built for the movie. I THINK this is the one that hangs in the St. Louis airport.


Are there any other fans of this movie here?

 

[Arbiter419]

This is the James Stewart one, correct? I love this movie! My parents got it for me when I was 7 or 8 on VHS...watched that until it was broken or lost, or something. I watched it a lot. My mom actually found it on DVD for me last Christmas! Such a great movie.

 

[MBDiagMan]

Yes, the Jimmy Stewart movie. I think there was one done in the late thirties, but I've never seen it.

Being a pilot himself, Jimmy Stewart found out about the movie and was absolutely bent on getting the part in spite of the fact that he was 20 years older than Lindbergh at the time of the flight.

Jimmy Stewart was known for being great to work with on the set, but there were plenty of reports that he was really difficult during the filming of this movie because of his self conscious feeling about being too old for the part.

When I saw that movie the first time, I was not only introduced to The Spirit and Lindbergh, but also to Jimmy Stewart and have been a big fan ever since.

 

[Arbiter419]

Yup, definitely one of my favorites. Interesting stuff here.

 

[Anthony]

Great movie. There are many great scenes but the one that stands out in my mind is when Stewart walks back into the hangar just after the flight to Paris, and touches the now somewhat tattered Spirit.

Jimmy knew airplanes, and it came through in that scene.

 

[MBDiagMan]

Great movie. There are many great scenes but the one that stands out in my mind is when Stewart walks back into the hangar just after the flight to Paris, and touches the now somewhat tattered Spirit.

Jimmy knew airplanes, and it came through in that scene.

Yes, and I wonder how many people, even on this forum, know that Jimmy Stewart in real life was US Air Force Reserve, GENERAL Stewart?

He was also great in Strategic Air Command.

 

[steingar]

The Spirit of St. Louis is one of the finest airplane-centric movies ever made.

 

[MickYoumans]

I really like this movie too. I know I watched it recently on streaming Netflix, but I just did a search and it didn't turn up. Maybe they will add it back to the lineup again in the near future.

 

[markb5900]

Mr. Lindbergh was actually an adviser on the film when it was made.
That being said, it is a GREAT film and I have to think it was probably as realistic as it could possibly be about his flight.
As for Mr. Stewart, he flew more than one mission as a combat pilot over Germany during the war.

Both great men, that achieved great things.

 

[MBDiagMan]

Mr. Lindbergh was actually an adviser on the film when it was made.
That being said, it is a GREAT film and I have to think it was probably as realistic as it could possibly be about his flight.
As for Mr. Stewart, he flew more than one mission as a combat pilot over Germany during the war.

Both great men, that achieved great things.

Yes, the movie was reasonably close but was indeed "Hollywooded."

Reading Charles Lindbergh's book by the same name you find some discrepancies:

His motorcycle was an Excelsior, not a Harley-Davidson. Maybe the studio got some Harley payola for that one.

There was no big deal at all about the mirror. Someone just gave it to them and that was it.

Levine jacked around Lindbergh like crazy, but nothing like portrayed in the movie. He had ONE Bellanca and thought that it was the only airplane capable of flying the Atlantic. He was a very indecisive person and had all sorts of problems picking a pilot, thus didn't get off the ground before Lindbergh. He was only like 25 or so, and although greedy and had just taken control of Columbia Aircraft, was in over his head as an executive.

The Jenny that Lindbergh bought was put together for him with a new engine and he had to wait five days for it to be completed. He had not yet solo'd as depicted, but after doing some fast taxiing with everyone watching, an experienced pilot who was killing time at the field gave Lindbergh some flight instruction.

After he solo'd the plane, he headed West with the idea that he would learn to fly as he found some barnstorming gigs. Before too long he actually was spinning the airplane to see how many times it would spin from a particular altitude.

TRIVIA QUESTION:

Does anyone know what record Lindbergh holds to this day which is shared with only two other people? Hint: The word Caterpillar is involved.

 

[kclimie]

TRIVIA QUESTION:

Does anyone know what record Lindbergh holds to this day which is shared with only two other people? Hint: The word Caterpillar is involved.

He was a member of the "Caterpillar Club" for having successfully made an emergency parachute jump -- he did it four times.

 

[MBDiagMan]

kclimie wins the prize!

Only two other people have actually had their lives saved with a parachute four times. One was a Vietnam War pilot and the other was a Vietnam War Weopons Officer.

 

[maddog52]

I was told many years ago that a reproduction of the Spirit was built for the movie. I THINK this is the one that hangs in the St. Louis airport.


Are there any other fans of this movie here?

My Dad and Uncle helped build two reproductions for the movie. Neither had the big center fuel tank. One had a windshield on the left for air borne shots from the right and one had a windscreen on the right for shots from the left. I hink both were converted back to the normal blind configuration for display. It is a great movie with a great actor as lead.

 

[tonycondon]

There were some pictures on the wall in Louie's Shack that I think were historic and significant. One of them was Robertson's Flying Service or something like that. This was the outfit for which Lindbergh was the Chief Pilot flying email and were on the field where Louie's Shack was located.

oh really?

i haven't seen the movie since i was a kid but i did enjoy it then and that was before i was airplane crazy.

 

[rottydaddy]

Anybody who liked that flick should read the book also, if they haven't.
But I love the movie- think about it, they managed to make a successful feature film out of a story that's basically a guy sitting in a cockpit with no windshield for over 30 hours. Not bad.

A standout scene for me is when they show him flying the mail. He lands an SE5 (or was it a Jenny?)in near-zero winter conditions, in some tiny field.
The shot when the plane emerges from the mist and lands is pure old-school Hollywood magic... a tour de force of "real" theatrical special effects. There's a lot of excellent real flying footage, like the re-creation of the harrowing takeoff from Long Island, but that other scene still blows me away.

 

[MBDiagMan]

oh really?

i haven't seen the movie since i was a kid but i did enjoy it then and that was before i was airplane crazy.

LOL! Thanks for pointing this out. I guess the word email is hopelessly ingrained in my vernacular these days.LOL!

 

[MBDiagMan]

Anybody who liked that flick should read the book also, if they haven't.
But I love the movie- think about it, they managed to make a successful feature film out of a story that's basically a guy sitting in a cockpit with no windshield for over 30 hours. Not bad.

A standout scene for me is when they show him flying the mail. He lands an SE5 (or was it a Jenny?)in near-zero winter conditions, in some tiny field.
The shot when the plane emerges from the mist and lands is pure old-school Hollywood magic... a tour de force of "real" theatrical special effects. There's a lot of excellent real flying footage, like the re-creation of the harrowing takeoff from Long Island, but that other scene still blows me away.

Yeah, that was definitely some Hollywood there! Flying a zero/zero approach would have been quite a trick in a plane without an electrical system into a field with kerosene lanterns for runway markers!

 

[MBDiagMan]

My Dad and Uncle helped build two reproductions for the movie. Neither had the big center fuel tank. One had a windshield on the left for air borne shots from the right and one had a windscreen on the right for shots from the left. I hink both were converted back to the normal blind configuration for display. It is a great movie with a great actor as lead.

Very interesting maddog. Thanks for posting this. Where did they build the planes and is that one of them hanging in the St. Louis airport?

 

[maddog52]

Very interesting maddog. Thanks for posting this. Where did they build the planes and is that one of them hanging in the St. Louis airport?

somewhere in SOCAL. Could have been TallMantz. They were airport kids hung got to do some pretty amazing stuff. I'll talk with Dad and see if he knows where the aircraft ended up.

 

[hopmedic]

There were some pictures on the wall in Louie's Shack that I think were historic and significant. One of them was Robertson's Flying Service or something like that. This was the outfit for which Lindbergh was the Chief Pilot flying email and were on the field where Louie's Shack was located.

oh really?

That was back in the day before Al Gore invented the internet. Email was slower than snail mail back then. Thank God they came up with a better way of transmitting it.

 

[rottydaddy]

Yeah, that was definitely some Hollywood there! Flying a zero/zero approach would have been quite a trick in a plane without an electrical system into a field with kerosene lanterns for runway markers!

Yeah, SOP back then was to bail out if you wound up stuck on top. If possible, they'd circle first until the fuel ran out, so the mail wouldn't burn in the wreckage.