MBDiagMan
Final Approach
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?
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?
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