Two years ago there was this fantastic movie depicting the life of Amelia Earhart so why not a good movie depicting the life on Lindbergh by the same director?
I don't know a lot about anything but I know a little about practically everything
Vincent Price
I half agree with you. I like Spirit of St. Louis, but I would love to see someone make a really good new movie about Lindbergh. I would envision a movie that treats the whole man. The flight over the Atlantic would be a big part of it of course. But so would his politics, his wife also being a pilot and aviator, the child's kidnapping, everything.
Sorry, but I don't want it to be by the same director as the Amelia movie. I liked that it was an old fashioned clean movie, and the actress had Earhart down pat. But sadly, I really didn't find it a very interesting movie. It struck me as kind of flat and lifeless. Just my opinion.
I really didn't find it a very interesting movie. It struck me as kind of flat and lifeless. Just my opinion.Well, we knew she dies in the end, so there's that. share
I agree that a movie telling the whole Lindbergh story would be welcome. We don't need another version of this film (simply recounting his 1927 flight) but one that would include that and other incidents in his life, including his less attractive sides -- his racism, anti-Semitism, isolationism and pro-Nazi sympathies.
Lindbergh was a remarkable if deeply flawed man and any film about his real life has the potential to be great. The Spirit of St. Louis is enjoyable as far as it goes but not for one moment do you believe James Stewart is anything other than James Stewart playing at being Charles Lindbergh. There is nothing of Lindy in Stewart's performance.
But I also agree that the people who made Amelia should not be the ones to do a new Lindbergh biopic. Hillary Swank was okay but the film was dull and also perpetuated the myth of Earhart as a brilliant flier and aviation pioneer. In fact, as an excellent PBS documentary some years ago showed, Earhart was not considered an especially skilled pilot and she accomplished little of true substance in the field. What she had were good PR instincts and a husband who knew how to manipulate her public image. Most of the truly daring, able and more experienced women pilots of the era held Earhart in low esteem, viewing her as more of a showboat than a true aviatrix. When examined dispassionately, her final flight was riddled with bad judgments and poor planning and betrayed a lack of technical abilities concerning the plane she was flying and its equipment. She was in way over her head.
Lindbergh, whatever else he was, was a superb flier and had an intuitive grasp of aviation and all its facets, all his life.
There's also the possibility that the kidnapping of his child was a cover for Charles' accidentally killing him. Fame and glory don't assure a charmed life.
What I had in mind was boxing the compass.share
Yeah, I've heard that. I'm not an admirer of Lindbergh (his '27 flight excepted), but I don't think any such thing happened. If a more complete film bio of him is ever made (doubtful) I hope they'll stick to what we know or can reasonably surmise, not far-out speculation.
shareI tend to agree with your skepticism, but it's yet another of "those" questions.
As for Amelia, I've read in several sources that not only was she not a very good pilot, but she seemed to have little understanding nor appreciation for radio communications. Still, I did like Hillary Duff's film about her, and appreciated that she also produced the film.
What I had in mind was boxing the compass.share
True. The fact is Lindbergh was a far more complex and fascinating individual than the kind of goofy, uninteresting character portrayed by Stewart in this film.
Just the kidnapping and its aftermath (the search for the kidnapper and Hauptmann's trial) and Lindbergh's flirtation with the Nazis, his racism and involvement with America First, would fill a film three times over. Add in things like his illegitimate German children, his strained relationship with his wife, his war service and his retreat into solitude and science in his last years would make for a fascinating biography.
Yes, I understand that among Earhart's problems was her lack of technical proficiency in radio and navigation. When you read the planning (if you could call it that) surrounding her final flight, especially what turned out to be the final leg of her flight -- the lack of adequate forethought, leaving so much concerning radio contact to vague chance, making a long flight over largely empty waters with the idea of landing on a tiny atoll easily missed by even the slightest navigational error -- it's just astounding that a supposedly experienced and capable pilot would consider this a safe and detailed plan.
I just found the Swank film flat -- too enamored of its subject of course, just another effort to make her a lost saint -- and dramatically simply bland and predictable. I also didn't get a real feel for its period.
Yes, a "The Aviator" treatment of Lindbergh would be fascinating and eye-opening. Just his German family could fill two hours.
I agree with the flatness of "Amelia", and not in the usual way it's discussed on these boards.
What I had in mind was boxing the compass.share
I heard that at one time Speilberg would make a Lindbergh bio.
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