Director's Series: Billy Wilder's THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS

After Billy Wilder Directed the film adaption of the Stage Play THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, he circled around re-uniting the Mark Brothers for a film tentatively entitled A DAY AT THE U.N. in 1956. When that project fell apart, he agreed to do a favor for his friend, Leland Hayward, who was producing his first film and Wilder directed the Charles Lindbergh BioPic, THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS.

And the results, predictably, is a by-the-numbers uninspired, but professionally shot film that does nothing GREAT but is not, by any means bad as well.

It is about as middle of the road as it gets.

Jimmy Stewart, an Air Force pilot in WWII, lobbied hard for the chance to play LIndbergh - even though he (at the age of 47) was 22 years older than the 25 year old Lindbergh when he made his famous solo flight across the Atlantic. But, to me, this did nothing to deter from the effectiveness of the picture and, as a matter of fact, HELPS things as the audience spends a good portion of the last hour of the film in the cockpit of the plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, alone with Lindbergh and it is good to have a warm, welcoming presence like Stewart in that cockpit.

Wilder does his usual, professional job in depicting the events leading up to (and during) Lindbergh’s solo cross-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris. But he doesn’t really give it any point of view. Gone is the signature Wilder cynicism but also absent is any gingoistic “yeah, rah-rah America” sentiment that could easily have been brought onto the screen.

The best thing about this film is the score by Franz Waxman (who had worked with Wilder before on such films as SUNSET BOULEVARD). It is a rousing, soaring score that helps pump life into a film that is so often uninspired and lifeless.

The film was a box office failure, but (as quite a few films of the time) found an audience - and an appreciation - later on in television reruns.

Not a bad film - but not a particular good one as well - Wilder checked a box on this one (and did a favor for a friend), but not much else with this film.

Letter Grade: B

7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)