Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Monday, August 14, 2006



Billy Wilder's Disastrous Flight

How do we explain the colossal failure of The Spirit Of St. Louis, Warner’s most resounding boxoffice defeat in its history as of 1957 (four million lost)? Elements were in place that would seemingly guarantee success --- Billy Wilder coming off a string of hits, James Stewart who could do no wrong, big studio backing for an adaptation of a 1953 best-seller by the most celebrated media figure of the twentieth century. Jack Warner spent the rest of his life wondering how such a foolproof package tanked so miserably. Participants offered up theories, and second-guessing was rife in the wake of those crippling losses. Wilder said he never got to explore the character properly, having been restrained against exercising some of his bolder creative impulses by an iron-clad contract with Lindbergh which forbade anything other than a straightforward dramatization of the flight itself and events depicted in his book. Casting may have been the first mistake. This was a picture that desperately needed the youth market to put it over. Instead, we got forty-six year-old (when production started in 1955) James Stewart playing twenty-five year old (when his historic flight took place) Charles Lindbergh. Jim would have been great doing this back in 1936, but not twenty years hence when age was starting to tell on him. Why not a younger man? Well, John Kerr was approached, but turned it down (thankfully). I’m not aware of others being considered, and that’s too bad because I think they might have had the right boy there on the lot, although I’m sure he was never for a moment seriously considered …








So why not Tab Hunter? He’d been OK in Battle Cry. The kids loved him. They may not have cared a damn about Charles Lindbergh, but they’d have gone to see Tab. A strong director like Wilder could have seen him through. It’s ironic that Hunter was pressed into service for a nationwide tour on the movie's behalf --- an eleventh-hour desperate measure after the company discovered few patrons were even aware of who Lindbergh was. Here’s Tab making the rounds for The Spirit Of St. Louis --- accepting plaques and yakking it up on radio with Hit Paraders. A hard sell with hidebound establishment merchandise like Spirit --- even Tab couldn’t get the teens interested, despite fervent entreaties --- I had an overwhelming feeling that every American who belongs to this generation --- my generation --- should see the picture. I know what "The Spirit Of St. Louis" did to me, and for me. Because I’m one of them, I can get the word to young Americans, and I’ll be doing them a favor. Tab confessed in his recent (excellent) memoir that he scarcely enjoyed the junket, but did at least wangle an open-ended round-trip fare to Europe from Jack Warner for having postponed the vacation he’d intended to take there before studio duty called.



When you think about it, selling Charles Lindbergh to a 1957 audience would be about like trying to get a Neil Armstrong walk-on-the-moon story off the ground, as it were, today. Well, who remembers Armstrong now? Might as well ask kids to go see a biopic about George Arliss. It had been thirty years since the New York to Paris flight. For pity’s sake, Natalie Wood hadn’t even been born yet, let alone Elvis (by the way, here’s Nat with James Stewart at the Hollywood premiere). If you’re going to watch Stewart fly airplanes, why not jets, like in Strategic Air Command? --- and by the way, where’s June Allyson? As Carl Denham said --- if this picture had romance, it would gross twice as much. Wilder actually had some pretty interesting ideas along those lines, but was afraid to even mention them to the remote and aristocratic Lindbergh. Meanwhile, there was seven million getting spent on the production (including a million plus recreation of the plane) and a general release delayed until April 1957, over two years after lift-off. That Hollywood premiere at the Egyptian (shown here) was star-studded in the extreme, but they were mostly old guard Bel-Air types hopelessly out of touch with a late fifties marketplace (Jeanette MacDonald?). Lindbergh was a no-show, his pact with Warners having assured him that no personal appearances would be required. Stewart posed with pre-war stalwarts Clark Gable, Gary Cooper
, and others, reinforcing the image of The Spirit Of St. Louis as a movie about old planes and old men flying them.





Warners went for nostalgia with its campaign --- the Roaring Twenties were back again! Flagpole sitters, "It" girls, Stutz Bearcats --- none of which had anything to do with this particular movie. The usual mindless ballys came into play (free simulated cock-pit flying lessons in the lobby, as shown here --- anyone?). Do you suppose Miss "Spirit Of St. Louis" is still out there someplace? If so, we’d love to hear from her. Those stewardess contestants look like so many Warner contract hopefuls. You think they might have thrown in Mamie Van Doren as a ringer? I particularly like the proviso about the "Lucky Lindbergh Coin". You got in free with one, but had to surrender it until after the engagement lest you be tempted to use it again or share your bounty with a friend. Didn’t those Warner brothers trust anybody? An Ed Sullivan broadcast of cropped, black-and-white highlights got Wilder plenty hot under the collar (it needn’t have, for that’s how a lot of us saw the feature on television for years afterward). The newly restored DVD of The Spirit Of St. Louis is a great movie reborn, however. You can really appreciate all the things they got right, despite the miscasting of Stewart (and mind you, he’s good, but damnit, the man was just too… well, I said that). I’d forgotten that it’s over an hour before the plane even takes off. If you lay all the flashbacks and expository stuff end to end, the flight itself really isn’t all that long. We know, of course, that he’s going to make it (1957 teen viewers may not have been so certain, assuming there were any teen viewers in 1957), but suspense is still maintained, particularly when Jim nods off at the controls due to ongoing sleep deprivation. Some of that comedy stuff arising from Lindbergh’s "youthful" exploits could have been trimmed, but no doubt pressure was brought to bear on Wilder to lighten it up where he could. The director was unduly hard on himself when he characterized The Spirit Of St. Louis as a failure. Commercially, yes (in spades), but it’s still a fine movie for all of that, and perhaps on DVD, it will finally get the audience it deserves.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Given the often insane and wholly fictitious lore surrounding this actor, I feel reluctant to even mention this, but I had always heard that Lindy had tentatively approved James Dean as casting for the role before that crash on Sept. 30, 1955.

Now, as far as I know, Wilder was already shooting effects footage with Stewart by then -- and it's also generally known that Dean's next picture was scheduled to be SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME for MGM.

But I can't think of another young actor of the period who could possibly have both convincingly played Lindbergh and carried a big picture on his shoulders. It's at least an interesting thought...

1:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I went to see "St. Louis" at the fabulous old Alhambra Theater in Sacramento when it opened in 1957. it was a Friday night and I expected a throng. I believe there were about 50 people in the large theater. I'm still trying to figure it out. As for Tab Hunter, after the fact it doens't seem such a bad idea. I would have gone in spite of him and I suspect that a vast number of teens would have also attended. Ans speaking of Stewart: In my World Film History classes at Ball State, he was the only major plyer from the Golden Age that my students liked. I could show ANYTHING with Stewart and they would like it. Even ROPE !

9:18 AM  
Blogger Dave said...

Well, I don't know about teens in 1957, but I do know that sometime in the mid to late 60s, "Spirit" showed on the Million Dollar Movie on Channel 9 in Los Angeles (when they used to show the same picture all week), and I watched it at least three times and even more when they ran it all day Saturday and Sunday. It's not a great picture, by any means, but I still find it a damn entertaining one.

6:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

As an interesting side note: Stewart's father apparently campaigned heavily for Jimmy getting the role, much to his son's embarrassment.

I can see the age issue, but personally, I'm glad Stewart played Lindbergh because he he just seems to deserve it. Fascinated by flying very early on, he even drew an elaborate chart of Lindbergh's flight at the time.

6:43 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024