Spirit of St. Louis (1957)

James Stewart was really too old in 1957 to reenact Charles Lindbergh’s historic 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic in this movie, but he had no lack of enthusiasm for his role as Lindbergh. Billy Wilder directs this largely engrossing account of Lindbergh’s deed, and comes up with some inventive ways (not all of them successful) of dramatizing the pilot’s dangerous journey to Paris, which lasted 33-1/2 hours. Stewart is very good in the role, bringing his advanced technique from the extraordinary number of great films he made with brilliant directors (Hitchcock, Anthony Mann) in the 1950s.

1957, 135 minutes