Overview
A daring flight across the Atlantic challenges the limits of human courage and innovation.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- suspenseful
- methodical
- inspiring
- aviation history night
- classic film viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly admire the film's suspenseful aviation episodes, special effects, and James Stewart's performance, while finding its characterization of Lindbergh emotionally limited.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The story emphasizes Lindbergh's mail routes, aircraft design, factory work, financing, and flight preparations before the transatlantic attempt.
Lindbergh's airborne recollections connect his precarious mail-running past to the later transatlantic flight.
The production foregrounds the Spirit of St. Louis aircraft, aerial travel, crashes, and the scale of the New York-to-Paris route.
Lindbergh's feat is framed as an epochal American aviation achievement that transforms a private pilot into a public historical figure.
Films like The Spirit of St. Louis, and why
The Aviator
aviation history, pioneering flight, suspenseful preparation, and heroic biographical drama
Amelia
true-life aviation achievement, technical invention, and period adventure drama
Apollo 13
methodical historical storytelling, pioneering technology, and suspense built around a dangerous real-world mission
The Great Waldo Pepper
classic biographical adventure centered on an ambitious historical figure and a physically perilous undertaking
Movie Details
- Director
- Billy Wilder
- Release Date
- 1957-04-01
- Runtime
- 135 min
- Rating
- 6.7 / 10 (152)
Cast
- James Stewart
- Murray Hamilton
- Patricia Smith
- Bartlett Robinson
- Marc Connelly
- Arthur Space
- Charles Watts
- Erville Alderson
- Frances Allen
- David Alpert
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- YouTube TV
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Spirit of St. Louis about?
- James Stewart portrays Charles Lindbergh's painstaking preparation and perilous 1927 solo transatlantic flight in a suspenseful classic Hollywood aviation biography.
- What is The Spirit of St. Louis like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Spirit of St. Louis as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is The Spirit of St. Louis violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Spirit of St. Louis as mild.
- What did critics think of The Spirit of St. Louis?
- Critics broadly admire the film's suspenseful aviation episodes, special effects, and James Stewart's performance, while finding its characterization of Lindbergh emotionally limited.
- Which films are like The Spirit of St. Louis?
- Films with a similar feel include The Aviator, Amelia, Apollo 13, and The Great Waldo Pepper.
- How long is The Spirit of St. Louis?
- The Spirit of St. Louis runs 135 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Spirit of St. Louis?
- In United States, The Spirit of St. Louis streams on YouTube TV.
