Spirit Of St. Louis (DVD)

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The flight itself seems to go on forever, but what else is there to do? It's mostly one guy alone in a small, cramped, claustrophobic space, with his only company for at least a part of the way being a fly. Not to take anything away from Lindbergh's heroic achievement, but I think the fly should have been nominated for something. It's also a shame that while the film was made in CinemaScope, about half of it is confined to the plane's tiny cabin.

Lindbergh's biggest dilemma on the flight was trying to stay awake. To a large extent, it's ours, too.

Video:
The movie boasts a new digital transfer made from restored picture elements. The screen size, originally a 2.40:1 ratio, stretches to a commendably wide 2.30:1 across my screen, enhanced for 16x9 televisions and transferred at a high bit rate. Still, the first thing you'll see in the opening shot is a gray sky and grain. The grain clears up pretty well in a moment or two, but in darker scenes one is always aware of its presence. Nevertheless, definition is good, colors are bright and natural when necessary, and age marks are almost entirely absent.

Audio:
The WB audio engineers remastered the soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1, and it is also very good for its age. There is a wide front-channel stereo spread; a few good rear-channel effects like wind, rain, and crowd noises; good dynamics; and at times a good deep bass. If I had to fault any part of the sound, it would be the upper midrange, which tends to be more than a tad piercing at times, especially if you set the volume too high.

Extras:
There are three primary bonus items on the disc. The first is a three-minute, black-and-white newsreel segment, "The Spirit of St. Louis" première at Hollywood's Egyptian Theater. The second is a nine-minute, black-and-white Joe McDoakes comedy short, "So Your Wife Wants to Work," from 1956. And the third is a six-minute Merrie Melodies, Speedy Gonzales cartoon, "Tabasco Road," complete with a new preface that warns viewers there may be objectionable stereotypes included. You can never be too cautious.

Things finish up with thirty-seven scene selections, but no chapter insert; a non-anamorphic widescreen theatrical trailer; English and French spoken languages; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Parting Shots:
There was a lot more to Lindbergh's life than his flight across the Atlantic, but the film spends its entire duration on that single event. It makes no mention of his other contributions to aviation, his World War II exploits, his politics, his books, or the tragic kidnapping and murder of his two-year-old son. I would commend the script for focusing so well on the one event if the movie didn't make it so long and drawn out. Yet with so much more to Lindbergh's life story, you'd have thought the two hours and fifteen minutes could have either encompassed a little more material or been cut down to a more-manageable length.

In any case, you can buy "The Spirit of St. Louis" individually or in the box set "James Stewart: The Signature Collection." There you will also find "The FBI Story," "The Naked Spur," "The Stratton Story," and a double-feature disc containing "The Cheyenne Social Club" and "Fire Creek."

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