The Spirit of St. Louis

The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) is Billy Wilder's biographical adventure drama you can watch online on iFILM. James Stewart plays Charles Lindbergh, the young aviator who set out to fly solo from New York to Paris — 3,600 miles over open ocean — without a co-pilot, without radio contact, and without anyone who thought he could pull it off.

The film follows both the preparation and the flight itself. Lindbergh designed the plane, talked sponsors into funding it through sheer persistence, and lifted off on 20 May 1927. Wilder drew on Lindbergh's own memoir to stage most of the film inside the cramped cockpit: 33.5 hours alone over the Atlantic, fighting exhaustion and fog with nothing but the engine noise for company. Stewart was nearly twenty years older than Lindbergh was at the time of the crossing, but the performance carries a quiet stubbornness that fits the man perfectly. The picture won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects. Watch The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) online on iFILM.