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Biography - Amelia Earhart (A&E DVD Archives)

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This is an excellent look at the life of the legendary Amelia Earhart. It does not dwell on her disappearance, as it gives equal attention to every part of her life. It is also an honest and fair look at the woman behind the myth; it points out the fact that she was not really the most talented female flier of her era, that she had a number of accidents and had a tendency to cut corners, and it lists many of the bad decisions she made in pursuit of her ill-fated flight around the globe. It also provides an objective look at her marriage to G.P. Putnam, a marriage of convenience that may have grown into something more with a man widely despised by other female fliers as a pushy promoter who lived on the glory of someone else.

There's good information on her childhood, including several clips from a 1987 interview with her sister, and how her somewhat troubled family life helped make her the rebel she became. Accounts of her early flying days, perhaps inspired by her World War I nursing duties taking care of war pilots in Toronto, are especially interesting, as we learn that there were other talented female fliers pursuing their own dreams at the same time. Elinor Smith, one of those pilots who is interviewed here, is an incredibly engaging woman I would like to know more about. The documentary then recounts some of Earhart's more important milestones, starting with her first flight across the Atlantic - this flight aboard the Freedom Flight made her famous and brought her together with G.P. Putnam for the first time, but she really didn't do anything on the journey except take care of the log while two men flew and navigated. A few years later, she did become the first woman to cross the Atlantic on a solo flight, touching down in a cow pasture in Ireland after suffering some mechanical problems. A little later, she became the first pilot (male or female) to cross the Pacific.

Amelia needed money in order to keep flying, and husband G.P. Putnam kept her busy doing promotional and other marketing gigs, leaving her little time to actually fly and wearing her out as she raised the money for her final exploit. Her attempt to become the first pilot to fly around the world following the equator was not without its harbingers of doom. Her plane crashed on landing in Hawaii, for example, and she had to start again after repairs were completed. By this time, she had only one of her three crewmen still with her - Fred Noonan. The pair would make it three-fourths of the way around the globe before disappearing into legend somewhere in the Pacific. This documentary briefly mentions some of the conspiracy theories that surround the mystery, but it spends more time detailing the mistakes that could have been averted. Neither Earhart nor Noonan excelled at navigation, the plane flew without a trailing wire antenna and its Morse code key (neither Earhart nor Noonan even knew how to transmit in Morse code), and Amelia's countless hours in the cockpit had already made her so sick that her husband recommended she abort the final two legs of the flight.

As one of Amelia's cousins says, though, Earhart should be remembered for all the daring things she accomplished, not for the mystery of her disappearance. She was one of the most famous, most engaging women of the 20th century, and I have to say that this A&E Biography treatment of her helps remind us of the qualities that made her such a larger-than-life personality.

This is one of the better programs in the A&E Biography series. It compares favorably with the American Experience episode on Earhart, using much of the same newsreel footage and interviewing many of the same experts. Recommended.

Aside from the spoofish Spanky and our Gang LIVE album track, "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight," and the obvious facts (the tomboyish aviatrix's plane vanished in the South Pacific), my knowledge of this early feminist was scant. A fast-moving and most interesting one-hour A&E BIOGRAPHY episode bearing her name has filled in a lot of gray for me.

Things I didn't know:

She was the daughter of Samuel 'Edwin' Stanton Earhart and Amelia 'Amy' Otis Earhart. Her father was an attorney, unemployable because of alcoholism.

In Jan. '35, Amelia was the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California, a trip that took 18 hours.

Because of a physical resemblance to Charles Lindbergh, the press dubbed her "Lady Lindy," a sobriquet Earhart disdained.

Her promotion of a fledgling airline gave it enough momentum to succeed. This company eventually became TWA.

Miss Earhart wasn't a very good pilot, and in fact had many accidents.

She could barely operate a radio and didn't know Morse Code.

She was married to an older man who had promoted her for many years.

Earhart spent countless hours raising money for upcoming flights, as she and husband George Putnam were not wealthy people.

After an exhilarating night flight with Miss Earhart, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt got the aviation bug, but FDR refused to let her take flying lessons. Amelia was a frequent White House guest of the Roosevelts.

She designed her own wardrobe.

Her final flight began with a crash landing in Honolulu, HI. The two-engine Electra was rebuilt for about 30K and her around-the-world at the equator trip began anew some 4 months later, this time in the opposite direction and from Miami, FL.

Amelia was not alone on this flight into history. A crew of four was whttled down to her and navigator Fred Noonan.

Earhart and Noonan were officially declared dead 18 months after their disappearance on July 2, 1937.

AS a retired airline pilot and history buff I really enjoyed seeing the actual footage of her and her airplane. I just attended a lecture by archeologist Thomas F. King. He co-wrote "Amelia Earhart's Shoes". He is fairly certain that Amelia and Fred died on an island south of Howland. If you like this DVD the book will put an ending to the story.

Because it was hot outside on the day I was visiting Washington DC I suggested to my friend to cool off at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and we took some time to check out the interesting bits. Amelia Earhart was one of the important personalities shown there, so I was wanting to check out if there was any kind of documentary available and found this by History Channel, which is always very educational. Was very pleased to watch this.

"Biography - Amelia Earhart", A & E, NewVideo 1996, ISBN: 0-7670-8068-8. DVD 50 min.

A nicely executed biographical depiction of the life and times of Amelia Earhart, an American Sweetheart whose true romance was with airplanes and flying. She quickly became an American icon, establishing first-of-a-kind records in aviation and promoted women's causes, soon garnering world-wide publicity, finding admiration by dignitaries, the rich and famous, and firmly established her mark in history.


Calling upon archival film footage admixed with poignant interviews of relatives and friends, the writers forged a convincing biographic portraiture of Amelia as a courageous, enticing young woman who did her own thing, was a poised adventuress with peerless contagious spiritednes, even establishing her own unique fashionable clothing line. Her marriage to George Putnam, publicist and writer, was (perhaps) more as one of convenience than of true love, but it did promote her legendary career and helped her to amass funds for her flying career. Her final and fatal Lockheed Electra flight, which resulted in her mysterious disappearance July 2, 1937, upon departing Lae, had her leaving New Guinea to Howland Isle, enroute to California attempting to circumnavigate the equatorial globe. Some of her shortcomings as pilot in inclement weather demonstrated lessened abilities in radio-navigation and communication skills. After seeing this DVD story you will yearn to read more about the life, the love and the times of this aviatrix

This is a good video biography. Contained very little I did not already know about Amelia Earhart, but was forthright , no "hype" or glamourizing of Amelia. The photo & film strip quality is very good considering the age of the material.

Great DVD! I was born a few miles from where she was born. Shows what was done before women were into men's traditional fields. Hope people will stop by Atchison and see her museum and house.

A very good history of women's aviation at the beginning. It also shows that Amelia was not all that she was marketed to be! The Bio. is very truthful in that way. Great old footage and interesting all the way.

This disc is an exact duplicate of another I purchased under a different cover. It is too brief. I wish there was a much more complete coverage of her earlier life.