Customer Reviews

Biography - Charles Lindbergh [VHS]

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Charles Lindbergh is a much more interesting character than many might realize, enjoying a surprisingly sterling reputation dependent almost exclusively on two major events in his life: his trans-Atlantic flight and the murder of his 18-month-old, first-born son. The popular image of Lindbergh is that of Lucky Lindy, the imperturbable young man who defied the critics by flying nonstop from New York to Paris. I daresay many would be shocked to learn that, during the years leading up to World War II, Charles Lindbergh was one of the most reviled citizens in all of America. This is a good A&E biography treatment of the man, but it doesn't delve quite as deeply into matters as I would have liked.

Lindbergh's whole story principally revolves around his trans-Atlantic flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, and that quite naturally serves as the introductory segment of this video biography. I learned a number of fascinating facts about that flight, all of which really impressed upon me the danger involved in it. In our modern world, it's easy to dismiss the first flight across the Atlantic, but it really was something heroic and amazing to accomplish. I have to admit I was disappointed by the video's look at the kidnapping of Lindbergh's son. Of course, they could not possibly begin to summarize all of the theories still raging over that crime, as the whole tragedy was very fishy indeed. What bothered me, though, is the fact that the video made Bruno Hauptmann out to be the guilty party without question. When you look at the evidence, the case against Hauptmann was really quite weak; the fact that the man was convicted and executed for the crime stands as a gross miscarriage of justice. This documentary really does a pretty bad job of summarizing "the Trial of the Century."

The Lindbergh of the World War II era is not the Lindbergh people know today, as this American hero became enamored with German might and with the Fuhrer himself, and as such he spoke vociferously against any American entry into the war being waged in Europe. Lindbergh was branded a racist and anti-Semite (with fairly good reason), and FDR essentially called him a traitor and stripped him of his military rank. Amazingly, however, Lindbergh redeemed himself amazingly well. Barred from joining the fight, he finagled his way over to the Pacific to serve as a test pilot and actually carried out some fifty bombing raids of his own. He also served American military interests by showing pilots how to conserve fuel. Then, in 1953, he won a Pulitzer Prize for The Spirit of St. Louis, his account of his history-making flight of 1937. Thus it was that America welcomed Lucky Lindy back into their hearts.

Lindbergh is a pretty tough nut to crack, so it's no surprise that this relatively short biography (roughly 45 minutes) fails to significantly penetrate the emotional wall Lindbergh built around himself. In the end, this video does a pretty good job of explaining Lindbergh's life, but it doesn't really succeed in terms of exploring the character and inner psyche of this reluctant hero who could never comfortably abide the attention he received.