Saw this years ago on television and was impressed by it, probably because it violated the usual dim stereotype of Amelia Earhardt, first woman to fly the Atlantic. Well, she was, but she was cargo. The two-engined airplane was flown by two men. This production at least gives us some unalloyed details of her life outside of that initial, celebrated voyage.
What is projected most strongly is her eagerness to fly. She loves it. She does it "for the fun of it." Even if it involves some humiliation, like having to pose for luggage ads or having some reporter pimp her as the new woman.
Quite a bit of time is spent on Earhardt's off stage life -- her open marriage to her business manager, the sub rosa romance with Paul Mantz, who was famous in his own right.
It's not a very demanding flick. There's little ambiguity. Amelia Earhardt wants to fly. And she's inner directed, with some kind of internal gyroscope. The men in her life either obstruct her -- they're drunks or coerce her into a loveless marriage -- or they're dashing Rhett Butler types, like Stephen Macht as Paul Mantz. The spunky, sassy Earhardt rejects a formulaic swain who is dull and reliable and traditional in his values.
You won't learn too much about flying. It's not like Billy Wilder's "The Spirit of St. Lous." But the flying scenes are grand, conveying the exhilaration of being suspended in air. The musical score is out of a TV situation comedy. But -- a plus for the script -- she's not made into SUPERGIRL. It's made clear that she isn't the best pilot or navigator in the world.
Those touches of humanity give her disappearance over the Pacific more impact. The director should be applauded for avoiding the conventional last few hours of Earhardt and her unreliable navigator trying to find Howland Island, a bit of land in the middle of nowhere. There are no anguished expressions, no tears, no hysterical shouts. The U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Itasca is listening for the two voyagers on the radio and the mistakes are all on the side of the travelers. That's not a weakness. It humanizes Earhardt and her companion and make the story more tragic.
What is projected most strongly is her eagerness to fly. She loves it. She does it "for the fun of it." Even if it involves some humiliation, like having to pose for luggage ads or having some reporter pimp her as the new woman.
Quite a bit of time is spent on Earhardt's off stage life -- her open marriage to her business manager, the sub rosa romance with Paul Mantz, who was famous in his own right.
It's not a very demanding flick. There's little ambiguity. Amelia Earhardt wants to fly. And she's inner directed, with some kind of internal gyroscope. The men in her life either obstruct her -- they're drunks or coerce her into a loveless marriage -- or they're dashing Rhett Butler types, like Stephen Macht as Paul Mantz. The spunky, sassy Earhardt rejects a formulaic swain who is dull and reliable and traditional in his values.
You won't learn too much about flying. It's not like Billy Wilder's "The Spirit of St. Lous." But the flying scenes are grand, conveying the exhilaration of being suspended in air. The musical score is out of a TV situation comedy. But -- a plus for the script -- she's not made into SUPERGIRL. It's made clear that she isn't the best pilot or navigator in the world.
Those touches of humanity give her disappearance over the Pacific more impact. The director should be applauded for avoiding the conventional last few hours of Earhardt and her unreliable navigator trying to find Howland Island, a bit of land in the middle of nowhere. There are no anguished expressions, no tears, no hysterical shouts. The U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Itasca is listening for the two voyagers on the radio and the mistakes are all on the side of the travelers. That's not a weakness. It humanizes Earhardt and her companion and make the story more tragic.