Two world wars, the disaster of a luxury liner struck by an iceberg, a dirigible exploding in mid-air, silent star scandals, sudden deaths of young major movie atars, prohibition and the kidnapping of the baby of one of America's greatest heroes. Headlines certainly were busy describing the horrors of the world during the first 50 years of the twentieth century. The kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr. Set call shock waves, brought out all the lunatics stalking the family, and got ruthless press attention that was only a shadow of ruthless press attention t9 come.
This is more about the criminal investigation than the actual family, and I wasn't convinced by Cliff DeYoung as Lindbergh Sr. Until the discovery of the baby's whereabouts, I felt he wasn't reacting to the kidnapping realistically at all. Anthony Hopkins, disguising his first scene in a graveyard, is not seen until an hour into the film. As Bruno Hauptmann, he creates a villain that unlike Hannibal Lechter had one distinguishable factor. He was real. The German immigrant is detained out of the blue after evidence points towards him, and the events surrounding his arrest are even more scandalous than the actual kidnapping and discovery of the baby's corpse.
An All-Star cast gets together to dramatize this horrific situation that was nearly 50 years old at the time, and even then, there were debating whether or not this was actually the truth. Tony Roberts, Joseph Cotten, Walter Pidgeon, Keenan Wynn, Martin Balsam and Laurence Luckinbill are major names in the ensemble. Also included is daytime legend Denise Alexander, chewing up the scenery as a paranoid maid who may or may not have been involved in the kidnapping. I found her scenes unintentionally funny, a far cry from her brilliant performances as Dr. Lesley Webber on "General Hospital".
Hopkins, a well-respected actor, was not the superstar that he would become many years later, and he gives a very direct performance that deservedly won him an Emmy. The excellent script points out issues of the scandal starved public that made your worst nightmare neighbor seem decent in comparison. At two and a half hours long, it covers every detail and is never so slow to the point that you wish it would just end. While not without minor flaws, it captures the period brilliantly and keeps the viewer intrigued while sitting in the privacy of their own home where they are not storming the homes of innocent homes or the outside of courtrooms looking for dirt, whether it be true or not.
This is more about the criminal investigation than the actual family, and I wasn't convinced by Cliff DeYoung as Lindbergh Sr. Until the discovery of the baby's whereabouts, I felt he wasn't reacting to the kidnapping realistically at all. Anthony Hopkins, disguising his first scene in a graveyard, is not seen until an hour into the film. As Bruno Hauptmann, he creates a villain that unlike Hannibal Lechter had one distinguishable factor. He was real. The German immigrant is detained out of the blue after evidence points towards him, and the events surrounding his arrest are even more scandalous than the actual kidnapping and discovery of the baby's corpse.
An All-Star cast gets together to dramatize this horrific situation that was nearly 50 years old at the time, and even then, there were debating whether or not this was actually the truth. Tony Roberts, Joseph Cotten, Walter Pidgeon, Keenan Wynn, Martin Balsam and Laurence Luckinbill are major names in the ensemble. Also included is daytime legend Denise Alexander, chewing up the scenery as a paranoid maid who may or may not have been involved in the kidnapping. I found her scenes unintentionally funny, a far cry from her brilliant performances as Dr. Lesley Webber on "General Hospital".
Hopkins, a well-respected actor, was not the superstar that he would become many years later, and he gives a very direct performance that deservedly won him an Emmy. The excellent script points out issues of the scandal starved public that made your worst nightmare neighbor seem decent in comparison. At two and a half hours long, it covers every detail and is never so slow to the point that you wish it would just end. While not without minor flaws, it captures the period brilliantly and keeps the viewer intrigued while sitting in the privacy of their own home where they are not storming the homes of innocent homes or the outside of courtrooms looking for dirt, whether it be true or not.