Why was The Spirit of St. Louis unusual in Billy Wilder’s career?

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Billy Wilder poses in a suit and hat, leaning against a streetlamp with a sign reading Sunset Blvd. in a promotional photo for the film Sunset Boulevard. — Billy Wilder Billy Wilder in a promotional photograph for *Sunset Boulevard* (1950), which he directed.

The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) was unusual in Billy Wilder’s career because it was the only biographical film he ever directed. The movie starred James Stewart as the famed aviator Charles Lindbergh and focused on his historic 1927 solo flight from New York to Paris.1