Sky and Steam: St. Louis 1929

This 1929 silent film blends St. Louis spectacle with river rivalry. It opens with an International Balloon Race, where crews from six nations—likely U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland—ready their gas balloons, inflating them at Forest Park before a soaring takeoff. The reel shifts to a Mississippi River sternwheeler race, three steamboats—perhaps America, Cincinnati, and a third contender—churning past St. Louis, black smoke billowing from their stacks in a late-1920s dash. Shot with aerial flair and riverside pans, it captures a roaring decade’s thrill, possibly for newsreel fame.