Brief film taken before Earhart’s last flight surfaces

It was a clear spring day in 1937 when Amelia Earhart, ready to make history by flying around the world, brought her personal photographer to a small Southern California airport to document the journey’s beginning.

Al Bresnik took dozens of still photos, including a few that have likely been seen by millions. His brother John, who tagged along, made a very dark, grainy 3.5-minute home movie almost nobody saw — until now.

The film, “Amelia Earhart’s Last Photo Shoot,” is being released this month by The Paragon Agency publishing house, along with an 80-page book of the same name that documents a journey that ended tragically short of the finish line when Earhart’s plane vanished somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.