Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Brand: Image Entertainment EAN: 9786305339786 Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC ISBN: 6305339783 Label: Image Entertainment Manufacturer: Image Entertainment Number Of Items: 1 Picture Format: Academy Ratio Publisher: Image Entertainment Release Date: April 06, 1999 Running Time: 108 minutes Sales Rank: 81364 Studio: Image Entertainment Theatrical Release Date: February 11, 1944
Description: Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Thornton Wilder, 'The Bridge of San Luis Rey' tells the story of a rickety bridge that has spanned a deep gorge for ages. When the bridge suddenly collapses--plunging five people to their deaths--the tragedy causes a wave of superstition to engulf the villagers as they believe they are destined for continued misfortune. Only a priest can find the connections to divine intervention that will quell the townspeople's fears.
Amazon.com: Five people die when a rope bridge collapses in Peru. A local priest, perplexed why God chose these five to die, goes to town to investigate who the five were. Because the film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Thornton Wilder, it's easy to assume that some very existential questions, and maybe some answers, will be forthcoming. Nope. What the good priest does find is the hothouse Micaela (Lynn Bari), a stage actress and partial bad girl, who is wooed by a sailor, a theater gadfly, and the local viceroy. This leads to court intrigue, some incongruous song and dance numbers, and a trip to that fateful bridge. When the old bridge does snap and we know who is lying at the bottom of that Peruvian ravine, it's fair to wonder if the local priest didn't waste his time asking about the wrong people or whether it's just been a waste of time altogether. --Keith Simanton
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Rating: - Worth Watching Even In Truncated Form
Rowland V. Lee screwed up many motion pictures but this isn't one of them. How often do you see the screen legends Akim Tamiroff and Nazimova together in one film? At the very end of her long, illustrious career, Nazimova girded her loins and lent her indelible presence to a final bunch of films (after what amounted to a blacklist on account of her wayward sexuality). THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY is one of her better projects and its decadent sensibility is a good match for the cagaries of her screen image. As he did his later novel, THE EIGHTH DAY, Thornton Wilder used the apparently simple story of five people meeting by accident and dying together to ask some thought-provoking questions about fate and chance. Why do we do the things we do? Are we moved by some higher (or lower) purpose? Is destiny irreversible? If we all meet the same death, what is the sense in leading a good life? Do individual lives ... Read More
Rating: - A bland movie that loosely follows the book
In 1774 Peru, five people are crossing the hundred-year-old bridge of San Luis Rey when it suddenly collapses, plunging the five to their deaths. Witness to this startling event is Brother Juniper who decides to find out why God has chosen those particular five people to bring into His realm. He travels to Lima to meet with Uncle Pio, a local character who knows everyone and everything surrounding Lima. From Pio, Brother Juniper learns how the lives of the five were connected to one another.
Sort of. The movie focuses on only four of the characters, and three of them in a very secondary sort of way. The fifth character, an old man who was transporting grain, is mentioned only in passing. To me that was disappointing, after having read the book, because each of the characters has his or her own unique story which connects with the others. The acting is very wooden, with too many varying accents and ... Read More
Rating: - Competent film version of the Pulitzer Prize winning novella
This is the second of three film versions of the Pulitzer Prize winning novella (134 pages do not a novel make!). The third version is in post-production as we write. Neither of the first two were anything beyond potboiler status, and took liberties with the narrative. I am writing here to correct the negative review on this page from a person in Medford, Oregon. He or she is entitled to his or her opinion, but is not entitled to erroneous information. The 1929 film was nominated for only one Oscar (Art Direction) and won. There was no second nomination involved, let alone a second win.
Rating: - meaningful film
When I was growing up, this was the first movie other than superficial entertainment that I ever saw. I was so impressed with all the moral implications and human emotions, that I never forgot it ! Seeing it again, after all these years, I found itevery bit as gripping, and the D V D made it even more enjoyable. Of special note is the acting of a great actor, Francis Lederer.
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- Worth Watching Even In Truncated Form
- A bland movie that loosely follows the book
- meaningful film
