The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929)

Movie
Original title	The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1929
length	86 minutes
Rod
Director	Charles Brabin
script	Alice DG Miller, Marian Ainslee, Ruth Cummings
production	Hunt Stromberg for MGM
music	Carli Elinor
camera	Merritt B. Gerstad
cut	Margaret Booth
occupation
Lili Damita : Camilla Ernest Torrence : Uncle Pio Raquel Torres : Pepita Don Alvarado : Manuel Duncan Renaldo : Esteban Henry B. Walthall : Brother Juniper Michael Vavitch : Viceroy Emily Fitzroy : Marquesa Jane Winton : Doña Carla Gordon Thorpe : Jaime Mitchell Lewis : Captain Alvarado Paul Ellis : Don Vicente Eugenie Besserer : a nun Tully Marshall : a villager

The Bridge of San Luis Rey is an American film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Thornton Wilder from 1929 . Like many productions from the period of transition from silent film to sound film , in which many cinemas in the USA had not been converted to the new technology, there was both a sound version and a version as a silent film for distribution.

action

Peru in 1714. The suspension bridge of San Luis Rey, which dates back to the time of the Incas, breaks and kills five people with it. Brother Juniper investigates the background that led to the accident and finally reports to the Viceroy of Peru.

Flashbacks tell the fates of the five victims who were on the bridge at the time of the accident.

background

Thornton Wilder won for his second, published in 1927 novel 1928 Pulitzer Prize in the category of novel .

There are two other adaptations of the novel: a 1944 film adaptation with Lynn Bari and Akim Tamiroff , directed by Rowland V. Lee ; 2004 saw the third and so far last film adaptation of Mary McGuckian with F. Murray Abraham and Kathy Bates .

Reviews

The film received mostly positive reviews. Mordaunt Hall wrote in the New York Times that while the film had "strange and unconvincing cinematic ideas" at times, in "many ways" it was a "worthy contribution" to the book. In particular, the opening and closing scenes of the film were strong and Henry Walthall would offer a convincing performance.

Award

At the Academy Awards in April 1930 , the film received an Oscar in the category of Best Production Design . It would be the first of a total of eleven Oscars that Cedric Gibbons would win in the course of his career and for which he was nominated 39 times.

Web links

• The Bridge of San Luis Rey in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mordaunt Hall: The Bridge of San Luis Rey In: The New York Times , May 20, 1929, see nytimes.com. (English). Retrieved February 9, 2019.