The Bridge of San Luis Rey

Really stagy, over acted, over lit, over music'd with almost constant strings. Could have been so much better. Almost painful to watch and I usually love old B&W movies. The combination of the bad lighting and unbelievably almost non-existent creativity in choosing camera positions make whatever abilities the actors had virtually invisible.

This adaptation of a great writer's novel falls far short of its intentions. It's hoity-toity without being either profound or risible.

Akim Tamiroff makes quite some Peruvian sage! I got a kick out of his comments on "the wiceroy," sounding for all the world like my own late Russian grandfather.

Lynn Bari doesn't have the flair for the femme fatale around whom the plot is built. The character is the Bizet/Merimee Carmen set in the land of Offenbach's "La Perichole." She is indeed called by that name. But the plots are dissimilar and we sure do miss the music.

Francis Lederer was a handsome and appealing actor and he is fine as her love interest. Alla Nazimova is good as the noblewoman who schemes to thwart her.

The movie seems to have spent all its money on rights to the novel and on some of the supporting players. It's low budget and what comes through of Wilder's philosophy is so watered down as to be meaningless.

Paulette Godard was in Renoir's American production of "The Diary of a Chambermaid" right around this time. The budget may not have been higher but the director was one of the very greatest and Goddard was perfect as the crafty title character. Indeed, I prefer that movie to Bunuel's later, more famous and highly regarded one.

"San Luis Rey" could have worked. But it doesn't.

Thorton Wilder's novel of 18th Century Peru, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, translates to the screen as a rather slow moving, talky picture. Certainly not amongst the best examples of the 1940's classic period, but not as bad some critics have made it out. Production values are mediocre, and the story more philosophical than exciting. It is worth sticking with, however, for the acting and the intelligent script. An Accademy Award nominated score by the superb Dimitri Tiomkin helps out immensely.

The importance of old silent movie has-been Alla Nazimova in the scheme of this picture has been rather exaggerated by her ardent fans. She is good in a supporting role, but she hardly dominates the movie. Lynn Bari, the leading lady, is excellent as the social-climbing actress Michaela, around whom most of the plot revolves. Francis Lederer, who in the next decade would take a turn at the Dracula role, carries a big load in a dual role as twin brothers, one a dashing sea captain, the other a depressed scribe. But this movie really belongs to veteran character actors Louis Calhern as the Viceroy who is in love with Michaela, and Akim Tamiroff as Uncle Pio, Michaela' manager and the Viceroy's confidant-spy. The witty, literate exchanges between these two is the most amusing aspect of the movie.

Admittedly this movie is not for every taste. The dialog is going to be too literary and too self-consciously philosophical for most viewers. Every character in this story is a prodigy of philosophy, continually thinking on and talking on what his or her life is all about and what God must think of it. Some find the futility of seeking after life's treasures, other find redemption. The story is structured entirely in flashbacks starting from the tragic collapse of a bridge in the opening reel and the efforts of a faithful monk to learn why God willed it so. Flashbacks, though a tried and true story-telling device probably predating literature, seem to irritate some people, but the structure works well in this one. The story picks up steam in the second half, then neatly folds the end into a resolution which satisfies both drama and philosophy.

The Bridge of San Luis Rey is not top-notch entertainment, but has its rewarding moments if you are in the right mood.

steals the film. Too bad the film is an el cheapo production of the Thornton Wilder novel. Lynn Bari gets a rare starring role with Louis Calhern, Akim Tamiroff, Francis Lederer, Joan Lorring, Blanche Yurka, and Donald Woods rounding out the cast. Bari is game and quite good in some scenes but she can't hold this film together. Nazimova, a great silent star of the teens and 20s, easily steals every scene she's in. The climactic finale is really disappointing and ruins whatever good will the film as accumulated up to that point. Still worth seeing for Nazimova and Bari.

I was so curious about Nazimova acting in the forties; I barely managed to get through the beginning of the film without her.

Bari is striking, but it might as well be Hedi Lamarr for all the Peruvian flavor thus imparted.

We can almost slightly believe 'Uncle Pio'

Otherwise, one simply watches this to see the phenomenon of Alla Nazimova as the Marquesa, who obviously only slightly enjoyed playing the horrible bitch and accessed the despicability of the costumes and sets with her Stanislavskian training to invoke bitter.

I was curious to note that Alla came through excellently in sound production. Which begs the question, "What the hell was she doing in the 1930's?"

Alla was clearly waiting to get paid and really deserves top billing over Bari.