Armand
the novel ? the movie ? both ! because each of them is a beautiful embroidery. the book is one of best works of Thorton Wilder. the film is impressive scene for an amazing cast. every actor is master of his lines. every character is a sumptuous gala clothes. only performers list is a show. but after the joy must born gratitude for director. Bridge of San Luis Rey is not exactly an adaptation. but a castle with guns, towers, corridors, secret rooms, dungeon, staircases, boudoirs and cells. one brick in wrong position is source of fall. so, essence is just good balance. and Mary McGuckian is really a master.for art of tension and detail. for image and costumes. for science to explore each actor art. for build an unique movie as gorgeous lily.
charlytully
Sometimes a novel made into a movie really disappoints (for instance, director Roland Joffe's 1987 misfire THE SCARLET LETTER starring Demi Moore). Sometimes tweaking the story actually heightens the suspense (Richard Brooks' 1965 rendering of LORD JIM starring Peter O'Toole). Sometimes it's justified to carry a book's foreshadowing over into the movie adaptation (as in director Francesco Rosi's 1987 film CHRONICLE OF A DEATH FORETOLD). But, unfortunately, Thornton Wilder's novel THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY is somewhat off-putting in book form. It is a story which needs to have a cinematic presentation of a more linear format with much less doom-and-gloom to get empathy for the characters from the audience (held captive for two hours, unlike readers who can put down the novel for a while whenever the pall it casts grows too thick). In other words, LORD JIM's Brooks made a 10-of-10 movie from a novel rating an "8" at best. Director Victor Fleming made a "10" movie out of a "7" book in 1939 of (take your pick) THE WIZARD OF OZ or GONE WITH THE WIND. So it's too bad BRIDGE director Mary McGuckian wound up with an "8" film from the "9" book by not being daring enough in her translation of the novel to the screen.
kevino-4
Books can be tough to film unless they are straightforward stories, as "The Godfather" or "Lonesome Dove". "The Bridge of San Luis Rey", besides being written in a gorgeous, simple, lyrical style, has an inner faucet of irony that drips nearly all the way through. We are looking into a world that we are allowed to feel above, but that we are gradually drawn into by the sufferings and humanity of the characters, till quiet thunder explodes in perhaps the most memorable closing lines in American Literature. That would not be easy to film. The first question a director must ask, narrative or no narrative?. To add narrative allows that overview that is irony but can detract from reality of the scenes reducing their emotional impact. To go without forces a more linear stream that loses that overview and is tricky, requiring balance and intuition to arrive at the ending with impact. I'm afraid the director lacked either quality, or was so intimidated by the star laden cast that she bowed to their wishes. At any rate the movie isn't much short of travesty, telling neither a fathomable story or creating a mythic quality that might have replaced it. It is splashy, disjointed, and incoherent. If you haven't read the book please don't judge it by this movie. "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" is one of the finest works in the language. The movie, for all its good intentions, fails in just about every way of expressing what the book is about.
dave-2959
Breathtakingly stultifying. I'm amazed the Principals could even get through the script reading. How do they decide to do such horribly boring movies? Harvey Keitel, what were you thinking ? Possibly a chick film, in which case my testosterone level has been decreased 10% for sitting through the first hour of this abysmal ego romp. Find this writer and drop him/her into the same chasm as the bridge fell into. How does one create 10 lines of claptrap to communicate how completely awful a film such as this might be? Yet try I must, to warn all my brothers that this movie can only be gotten through if you 1) are taking Estrogen therapy 2) have been de-nutted, 3) Are not even minimally heterosexual, 4)Are a big Kathy Bates fan. There .. 10 lines.
AD
