The Bridge of San Luis Rey
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