The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929 film)
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929) is a film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in both silent and part-talkie versions. The film was directed by Charles Brabin and starred Lili Damita and Don Alvarado. Only the silent version exists at the George Eastman House film archive. The film closely follows the bestselling 1927 Thornton Wilder novel of the same name and won the second Academy Award for Best Art Direction. Background and production. The film and novel are very loosely based on the real-life story of Micaela Villegas (1748–1819 ), a famous Peruvian entertainer known as "La Perichole". Her life was also the inspiration for the novella "Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement" by Prosper Mérimée; the "opéra bouffe" "La Périchole" by Jacques Offenbach; and Jean Renoir’s 1953 film "Le Carrosse d'or" ("The Golden Coach"). Remakes. The film was remade in 1944 with Lynn Bari, and once more in 2004, starring F. Murray Abraham, Gabriel Byrne, Robert De Niro, Kathy Bates, and Pilar López de Ayala.