The Bridge of San Luis Rey is a 1944 drama film made by Benedict Bogeaus Productions and released by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Rowland V. Lee with Benedict Bogeaus as co-producer. The screenplay by Howard Estabrook and Herman Weissman was adapted from the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder. The music score was by Dimitri Tiomkin and the cinematography by John W. Boyle and an uncredited John J. Mescall. The film stars Lynn Bari, Francis Lederer, Akim Tamiroff, Nazimova and Louis Calhern. Dimitri Tiomkin's music was nominated for the Best Original Score. 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, whose life was also the inspiration for the novella Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement by Prosper Mérimée; an opéra bouffe, La Périchole by Jacques Offenbach; and Jean Renoir’s 1953 film Le Carrosse d'or (The Golden Coach). There was also an earlier part-talkie film version of The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1929) starring Lili Damita. The film was remade once more in 2004 with the title The Bridge of San Luis Rey and starring F. Murray Abraham, Kathy Bates and Pilar López de Ayala. Plot In the year of 1774, a hundred-year old bridge leading to the chapel of San Luis Rey in Peru, plunges into the deep chasm it spans, killing the five people who are crossing it. Brother Juniper (Donald Woods) is one of the chapel monks, whose faith is rocked by the unfortunate incident. He travels to Lima to seek answers to his questions why these five were chosen by God to die this violent death. In Lima, Brother Juniper talks to a well known local theatre figure called Uncle Pio (Akim Tamiroff), and asks him about a famous actress, Micaela Villegas (Lynn Bari). Pio then starts telling the story of his encounter with Micaela and the unfortunate events leading up to the tragic accident. Years ago, when Micaela was working in Lima, she was in love with the bold, exciting Manuel (Francis Lederer). His twin brother, Esteban, loathed Micaela. When Manuel left for Spain, Pio became Micaela's mentor and helped her become an excellent actress, working for the Comedia Theater. Her celebrity and beauty attracted the viceroy Don Andre's (Louis Calhern) interest, and he asked her to pay him a