A Ponte do Destino

In this film, which my ex-English teacher lent to me to show me what kind of cinematic experiences I've been missing out on, I was so confused until the very end about which actor was Rod Steiger. After seeing Mr. Steiger in Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront, I was convinced that he was only that. But it was when the end credits came up that I was utterly taken aback and mortified by the way it said Carl Schraffner...........Rod Steiger! It was indeed the man with the funny accent and the simply blended performance that was one of my personal favorites. This is indeed a hidden cinematic masterpiece and is highly underrated, and deserves a lot more credit than it got. I can't believe this didn't even get nominated for an Oscar. I thought the overall production was fantastic, all of the actors, especially Rod Steiger, and the direction were fantastic! The writing could've been upped a notch, but otherwise, this film left me speechless and yearning for more. But one thing that I didn't like was the dissatisfaction in the end.

Like some others here I had seen this movie once many years ago, I was very young and came upon it at least 30 minutes into the film. Over the years I forgot the title of it, but never the plot and Rod Steiger and of course Dolores. I never saw it TV again. I would ask people about it describing the plot but no one seem to remember it.It wasn't until I was looking over Steiger's filmography that I found out the title. I bought the DVD and watched last night and memories of years and years came back over me.The music the photography, the hopelessness. So beautiful, so sad.If you have not seen it yet, please do so. One of the most forgotten movies and one of the best performances Rod Steiger ever gave.

This is a really interesting, dark and thrilling film all packed into one. It may not have the look of the most fast-paced film, but it really delivers and becomes hugely exciting towards the end, and whilst it may not necessarily seem so bleak on the face of things either, it becomes very depressing and heavy-going at some points, however it's got such a fascinating story that you can't help but be totally engrossed.

Basically, the plot is full of the most unpredictable twists and turns you could ever imagine. What starts off as a relatively simple story suddenly transforms into an extremely complex tale of state borders, identity confusion and a whole host of other stuff that would normally be pretty tough to follow, however this film's excellent screenplay delivers all of that in such a way that it's still a simple enough watch to be pretty entertaining.

However, there's nothing more exciting in this film than the way that it pulls your mind from one side to the other on a constant basis due to its numerous twists, because it eventually makes you realise that it's just too unpredictable to predict, and that sense of anticipation that you get before each twist comes is hugely exhilarating.

Also, this film manages to be very heavy and bleak at points whilst still maintaining its excitement. The identity theft element to it is very sad, however what becomes most bleak is the final act, which is more a question of survival rather than anything else, and it really requires a lot to get to grips with.

Finally, the most interesting thing about this film was its central character, the German-born British billionaire, played fantastically by Rod Steiger. On the face of things, he's a terrible person, but the strangest thing about this film is that this villain really grows on you as it develops, and he turns into some sort of an anti- hero, who you end supporting towards the end, rather than hope for his arrest as you do earlier on, which I found really fascinating.

Bernard Lee made an acting profession playing various detectives, predominately as the first "M" in the Sean Connery era of James Bond from 1962.Before this he specialised in playing various policemen like in the subject film made in 1957.He is frustrated by the non-existent extradition treaty between Mexico, the U.S. & the U.K. in his attempts to bring to justice a latter day Robert Maxwell type crooked financier, played by Rod Steiger.A previous reviewer suspected it was filmed on location in Spain to obtain a Mexican type atmosphere and this worked well.There were a few British type actors pretending to be Mexican like Eric Pohlmann and the actor who played the chief of Mexican police whom I have seen in more typical British plots.

However the star of the film for my money was the dog actor who played "Dolores".She had a few expressive close ups with her doggy eyes which were very effective.When Rod Steiger initially rebuffed her, I was concerned that the R.S.P.C.A. would have to intervene.Nowadays when animals appear in films the producers invariably state in the credits "No animals were injured during the making of this film".The plot has already been effectively commented on by other users.Quite enjoyable I awarded it 7/10.

Like other reviewers, I, too, have not seen this remarkable film in many, many years since . The fact that I still remember it demonstrates what a truly terrific film this is. How unfortunate that it seems to have been forgotten over the years. However, two days ago, on February 24, a DVD edition of the film was released in the U.S. and I'm now about to finally see this great film again after so many years. The loyalty that can develop between man and dog is surely put to the test by events that take place in this story which was originally written by Graham Greene. No one should pass up an opportunity to see this film which, unfortunately, has never been given the recognition it deserves.