Mark Turner I've long been a fan of Humphrey Bogart. Growing up in the sixties provided me with ample opportunity to see his films since back then VHS stations had classic films as their staple. Even with that being the case I didn't have the chance to see them all or even most of them. Thank goodness for the invention of video and later disc. Because of that I now have the chance to see things I missed like this feature.Opening with the funeral of a movie star the movie features Bogart as Harry Dawes, a down on his luck director who's been teamed up with a producer new to the business, Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens). Kirk is a man with too much money and too little know how. To support him he has PR man Oscar Muldoon (Edmund O'Brien) on hand to kiss his ring and do as he's told. It was a performance that won O'Brien an Oscar.One night they come across a flamenco dancer named Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner) in a small club while scouting locations. Having caught his eye Kirk wants her for the movie even if she has no experience. Except that she speaks to no one.Harry tracks her down to the small apartment where she lives with her family. There he convinces her to join the team and from there she achieves stardom. Maria and Harry remain friends but to Kirk she remains a possession. She leaves him to be with a wealthy South American named Alberto Bravano just to spite Kirk but eventually leaves him as well. It isn't until she meets Count Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini (Rossano Brazzi) that she finds love but there is a secret there that remains hidden until her death.All of this might seem like a spoiler but most going into the film know the story already. Even the blurbs on disc covers discuss most of it. It isn't the beginning to end tale that is the main focus here but the way the story unspools that holds the viewer's interest. Some have called the story weak and found it boring, others praise it for its simplicity and straightforward telling of the tale. As for myself I found it tedious at moments but entertaining on the whole.Bogart isn't used as much as I would have liked to have seen him, especially since he's a name above the title here. One has to assume that was to create a draw for the film as he was still a box office presence at the time. Still his performance is a subtle one that displays his abilities quite well. Gardner is a sight to behold as well, showing she had more talent than given credit for over the years.In the end it's one of those movie that talks about the tragedies that befall those in the film business without trying to make it appeal for sympathy of those involved on the seedier side of things. It's entertaining and a piece of film history to be enjoyed.Twilight Time presents the film in the best way possible but what else would we expect? Extras include an isolated score track, audio commentary with film historians Julie Kirgo and David Del Valle, a stills gallery from the David Del Valle Archive and the original theatrical trailer. Once more pressings of this were limited to just 3,000 copies so if interested pick one up now.

dougdoepke An oddity for a decade prone to fairy tale type movies. After all, the build-up is that of a fairy tale coming true for peasant girl Maria (Gardner). In stages she's lifted from poverty-- first, by a film director who gets her a screen test; then, from a successful test she becomes a successful star; after which, she blossoms into a popular super star. From those heights, however, she unwisely marries a rich man (Goring), who soon proves intolerably abusive. In a ballroom showdown, she's happily rescued by a handsome Prince Charming (Brazzi) who spirits her to his European castle to be married. But there, just as her Cinderella tale seems to be coming true, she finds out her Prince's secret, a word that unfortunately could not be used in 1954. So we're left to infer the problem and the movie's crux.Small wonder the story's told in a series of flashbacks from Maria's graveyard funeral. Thus, interest is aroused from the start as to why a girl so young and wealthy could possibly be dead. On my view, the movie's really a modern fairy tale turned into a tragedy. For example, consider a recurring theme; namely, Maria's constant attachment to bare feet over shoes. That I take as an underlying desire for a naturalness stripped of the kind of social pretensions shoe styles can convey. Thus, her struggle, on this view, is really between the stark reality of feet and the societal contrivance of shoes. Extrapolated a bit, it can also convey the importance of foundations to a person's well-being. Perhaps that's why she seems reluctant to accept her fairy tale climb-- it goes against a deeper instinct. Be that as it may, in view of the ending, it's too bad she doesn't stick with instinct rather than temptation.All in all, the indie production was a biggie of that year, featuring two marquee stars, a lavish production, and Hollywood honcho Mankiewicz in charge. Unsurprisingly, it all led to some Oscar go-rounds. Never mind that Hollywood doesn't come off looking very good in the persons of tyrannical producer (Stevens) and sycophantic public relations man (O'Brien). There's still enough gloss, travelogues, and close-ups of the beauteous Gardner to keep us diverted. Happily, Bogie gets his trademark role as a cynical observer, while Gardner gets to show she's more than a pretty face, along with O'Brien who bathes in fast-talking. Not much really happens besides character development. So, credit director Mankiewicz for keeping things moving. Though dated, the movie's worth catching up with; that is, if you can stand the taboo word "impotence", which the 1954 movie obviously couldn't.

JohnHowardReid Edmond O'Brien certainly deserved his Hollywood award for Best Supporting Actor. A difficult role, he has to appear convincingly insincere in most of his scenes, faking his emotions and making himself hypocritically adept at false but flattering compliments. Only in the funeral scene and his off-screen narration, do we discover the real man. Aside from this tour-de-force, however, the movie is a bit disappointing. Mankiewicz told me: "It was almost a good film. But I was angry at too many things and went off in too many directions. Basically, the film was a Cinderella story, but somewhere along the path, I lost my sense of humor." Mankiewicz wrote, directed and produced for Figaro, his own production company. Believe me, it's super-difficult to concentrate on both writing and directing. Producing is a chore I would certainly leave to someone else. Writing and directing have their own headaches, but most of them are artistic problems which good thinking – plus advice from one's peers – can generally overcome. On the other hand, producers handle a vast array of problems – money problems, contract disputes, making sure cast and crew are in the right places at the right times, lining up permission to shoot in both public parks and thoroughfares plus privately owned areas, liaising with the police and other civic officials, providing a shoulder to cry on and mediating disputes between actors and actors, actors and crew, crew and crew and all and sundry with public officials. I could go on and on. Let me just say that although I would gladly sign on to write and/or direct a movie, no way would I agree to produce or have anything to with producing, no matter what inducements of both money and support staff were provided. Anyway, with theses crosses to carry, I think Mankiewicz did wonders with The Barefoot Contessa. My hat's off to him. Actually, for his initial writer-producer-director production, he'd planned to film Twelfth Night, but that project fell through.

justincward The story told in flashback of a peasant Spanish dancer who becomes a Hollywood star, only to be shot by her impotent Italian Count husband for her infidelity while he is unaware that she is pregnant.There you go. 'The Barefoot Contessa' in three lines. Mankiewicz unfortunately needed to write about 25,000. While Bogie, though looking tired, is always worth watching, the rest of TBC is simply too wordy. There's a scene early on where writer/director Harry Dawes (Bogart) has been ordered by his bullying boss Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens) to fetch Maria (Ava Gardner) back to his private plane or not bother coming back himself. How long does this scene go on? Are we expected to care for all of 15 minutes whether Harry loses his job or not? TBC is full of such over-extended, weakly set-up yakathons. Only Bogart has the chops to maintain audience interest, and then he struggles. His finessing of his boss at the end of his first narration is the high spot of TBC.As for Ava Gardner - sorry, but she can't act. She does a sort of 1950's Vogue mannequin impression of acting, but apart from that she doesn't have the cheekbones. It's telling that in the (too long) early scene where her dancing wows a Spanish nightclub, we don't actually see her dance! This wasn't a clever directorial touch, it was an admission that Ava's dancing was as one-dimensional as her acting. A special mention for Marius Goring, who gives a convincing impression of an amphetamine-fuelled zombie. Edmond O'Brien won an Oscar for his sweaty publicist turn, which is OK, but looks too much like hard work.I'm surprised Madonna never did a remake.