The Barefoot Contessa **** (1954, Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien, Marius Goring, Rossano Brazzi, Valentina Cortese, Elizabeth Sellars) – Classic Movie Review 3365

Writer-producer-director Joseph L Mankiewicz’s 1954 Oscar-winning drama stars Humphrey Bogart as film-maker Harry Dawes, who moulds shoeless gypsy flamenco dancer Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner) into a movie legend, after seeing her in a Madrid club.

But she then turns her back on the meaningless life she’s living, in this bitter, literate tale by Mankiewicz, biting away at the Hollywood hand that feeds him. The two ideal star performances are overshadowed by the even better one of Oscar-winning and Golden Globe-winning Best Supporting Actor Edmond O’Brien as the prophetically named Oscar Muldoon, an egregiously oily top public relations man.

It starts off at Maria’s funeral, when people recall her and her impact. Harry was a struggling writer-director when he and producer Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens) discovered Maria dancing in a shabby nightclub. But Oscar remembers when Maria’s court testimony got her father off of a charge of murdering her mother and Maria emerged an even bigger star. Rich Alberto Bravano (Marius Goring) sets his sights on Maria but treats her badly. Count Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini (Rossano Brazzi) marries her but happiness does not follow.

Mankiewicz was Oscar nominated for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay for his witty script. Gardner looks gorgeous, as though she was born for Technicolor, which of course she was. She has no trouble in personifying ‘The world’s most beautiful animal!’ of the advertising. And Jack Cardiff’s cinematography just glows.

Also in the cast are Valentina Cortese, Elizabeth Sellars, Franco Interlenghi, Mari Aldon, Bessie Love, Diana Decker, Bill Fraser, John Parrish, Jim Gerald, Margaret Anderson, Gertrude Flynn, John Horne, Alberto Rabagliati, Enzo Staiola, Maria Zanoli, Renato Chiantoni and Robert Christopher.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3365

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