Themes: Filmmaking, Ladder to the Top, Cinderella Stories
Main Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Marius Goring, Rossano Brazzi
Release Year: 1954
Country: US/IT
Run Time: 128 minutes
Plot
The Barefoot Contessa begins at the funeral of Ava Gardner, a former Spanish peasant, cabaret dancer and movie star, who at the time of her death was a full-fledged contessa. Her life story unfolds in flashback recollections from her mourners. Film director Humphrey Bogart recalls how his career was saved when he discovered Gardner on behalf of Howard R. Hughes-like mogul Warren Stevens. Press agent Edmond O'Brien remembers how Ava was wooed and then abandoned by mercurial millionaire Marius Goring, and Italian count Rosanno Brazzi reflects on how he was able to wed the tempestuous Gardner, only to watch his world crumble after revealing on their wedding night that he was "only half a man." O'Brien received Best Supporting Actor awards at both the Academy Awards and Golden Globes in 1954. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The Barefoot Contessa combines the flashback structure of Citizen Kane with an attention-grabbing variant of the standard showbiz rags-to-riches story. The film's cynical tone and shifting viewpoint is similar to writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's earlier success, All About Eve. (Citizen Kane was co-written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz's brother, Herman Mankiewicz). The derivative nature of the story aside, The Barefoot Contessa is a beautiful-looking film, with cinematographer Jack Cardiff putting the film's Italian locations to magnificent use. Given what was happening concurrently in Italian cinema, The Barefoot Contessa is an interesting glimpse at neo-realism Hollywood-style. There's very little original about it, but it skillfully combines disparate elements drawn from more classic works. The result, while not a masterpiece, is an intelligent, well-produced example of storytelling, highlighted by occasional bursts of passionate dialogue and solid performances. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
Valentina Cortese - Eleanora Torlato-Favrini; Warren Stevens - Kirk Edwards; Elizabeth Sellars - Jerry; Franco Interlenghi - Pedro; Mari Aldon - Myrna; Maria Zanoli - Maria's Mother; Renato Chiantoni - Maria's Father; Bill Fraser - J. Montague Brown; John Parrish - Mr. Black; Jim Gérald - Mr. Blue; Diana Decker - Drunken Blonde; Riccardo Rioli - Gypsy Dancer; Tonio Selwart - The Pretender; Margaret Anderson - The Pretender's Wife; Gertrude Flynn - Lulu McGee; John Horne - Hector Eubanks; Bessie Love - Mrs. Eubanks; Robert Christopher - Eddie Blake; Carlo Dale - Chauffeur; Alberto Rabagliati - Night Club Proprietor; Enzo Staiola - Busboy
Mankiewicz is reported to have based the film's central character of Maria Vargas on Spanish-American movie star and dancer Rita Hayworth.[citation needed] According to the audio commentary on F.W. Murnau's and Robert J. Flaherty's Tabu, she was based on Reri (Anne Chevalier).
Down on his luck, veteran movie director and writer Harry Dawes is reduced to working for abusive, emotionally stunted business tycoon Kirk Edwards, who has decided he wants to produce a film to stroke his monumental ego. Looking for a fresh leading lady, they discover, in a Madrid night club, stunning dancer Maria Vargas, a blithe but proud spirit who likes to go barefoot and has a troubled home life.
Maria takes an instant dislike to Kirk but trusts Harry, whose work she knows. Thanks to his expertise and the help of sweaty, insincere publicist Oscar Muldoon, her film debut is a sensation. Kirk tries to control Maria's life by publicly ordering her to stay away from wealthy Latin American playboy Alberto Bravano, but Maria rebels.
She is a great star, but Maria is not satisfied. She envies the happiness her friend Harry has found with his wife Jerry and wants a prince charming of her own. Alberto is too frivolous and shallow for her. When he berates her in public for supposedly ruining his luck at a gambling table, he receives a slap in the face from a stranger. This turns out to be Count Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini, who offers Maria his arm. They walk out.
Maria has found the great love of her life. They wed in a lavish ceremony, but there is a problem. The count and his spinster sister are the last of the Torlato-Favrinis; without offspring, the noble line will die out. Unfortunately, he is incapable of fathering a child because a war injury has left him impotent.
After an unhappy honeymoon, Maria conceives a bizarre solution: she takes a lover to become pregnant. Disregarding Harry's advice, she informs the count that she is with child, imagining he will approve and even be pleased to have an heir. Instead, he shoots Maria, and the story ends (as it began) with her funeral.
