The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

This sometimes slow, but interesting, movie has a number of strengths, most notably its characters, writing, and settings. The cast also features some fine performances from Ava Gardner, Humphrey Bogart, and Edmund O'Brien. The 'contessa' herself is undeniably the center of attention, but there is also much more to appreciate.

Gardner does well in personifying Maria, a character with an unusual mix of earthiness and innocence. The symbolic contrast between wearing shoes and going barefoot seems at first to be a rather obvious device, but as the character is developed, it gradually takes on more meaning. Gardner, with a lot of help from the Joseph Mankiewicz script, is convincing amidst Maria's changing fortunes in love and in her career.

Bogart is an ideal choice to play the director, whose own nature has an unexpected combination of world-weariness and integrity. And O'Brien gets one of his very best roles, as a press agent who is largely a parasite, but who turns out to have a couple of interesting things inside of him.

On the surface, the story is a relatively simple tale of a young 'discovery' and of what happens to her after she finds sudden fame. Yet the contrasts and conflicts among the characters, and the contrasts between them and their surroundings, make for plenty of good material. The multiple narratives and the dialogue help considerably in bringing out many of these possibilities. It's an interesting and effective movie that makes its characters come alive, and allows you to spend a couple of hours in their world.

Fmovies: This movie sucks so bad! Bogart and Edmond O'Brien do their best, and there are a lot of snappy one-liners about the movie business. But Ava Gardner is lifeless, the story makes no sense, and the whole thing just oozes "tragedy" in the most artificial sense of the word.

Here's a taste of what THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA is really like:

*** *** ***

It was raining at the funeral. I stood alone in my trench coat, wondering why Maria had to die. Wondering what made her life different from a cheap movie script. Wondering why the most stunningly beautiful woman who ever lived had to throw herself at an old drunk, a gay count, and some random gypsy with a guitar.

Was it the men she loved? Or the love she threw away? Was it the animal in her? Or the beast in the heart of every woman? The questions made no sense. The answers had no meaning. Life is like that. Life, the opposite of death. Not the cereal, or the magazine.

Maria never had cereal for breakfast growing up. She crawled out of a Spanish sewer and instantly became a star. But a part of her still craved the stench of life. The passion. The forbidden filth.

Perhaps the billionaires who pursued her weren't filthy enough. Or was it a different kind of filth? Some filth you can't find in a sewer. Only on the Riviera, or in Hollywood. Maria was pure, too pure for Hollywood. Except when the beast in her sent her running for the filth she once called home. But all of that was just water down the drain.

It was raining at the funeral. I stood alone in my trench coat. Waiting for the end of the movie.

When a movie opens with the funeral of the main character, you know you are in for a long, sad ride. Really long, in this case – the movie clocks in at two hours. With the inevitability of a tragic death fixed at the opening, it's hard not to see the entire film through filter of sadness.

The Barefoot Contessa follows the rise, perpetual dissatisfaction and demise of a beautiful, charismatic Maria Vargas, a young Spanish woman played by Ava Gardner. A powerful wall street type turned movie backer wants her to be the new face and visits her in her small village, dragging along a PR man, the director and washed up actress. There are two narrators – a little confusing at times – but most of the movie is relayed from the perspective of Humphrey Bogart, a sad sack, world weary writer/director (in a mythical time when writers were as famous as the stars). He was great, as always, and Gardner was good but lacked oomph for someone supposedly able to set the world on fire.

I think that was due mainly to the direction, she wasn't allowed to sparkle; quite the opposite, she was prohibited from shining. The odd thing about the movie is how much of her action happened off screen. When Hollywood arrives in her village to see her dance, we only see her hands clicking castanets. When she has a screen test which dazzles jaded directors and, we don't see it. When she makes three movies, we never see her on set or even get a hint of what she was like in the movies. When she rises to the top of the celebrity mountain with legions of adoring fans, we don't see them or even understand why. In fact, all she really does is mope around and wait for her demise. The only time she is allowed to partially captivate is during an odd scene where she hand-dances at a Gypsy camp.

It must have been intentional, and added to the doomed mood throughout. Instead of the details, instead of watching a small town girl lose her innocence (though she always seemed quite confident, self-possessed and resigned to her fate) we see the outcomes -- cruel people growing crueler, the dehumanizing effect of fame and redemption for a few characters (Bogart's character finds true love after three marriages and manages to kick the booze habit for good). Mostly we see barefoot Ava, drifting through life, never able to let herself be happy, or fall in love, or enjoy success, or even laugh. And we are never really able to understand why. The opening shot shows that she is doomed and I was never able to shake that inevitability throughout.

Still well worth the time.

-- www.cowboyandvampire.come --

The Barefoot Contessa fmovies. 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.

This starts very well, more than a little reminiscent of Sunset Boulevard, with initially Humphrey Bogart as the narrator. This is probably one of Bogart's finest performances, certainly his is a stand out performance in this fairytale romance that can never have a happy end because that is where we come in, in the graveyard. Ava Gardner is good, I don't know about the claims as to her fabulous beauty, Blue Ray does her no favours, exposing the thickness of make-up but her costumes also seem most constricting and unflattering. But she puts in a good performance, especially in her scenes with Bogart. It is just a shame that the promise at the start of some Hollywood expose and an attack upon the bullying and abusive producers comes to nothing and we talk once more of Cinderella. The last act could lose twenty minutes easily and indeed I would remove the entire performance of Valentina Cortese as the Count's sister who does not help at all as we descend into an appalling Hollywood cop out ending. Remains watchable, however, for the first half, Ava's early scenes and the complete Bogart performance only a couple of years before his death.

Scouting talent for an upcoming film to be shot in Italy, a trio from Hollywood (writer/director Bogart, producer Stevens and publicist O'Brien) travel to Spain to scope renowned local dancing sensation Maria Vargas (Gardner). Immediately, they are struck by her beauty and presence. In fact, Gardner has a profound effect on every man she meets...though the effect is as unique as each man she encounters. Stevens sees a talent to be exploited for all it's worth and O'Brien sees only huge marquees and dollar signs. But Bogart, after a couple of brief but revealing conversations with Maria, sees so much more. Expecting a naive Spanish peasant eager to grab at the brass ring, he finds instead a woman as smart as she is beautiful, whose main motivation is to enjoy the challenge and escape that a Hollywood career might offer a woman who will nevertheless always value the simpler things in life. Even with her inate beauty and uncommon savvy, to Maria's detriment she does not have eyes in the back of her head. Told in flashback the viewer experiences her success in Hollywood and her quest to find the true love of a man (Brazzi) that has always eluded her.

In the hands of Joseph Mankiewicz, "The Barefoot Contessa" frequently bristles with crackling dialogue (would you have expected less?). Unique to this contribution from Mankiewicz is the portent that hangs over the film. As the details of Maria's life are expounded, empathy for her fate increases accordingly. Impeccably well-cast, this is actually an ensemble film. Gardner is luminous as Maria, though she is not solely dependent on her looks to carry the film--she gives a real performance. Bogart is stalwart and sympathetic as Maria's protector. And O'Brien, in an Academy Award-winning turn, is sly and oily as the single-minded publicist who changes allegiances as often as his sweat-soaked shirts. Lensed by the great Jack Cardiff and shot largely in Italy, the European ambiance, as well as the snappy dialogue, push the credibility of the premise a notch or two above so many other so-called exposés of Hollywood excess and pretense.