The Barefoot Contessa
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Movie Reviews of The Barefoot Contessa
Movie Review: The Interior Life of a Timeless Beauty
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to give this five stars because it is a movie that has stayed in my mind for more than 20 years. Viewing it again, years later, it has some endearingly melodramatic moments, but holds up very well, and is still probably one of my top 5 favorites.
This is the period of movies like THE RED SHOES that have really beautiful sceen pictures, beautiful costumes, rich color. A perfect forum for Ava Gardner who continues to hold the title in most people's minds of "the most beautiful woman ever." Cyd Charisse runs her a good race. Given that this is the story of a mesmerizing dancer, one has to wonder if she was being considered for this role. Cyd Charisse said with her dance what Ava Gardner does with her acting.
Previous reviewers have failed to mention that this is not just a Cinderella story, almost a "Camille" story, too, but it closely - VERY closely - parallells what has become common knowledge about Ava Gardner's personal life. The dynamic of her beauty and charisma being parlayed into fame, coming from "the dirt" (she was supposedly "discovered" while picking cotton in the South), and her inability to suppress her sexual appetites, destroying marriages and marring her career. It is perhaps BECAUSE of this that this role is tailor made for Gardner, and she really does a beautiful job. She is better in the tempestuous moments than the thoughtful ones. She seems a little bored by her own past, but such is the lot of a beauty... she spends a lot of time recounting things to men who really don't care what she has to say.
Some feel the story is trite, but the technique of using flashbacks from 3 different perspectives remains interesting, and a rarely used device. The issue that dates the movie is the inability to speak very openly about sex when that becomes a driving motivator within the script. The fact that the Count does not touch her before their wedding (and is so droolingly handsome), when every other man wants to paw her, is an incredible aphrodisiac. It seems to be men who don't like this movie, and I'd venture to say this is something women "get" that makes the movie ring true, that these guys aren't understanding, and don't want to. It is all there, but it is all subtle and between the lines, and some of it really needs to be spelled out a bit more. But that is her problem with the Count, ultimately, not talking first - and that is a real problem people still face.
Rosanno Brazzi remains for me the most handsome man ever on film. The only thing I really don't understand about this movie is why she lets him walk away, when she should have said "Hold it right there, buster...there's more than one way to peel a banana." ; ) Bogart is actually likable and fatherly in this film, a change of pace for him, in addition to his being part of a really stable marriage with a pretty, smart woman, makes his character very interesting, and I can see exactly why he would chose it.
Given the time period and the rags to riches story, what is surprising about this movie is that is remains so accurate and so deep, about conflicting motivations in the dynamic between men and women, and how Hollywood exploits the surface for men to sell pictures of women to men.
Movie Review: The bitter cynicism!
Summary: 5 Stars
If there is some aspect that featured the Fifties was the chilling cynicism and full questioning respect all what it was associated with power. On the other hand this psychological reaction molded and was molded too by a sociological state of anger, fury and hopeless around the social body. Far beyond the fact to have wined the war, the surrounding atmosphere was of total rebelliousness in the youth (birth of Rock & Roll), evasion (Science fiction) or sharp facing respect social realism (Noir film expansion, to other latitudes, as Kiss me deadly that deals with the possible nuclear consequences or the vanished line between law and justice As pick up on South street), but there was still another third way that was initiated among others filmmakers (Elia Kazan, Billy Wilder, Edward Dmytrik, Samuel Füller, Robert Aldrich, Nicholas Ray, Otto Preminger and Mankiewicz) who focused around the inner demons (Baby Doll), vices (The man with the golden arm), adultery in the military statement (Anatomy of a murder), syndicalism (On the waterfront) where the anti hero reached a status legend.
In this sense, The barefoot Contessa, should be watched under this somber perspective. All about Eve meant somehow the first step in this sense, but Sunset Boulevard went far beyond; its thematic audacity shocked the collective conscious. "The barefoot..." signified an absolute reject respect the tinsel of the success in Hollywood and how you can lead an unknown woman to the peak of stardom without a special talent, just supported by other attributes. If you realize for instance, the crucial meaning of The sweet smell of success you would complete the ambitious gaze respect a Decade signed for the fugacity of the fame; and that is why Bogart, in the first minutes of the film about Faust; the analogy is more than obvious. You sold your soul in the market of values disregarding the ulterior and mortal consequences this decision may convey.
The powerful anecdote was perhaps, too strong in those days; where the avidness of the producers to recreate another stories obligated to many directors to find in the Literature waters abundant material, but Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neil, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway would not give the audiences sweets for the spirit. The beatnik generation was in its boiling point, but that is another story.
Go for this bold and not easy to swallow picture. In spite of the elapsed years it contains still a strong doses of bitterness. Superb cast, glorious script and eloquent direction.
Movie Review: Rich Tones and a Sad Tale
Summary: 5 Stars
In the film, "The Barefoot Contessa," Humphrey Bogart indeed is a cynic from the very start. He niether likes his role of being a paid screenwriter on the payroll of a very moody boss and his talkative associate (Edmond O'Brien), nor does he enjoy exploiting himself. Ava Gardner as Maria is a very grounded dancer in Madrid, who cannot make up her mind between wanting stardom or wanting the simple life in her hometown. She is torn from the very start and feels she never quite belongs to the Hollywood scene. Nevertheless, all the men, except Bogart and O'Brien, are after her beauty and want a piece of her fragile being, only to end up a fatal end to her short life. The story is rather complex and if you don't pay attention to each word, you may get lost with what exactly is happening. Each word the player says is meant completely, and the film is dependent on each charactors wordplay. The actor Edmond O'Brien, for instance, uses this method effectively and grabs every scene from the film that he's in. He was fantastic in it and probably was the most humble of the characters. He really deserved his Best Supporting Actor Academy award for 1954.
Ava Gardner, sorry to say it, was merely a ploy throughout the film to pretty much show the masterful direction of Mankanviez (sp?). She was marvelous, though, and completely made the film the success as it stands today. People watch it because of her screen presence, not to examine Bogart's duantless growl or O'Brien's snappy chit-chat; it's Gardner's presence and appeal that really brought the film into status.
Overall, if you get the DVD, the clarity is remarkable and you can really notice how well Gardner spoke, see every grimace of Bogart's usual snarl and hunched back, and see some wonderful panoramic views that only Technicolor could produce. This is worth the buy; for the story and script.
Movie Review: Excellent screenplay. Great acting. Fine directing.
Summary: 5 Stars
This 1954 film was written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz who sure does know how to make movies. In one of the very first scenes, Ava Gardner is dancing in a nightclub in Spain. We know she's great even though the camera isn't on her for one minute. All we do is hear the music and watch the faces of the people watching her. By the time we do see her, she's already in her dressing room. She's absolutely gorgeous and lights up every scene she's in. We see her character's rise to movie stardom and share the unfulfilled life she leads. And then, just when we think she's finally found happiness, tragedy strikes. It's a modern day classic drama with a story that pulled me right in.Humphrey Bogart plays a movie director who befriends this "barefoot Contessa", nicknamed that because she was once so poor that she didn't have shoes. She prefers going barefoot and this theme is emphasized all the time, showing her barefoot whenever possible. Rossano Brazzi, who doesn't appear till late in the film, is cast as the true romance in her life. All of these actors do a good job, but I was particularly impressed with the performance of Edmund O'Brien, cast as a public relations man for a studio executive. It's a small part but I just kept thinking how good he was. Later I discovered that he won an Academy Award for this role.
It's the screenplay that moves the action. It never lagged and I sat there with my eyes glued to the screen wondering what would happen next. Considering that this is basically just a love story, that's saying a lot. I totally enjoyed the viewing experience. It's too bad though, that there were no features included on the DVD. It would have been nice to have a little more background. "The Barefoot Contessa" gets a high recommendation from me just because I enjoyed it so much.
Movie Review: JOSEPH L. MANKIEWICZ, OPUS 13
Summary: 5 Stars
***** 1954. Written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Academy award and Golden Globe earned by Edmond O'Brien. Huge and incredibly intelligent movie featuring an idealistic Spanish dancer lost in Hollywood. Humphrey Bogart impersonates a Mankiewicz's clone having trouble with his producer. Every line of the screenplay being meaningful, THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA is a film to be seen several times to be appreciated to its full extent. Masterpiece.