The Barefoot Contessa
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Movie Reviews of The Barefoot Contessa
Movie Review: OVER THE TOP
Summary: 3 Stars
Usual Hollywood formula - rich boy finds poor but beautiful and talented girl, rich boy marries girl, beautiful and talented girl discovers that
rich husband has nothing working below the belt, rich boy finds wife and stable boy in barn together- and shoots them both...
Movie Review: Long, Talky and Dull
Summary: 2 Stars
The Barefoot Contessa is only slightly over two hours long, but it seems interminable. As World War II came to an end and the European economic recovery fueled by the Marshall Plan took effect, Americans were beginning to enjoy travel in Europe. Here we have two very big stars (Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardener) and a film crew getting to spend several weeks along the Riviera making "The Barefoot Contessa." They probably should just have taken a vacation in Europe, though the decision to make this flimsy excuse of a movie probably made tax sense.
Joseph L. Mankiewicz wrote and directed this story of Maria Vargas, a "Spanish dancer" from a sordid background whose beauty and supposed talent attract Hollywood scouts to the seedy Madrid nightclub where she performs. After about half an hour of talk and maneuvering, she's convinced to come to Hollywood where she gains stardom as "Maria D'Amato." There's more talk and I fell asleep for about 15 minutes. She goes back to Europe where, along the Riviera, she mingles with the "international society" set, which includes a number of deposed but still monied aristocrats. After never allowing herself to love anyone, she falls in love with an Italian count--or maybe he's French or from Monaco. From somewhere along the Riviera anyway, and he owns some impressive real estate with sweeping views. They marry in the Catholic church, and on their wedding night, he tells her her can't function as a husband due to injuries sustained in the war. To give the count an heir, which Maria thinks will make him happy, she fools around with a gardener. When the count finds out, he kills Maria. The story is told as a series of flashbacks, interspersed with scenes her rain-soaked funeral.
To the extent the movie has a story arc, it's about Maria's "fairy tale" life, from the gutter to fame and fortune to royalty, and then her unhappy ending. The real concern seems to be to give Mankiewicz an opportunity to vent his obsessions about the phoniness of the movies, the film industry, and society as a whole, and boy does he vent. The characters, mostly the supporting characters, talk on and on and on about matters that have little bearing on the story. Their chatter does nothing to advance the story or develop the characters. The script strains for wit it almost invariably fails to find. Although the Riviera settings are gorgeous, the camerawork does little to bring them, or the characters, to life. If the ten commandments of good storytelling all rolled into one are "show don't tell," this movie will spend eternity in hell. It's all telling and no showing.
This was my first Ava Gardner movie and I suspect it will be my last. She's a feast for the eyes and wears lovely and seductive costumes as Maria. Unfortunately, she has about as much charisma as a cardboard box.
Humphrey Bogart is competent and gives a relaxed but not particularly memorable performance as the film director who shapes Maria's career.
Not recommended except for people who have to see everything Bogart ever did.
Movie Review: Quite a mess-a, that contessa
Summary: 2 Stars
Now, here's a movie title I'd heard for years, and I thought I'd finally see it. Reading over the box, it's quite a cast: jaded Humphrey Bogart, sultry Ava Gardner, and one of my favorite romantic stars, Rosanno Brazzi. Plot sounds promising--movie man Bogart molds free soul spaniard Ava into a big movie star desired by many men, but needing to live life on her own terms. Not to omit either that it was written and directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, of "All About Eve" and "Letter to Three Wives" fame. Sure fire enjoyment, right? NOT.1. Terrible dialogue! How come Americans playing "foreign" people in movies are always supposed to speak without using contractions? Ava sounds terribly stilted here, and many preposterous lines are uttered by the other cast members.
2. Bad casting! Bogart's a big name, and I guess that why they wanted him, but I'll be darned if I know why he accepted this role. He is not the romantic lead and his character is shown to be spineless early on when he acts like a toady for his tyrannical boss. If you've ever seen Gable in "The Hucksters", then you know how that star's character reponds much more admirably to his boss Sidney Greenstreet's attempts to cow him. Here, Bogart cannot command my respect from the get-go.
3. "Old War Wound" plot development rears its head again! Oh my gosh, This is by Mankiewicz, not Hemingway--what's this doing here?
So, "The Barefoot Contessa" failed all the way round to live up to my expectations, except that it was nice to gaze upon always handsome RB. Rent at your own risk.
Movie Review: Pointy Bra Perversions
Summary: 2 Stars
The mid-50's saw some awesome color movies. TV was killing Hollywood and they were forced to go to the more expensive print to compete. The Barefoot Contessa shows us the French- Italian Riviera circa 1954 as a lost paradise. The film was a Ava Gardner star vehicle. Her fashions, the filmy gowns and gold laced pant-suit outfits, the glossy red lipstick and black hair were something to look at all right. It could have been overly gaudy, but Humphrey Bogart had a lot of clout at the end of his career, so though this is a failed film, they tried.
Barefoot also push's the life style of the rich and famous envelope for the folks back in Peoria. This is what it must be like to live like Ava and Humphrey. The homes, the clothes, the parties, and the nasty money boys, its all stereotyped, but your 1954 date isn't complaining and you might get to third base later.
Okay, I'm having a little fun with 1950's sexual mores and their pointy bra perversions. Ava Gardner is the ultimate pointy bra gal.
Movie Review: started out great, then went bad
Summary: 2 Stars
I watched this movie with great anticipation. It is very well acted and starts out great. It's the story of a young Spanish woman who comes to America to star in movies. She has had an extremely hard life and wants to get away from it all. She becomes an overnight star and has everything, except love. She meets and falls in love with a Count and that's where the story goes horribly wrong. Basically, she finds out, on their wedding night, he can't fufill her in marriage, so she has an affair. She gets pregnant, which she is excited about, and then her husband finds out about the affair, but not the pregnancy, and kills her and the man she has the affair with.
It was a horrible ending to an, otherwise, great movie.