The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
The Barefoot Contessa Photos
Movie Info
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Cast
as Maria Vargas
as Harry Dawes
as Oscar Muldoon
as Alberto Bravano
as Eleanora Torlato-Favrini
as Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini
as Jerry
as Kirk Edwards
as Pedro
as Myrna
as Mrs. Eubanks
as Drunken Blonde
as J. Montague Brown
as Night Club Proprietor
as Busboy
as Maria's Mother
as Maria's Father
as Mr. Black
as Mr. Blue
as Gypsy Dancer
as The Pretender
as The Pretender's Wife
as Lulu McGee
as Hector Eubanks
as Eddie Blake
as Chambermaid
as Chauffeur
Critic Reviews for The Barefoot Contessa
All Critics (8) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (8) | Rotten (0)
An imperfect film, but its excesses are as suggestive as its subtleties.
Mankiewicz's bitter-sweet satire of Hollywood is extremely well acted by Bogart (witty), Avan Gardner (gorgeous), and Edmond O'Brien, who won the Supporting Oscar.
Brilliantly witty but trashy showbiz melodrama.
Bogart, Gardner sizzle
Audience Reviews for The Barefoot Contessa
An actress, who befriends a washed up Hollywood director, struggles to maintain her integrity in the spurious business of movie-making. Joseph L. Mankiewicz is a master story-teller. Yes, in this film, he takes the easy way out of exposition by using voice over, but the characters so are finely drawn and theme is carried with deft clarity. Humphrey Bogart proves himself to be an actor, an artist, not just a personality like many movie stars of his era. His scenes with Ava Gardner are rich with subtext, and while there's a palpable sexual attraction between the two characters, both people realize that decorum demands they react as they do. Mankiewicz's themes of personal integrity and Hollywood's corruption, on display in All About Eve and this film, have universal appeal because there's little that's unique about Mankiewicz's version of Hollywood. I thought that the writing got a little heavy-handed here and there. Overall, however, The Barefoot Contessa is a very good, classic film that puts Mankiewicz and Bogart's talents on full display.
Super Reviewer
Not as a good attempt at mythologizing (and demythologizing) a star through multiple perspectives as in All About Eve. The structure of the film is the same and shows how much forward of his time Mankiewicz was in breaking classical narrative within the compounds of Hollywood (still Citizen Kane precedes everything else and one should comment M. for accepting the lesson). Bogard isn't convincing enough in this movie as he still looks like he is out of a gangster film but he has a rare, inner quality of emotion at times. The film totally shines in dialogue (after all this is a Mankiewicz script) just as All About Eve and the brilliant lines come one after the other. For that reason and for the characterization that is created this way it totally deserves to be seen.
Super Reviewer
Great cast and good story but it misses somewhat and is rather plodding. Good try though.
Super Reviewer
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