Pros: Several scenes of Ava Gardner, in period International Set chic, almost save the picture.
Cons: No vital production numbers but easy cliches about Hollywood and the Jet Set.
The Bottom Line: THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA is an example of how the lurid public appetite for gossip was satisfied over 50 years ago. It now succeeds as Sociology but fails as Art.
In my last review, tracing parallels to THE RED SHOES (Powell/Pressburger, 1948), I discussed an underrated film: PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN (Lewin, 1951). Here, following the same theme, I'm going to take on THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA (Mankiewicz, 1954), another independent film inspired by THE RED SHOES, also starring Ava Gardner, one OVERRATED in almost every regard.
Not only did THE RED SHOES influence an obsessed, peripheral aesthete like Albert Lewin, not to mention song and dance men like Stanley Donen and Gene Kelley -- AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1952); SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1953) -- it inspired the most successful producer/writer/director of his day, Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Brother of legendary Herman J. Mankiewicz (CITIZEN KANE, 1941), father of a future novelist (Tom) and a political expert (Frank) [the object of the Watergate Break-in], Joe Mankiewicz navigated a career which dated back to 1929, when he wrote subtitles for UFA in Germany. He worked steadily for the movies until he was given a chance to both write and direct: DRAGONWYCK (1946), THE LATE GEORGE APLEY, SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT, THE GHOST AND MRS MUIR (all 1947) and ESCAPE (1949).
He hit stride in A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (1950), and followed it the same year with HOUSE OF STRANGERS; then NO WAY OUT and the classic ALL ABOUT EVE in 1951; PEOPLE WILL TALK (1952), FIVE FINGERS (1953), and JULIUS CAESAR (1954).
As you can see, unlike Michael Powell or Albert Lewin, Joe Mankiewicz worked at breakneck pace, literally keeping a stop watch on himself and others, fining anyone who was a minute late, or who failed to hit a mark. He was the consummate insider, a raconteur, a drinker, a gambler -- somewhat like John Huston, but without his occasional compassion and charm. Mankiewicz knew where all the bodies were buried, and his films, listed above, reflect an interest in the hidden, in gossip. His best work reveals him a master of the flashback which tells us "how it really was." (And by implication, how it is.) His films are full of insinuating voice overs and knowledgeable narrators who tell the audience the difference between appearance and reality, in often glamorous milieux.
It is not surprising, then, that for THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, Mankiewicz fashioned a story from elements of THE RED SHOES and the life of Rita Hayworth. The hitch was that Miss Hayworth would not sign for the role, claiming reasonably that a film about a Gypsy dancer -- one thought to be a nymphomaniac -- who escapes Hollywood to a life of International self-indulgence, and marries a nobleman, might place her failing career in a bad light with her public. She had experienced many humiliations, and besides, the Count Torlato-Favrini in the movie was impotent, and her royal husband Aly Khan certainly was not.
Given a choice between Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardner, Mankiewicz chose Ava, and added a touch of PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN.
Ava Gardner, despite her real name of Lucy Johnson, had the carriage and bone structure of a Spanish Gypsy Princess. Indeed, her North Carolina heritage suggests that a number of nationalities and races were mixed in her unconventional, democratic self. She exuded the Moorish qualities that won her the title of "The Most Beautiful Animal in the World." She was perfect for the part of Gypsy Maria Damata, who becomes International Movie Star Maria Vargas.
The film begins with Maria's funeral in Italy, and it proceeds by rolling and recurrent flashbacks to tell of her rise and fall as a dancer and actress. The story, narrated by alcoholic movie director Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart), shifts to Madrid, where we see a Howard Hughes-like millionaire producer, Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens), sweep in with his entourage of bought and paid for talent: Harry, Publicist Oscar Muldoon (Edmund O'Brien) and Mistress "Myrna" (Mari Aldon), among them. They have come from Rome to see and put under contract, for an International film, sensational Flamenco Dancer Maria Damata.
We realize immediately that Kirk Edwards is a megalomaniac and a real bum. How he has his hirelings present his offer does not impress Maria, a troubled, earthy young woman. In typical American fashion, they miss her performance, arriving after their own dinner, but before the 11 o'clock hour, when Spaniards traditionally dine. Eventually, Bogart's Harry (also part of Edwards' hack brigade, tracks her down and befriends her. He learns of her troubled family, and that, as a little girl, she was traumatized during the Spanish Civil War.
Whenever the demands of her life are too much for her, when her mother predicts a bad end for her, when her father murders her mother, she literally takes off her shoes and demeans herself sexually with any available male from her tribe.
Maria trusts Harry, however, to guide her career, and her Screen Test directed by him is a sensation. She makes several huge pictures and establishes herself as an International Star, all the while fending off the demanding Kirk Edwards.
Harry is happy with his girl Jerri (Elizabeth Sellars), and they befriend Maria. They are present at Kirk Edwards' mansion in LA when both Maria and Oscar Muldoon get fed up with Kirk. The catalyst is South American Millionaire Alberto Bravano (played with great elan by Marius Goring), who wins the two defectors over as much in reaction to Kirk's disgusting behavior as by his own offers of power and pleasure.
After we return once again to the funeral, Oscar takes up the story of Maria's empty adventures with Bravano and the jaded Beautiful People. Then the Italian Count Torlata-Favrini (Rossano Brazzi) has a turn when he sees Maria dancing with her tribe of Gypsies, falls in love, and at the Casino de Monte Carlo, takes Maria away from an outraged Bravano. This sequence told twice, each time from a different point of view, is the most successful in the movie.
[And for one who has stood in the Casino de Monte Carlo, it is an exhilerating few moments.]
Unfortunately, the Count does not know what to do with Maria, other than to marry her, and have portraits or statues made of her, because his manhood was shattered in 1942, serving with the Italian Army at Bengasi.
Each epicene liaison is punctuated by a common and desperate sexual encounter, mostly off stage. Harry takes over again for the tragic finale, and we are back at the funeral.
The film, unlike PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, was eaten up by a public for whom Rita Hayworth, as represented by Ava Gardner, was the Madonna or Julia Roberts of her era. Producer/Writer/Director Mankiewicz was hailed for what was called "a scathing expose" of Hollywood, and the rich and famous overseas. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story and Screenplay. Edmund O'Brien won both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for his sweaty PR man, Oscar Muldoon. Mario Nascimbene's musical score became famous.
Seldom noted, the resemblances between THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA with THE RED SHOES or PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN are considerable. Maria and Vickie (THE RED SHOES) are dancers; Pandora is a singer. Maria and Vicki are discovered by overbearing producers. All three attract numerous admirers. All three are given predictions of disaster. Each film has a sequence in mid film which seals the heroine's fate. (In THE RED SHOES, it is the ballet; in PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, it is a reading of "The Legend of the Flying Dutchman"; in the THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, it is the confrontation of all the principals over Maria.)
In all three films, Jack Cardiff is the Director of Photography, and we can trace the gradual conventionalizing of his style in these films, especially in THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA. (But, as in THE RED SHOES, Cardiff makes the sequence in Monte Carlo palpable.) In all three films, Marius Goring plays an important supporting role.
Finally, in all three films, the heroine dies with her shoes off. In fact, in THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, Harry Dawes takes off Maria's shoes just as, in THE RED SHOES, Julian Kraster removes Vicki's bloodstained ballet slippers by the side of the train that has struck her.
That said, THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA is the poorest of the three films. Why is hard to say. Mankiewicz was no doubt ambitious, hoping to combine elements of two successful films of artistic tragedy with a feminized The Sun Also Rises for the Post-World War II set. Most likely, Mankiewicz had to balance too many elements in his screenplay and likely toned the action down when the film's inspiration, Rita Hayworth, refused to make herself a willing target. (Libel and slander suits could be won in those days and were serious business.) This film was also his first in color, and his first film made substantially overseas, which may have intimidated him.
Then, given rather stilted motivation and dialogue, Ava Gardner is not as effective a Maria Damata as she had been a Pandora Reynolds, four years earlier. She has to play not only a Spaniard but a Spanish Gypsy Dancer. She is fairly effective in her accent and at speaking Spanish, but Mankiewicz sabotages her. He opts, consciously, I think, not to show her dancing on stage, does not show her screen test, any clips from the movies that made her a star, and does not show her despairing real life love scenes. He must have thought these omissions artistic and continental. Ava Gardner looks the part but is robbed both of credible motivation and an opportunity to display fully her charisma.
In the final assessment, the frantic pace of Mankiewicz's direction, seems to have vitiated every performance and characterization in THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, with the exception of Goring's Bravano. Edmund O'Brien's Oscar Winning Performance, viewed today, has lost its luster. In fact, his appearance and delivery early in the film are almost laughable, and Veteran Humphrey Bogart is also off his game. Mankiewicz's narration, usually his strength, seems shallow, and Bogart's tired delivery does not help. The film is sometimes an embarrassment.
Joseph L. Mankiewicz's output slowed way down after THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, and his karma awaited him when he caught up with Elizabeth Taylor in CLEOPATRA (1963).
Ava Gardner had fallen for Spain and Gypsies when she starred in PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN in 1950. By the time she made THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, she had married Frank Sinatra, become famous and immersed herself in Spanish Gypsy Culture. While on the shoot, she was trying to escape the possessive Ol' Mr. Blue Eyes.
If you see the film, watch for a very effective scene where Count Torlato-Fabrini watches Maria dance in a Gypsy encampment. Cardiff shoots almost all of it in long and medium camera, and he tells us in his autobiography, The Magic Hour, that Ava had stayed out all night dancing with the actual Gypsies. They returned to the camp. Ava put on fresh make-up and she did the whole scene in two takes. (In the one medium close-up, we can see that her eyelids and eyes are red with lack of sleep.)
After all, Maria Damata had been up all night dancing with Gypsies!
That one scene is almost worth the rental.
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UPDATE: October 21, 2006 -- I'm going to do something that I seldom do. Recently, on PBS I saw a beautiful, restored, widescreen version of THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA, in HD. The plot is still a bit artificial, and the picture still needs a couple of scenes of Ava dancing before her "gypsy dance," but it is a better film than I last found it. I'm giving it an extra Star, but I'm still not recommending it.
Sparkling with juicy dialogue (Leonard Maltin) and a superb cast (including Edmund O Brien in an Oscar-winning performance), this landmark film is spe...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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