The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

"Three Act Satirical Trash Tragedy"

I could have come up with quite a few other adjectives as well, and I probably will a bit further down the page. Joseph L Mankiewicz's caustic, abrasive epic filled with delicious dialogue gets a dual format release (and its first on UK Blu-ray) from Eureka.

We open at the funeral of Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner), barefoot dancer and brief Hollywood star. Through three of the men attending the funeral who knew her, we learn of how she was discovered in a bar in Madrid, taken to Rome for a screen test, and from there starred in three Hollywood blockbusters before her life was tragically cut short.

The three men providing the (plentiful) voiceovers are film director Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart), PR man Oscar Muldoon (Edmond O'Brien who won the best supporting actor Oscar for this) and Maria's husband Count Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini (Rossano Brazzi). Each details different aspects of her life and while Brazzi's character is the one who marries her, it's Bogart who gives the most affecting and likeable performance. 

Writer-Director Joseph L Mankiewicz is one of the Hollywood greats, famous for everything from DRAGONWYCK (1946) through ALL ABOUT EVE (1950), SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER (1959) and SLEUTH (1972). Here he delivers a biting, dialogue-heavy satire about Hollywood fame. There are constant references to how life isn't like a screenplay (and I'm sure this wasn't at all a typical Hollywood picture of the time). It's interesting that even though this is a story about a woman, it's told by three men from the point of view of the relationships she had with both them and the other men in her life. 

As Maria, Ava Gardner radiates a curiously detached beauty. DP Jack Cardiff makes her glow but the detached method of storytelling means that, for all of Bogart and O'Brien and Brazzi's talk of how wonderful this woman was, we never feel as if we get to know her at all. Perhaps that's part of the point.

Eureka's 1080p presentation of the film does look a little blurry in places, with some colour streaking down the right hand side of the frame. It looks lovely on the whole, though, & I'm sure this was the best print available to work with. Extras include a trailer and an enthusiastic and engaging commentary track from David del Valle and Julie Kirgo that's well worth a listen. 

Eureka are releasing Joseph L Mankiewicz's THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA on dual format DVD & Blu-ray on Monday 12th March 2018