In his second screen appearance in color of 1954, Humphrey Bogart appeared as a director who is washed up, that is until he finds a young dancer in the streets of Madrid who he helps make a star.
The Barefoot Contessa (1954) is many things. It is long. It is only the second color movie Bogie appeared in up to this point. It features Ava Gardner and Joseph Mankiewicz. Its biggest drawback though, is its characters. None can be rooted for, except maybe the Contessa, played by Gardner. This makes the movie hard to watch since it is so long, at over two hours.
Mankiewicz had been famous for his behind-the-scenes look at Broadway in All About Eve (1950). Here he tried to expose the behind-the-scenes world of Hollywood. It doesn’t work quite as well as something like In a Lonely Place (1950). Instead of taking a hard look at all the evils of Hollywood, like Mankiewicz did for Broadway, this movie seems to be lacking the same punch. It isn’t because of the characters though. There are plenty of evil doers here, it is just that the Cinderella Contessa is meant to feel too much audience sympathy. This isn’t quite on the level of Charlie Chaplin sentimentality, but at least in Chaplin you had great comedy, this is still too sentimental for most people.
Bogie is washed up director Harry Dawes, who makes a trip to Madrid in order to see Maria Vargas. In a typical move, Vargas is in a tough situation at home, but Bogie promises the opportunity to star in a Hollywood movie. Actually this promise is made by press agent, Oscar Muldoon, played by Edmond O’Brien. Bogie promises to watch out for the young girl in America.
He keeps his promise and even though he happens to be a drunkard with a tough personality, he is the most sympathetic character to the new star. O’Brien, who won an Oscar for his performance, is great as the press agent who has no guts. The movie’s producer, Kirk Edwards, is a bully. Now, to the cynic this might seem like a perfect portrayal of the typical Hollywood types. These old men with no talent are taking advantage of a young girl. That is all true, but it gets worse for our Contessa.
She happens to become a huge star who is known throughout the world. She happens to be smitten by someone she believes to be a charming prince. He happens to be a count, thus she becomes a contessa. Anyway, this marriage made in heaven is not so. The count has his own problems and our friend the contessa develops her own. The movie doesn’t end pleasantly.
During the shooting, the mood on the set between the two stars Gardner and Bogie was not pleasant either. Gardner was on the outs with husband Frank Sinatra. Bogie happened to be good friends with Sinatra. The two were in the Rat Pack together. Or the Holmby Hills Rat Pack as it was known at this point. The group was named by Lauren Bacall one night after a hard night of partying in Vegas. She said the group she saw in the hotel room looked “like a damn rat pack.” The name stuck and the group became famous after the passing of Bogie and Sinatra took over the reins.
Anyway, the tension on the set did not make it onto the film stock. Bogie was the best friend the Contessa had. Mankiewicz wanted to make a movie about the evils of Hollywood. He succeeded in doing this, but there just isn’t enough bite in the Contessa to make the movie seem completely believable. There was plenty of bite in the Eve character Mankiewicz created four years prior. That was lacking in this movie and it hurt it as a result.
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