Ava Gardner replaced Rita Hayworth, in the late forties and early fifties, as Hollywood's leading love goddess
She was less sparkly than Rita, and her reign, coming just before Marilyn Monroe's, was a short one, but she had certain symbolic virtues that were not to be denied
There is indeed an animal quality about her sensuality
She is a proud, restless tigress, sure of her powers, yet confused about their proper uses
"The Barefoot Contessa," opens at the rain-drenched gravesite of actress Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner) where the people who were involved with her recount how she arrived at this stern destination They include Bogart as a film director and Edmond O'Brien, who won an Academy Award for his performance as a loud-mouthed press agent
Bogart relates how he was hired to write a screenplay featuring a new glamor girl He and a rude millionaire interested in movie-making (Warren Stevens) discover Maria dancing in a Madrid cabaret and choose her as their leading lady She becomes an overnight sensation and helps Bogart regain his lost stature... The remainder of this overlong film then turns to pretentious soap-opera, building to a climax in which Maria and a boyfriend are in face of an impotent husband
The film was populated by harsh, self-indulgent, and unsavory men who all came off second-best to Bogart, a cynical but comparatively likable character
The plot had strong cinematic possibilities, but the script by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also directed, had ambiguous passages, overly ornate, and ultimately tiresome
"The Barefoot Contessa," opens at the rain-drenched gravesite of actress Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner) where the people who were involved with her recount how she arrived at this stern destination They include Bogart as a film director and Edmond O'Brien, who won an Academy Award for his performance as a loud-mouthed press agent
Bogart relates how he was hired to write a screenplay featuring a new glamor girl He and a rude millionaire interested in movie-making (Warren Stevens) discover Maria dancing in a Madrid cabaret and choose her as their leading lady She becomes an overnight sensation and helps Bogart regain his lost stature... The remainder of this overlong film then turns to pretentious soap-opera, building to a climax in which Maria and a boyfriend are in face of an impotent husband
The film was populated by harsh, self-indulgent, and unsavory men who all came off second-best to Bogart, a cynical but comparatively likable character
The plot had strong cinematic possibilities, but the script by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also directed, had ambiguous passages, overly ornate, and ultimately tiresome