I have always felt that if Humphrey Bogart had not died in 1957 he would have gradually left the lead roles of his greatest films to pick up very juicy character roles, and the film that convinces of this is THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA. His Harry Dawes is not the hero of this tragedy - there is no hero, just a heroine who loses all. Harry is her closest confidante and guide, for he sees the talent that makes Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner) the great film star she becomes, but he realizes that she is a very real and good person - but a terribly naive one for all that in a corrupt world. It is Harry's sad duty not only to help tell the audience the story, but to watch (one might say inevitably) Maria destroy herself.
Harry is one of the people that wealthy control freak Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens) finds available because they are on beams end. Harry has had drinking problems, and his career as a film director is in the toilet. Edwards has found Maria in the slums of Madrid, and believes she has great potential. He wants Harry to direct her in a film test, just to be sure. Harry has little choice, and does the test - but he gets to know Maria and win her trust. And he finds a way to somehow do his work for Edwards but give Maria a fighting chance to not be under Edwards' iron glove control.
We watch Maria's career progress, with her honesty able to capture public approval when she runs to defend her father from a homicide charge. Later we see her successfully break with first Edwards, and then his Latin American rival Alberto Bravano (Marius Goring) and then falling in love with the Count Vincenzo Torlato - Favrini (Rossano Brazzi) whom she marries in the belief he is her long awaited knight in shining armor. But the Count has a secret, and in learning it and trying to overcome it Maria destroys all she achieved in four short years.
All of Joseph Mankiewicz's films are literate - he is possibly the most verbally careful of all major film directors. Some by the way find that THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA may stray too far afield because of the dialog (most of the film's narration is during a funeral). But he still gets some very effective scenes in. The confrontation between Edwards, a humorless example of the Puritan work ethic, and Bravano (who for all his defects is honest about enjoying his money and position to appreciate living) at a party is a great highpoint. So is such a minor moment as when a royal pretender to a throne makes a tragically accurate comparison between himself and Torlatto - Favrini. So stick to that dialog - it pays off.
The film is also a roman-a-clef. Some of the characters are obviously clones of real people. Edwards the millionaire control freak is based on Howard Hughes, especially with private contracts for performers like Jane Russell. Bravano has a lot of the Dominican Republic playboy Porfirio Ruberosa. The background of Maria Vargas is supposedly based on that of Rita Casino (Rita Hayworth). I am sure that Harry Dawes is based on some directors that Mankiewicz knew of, as was Edmond O'Brien's publicist and factotum Oscar Muldoon (catch his scene on the telephone talking to Harry when the latter is in Hollywood and Oscar is in London, or his final break with Edwards - "the Party's Over" - and realize this role, not D.O.A., was the one that netted O'Brien his Oscar for best supporting actor). A fascinating study of the limits of movie fame and fortune in winning happiness.
Final note: Mankiewicz apparently could not avoid having a small joke at the expense of his audience. When we see Maria's first film, the marquee has a poster that mentions the screenplay is by "Lloyd Richards". "Lloyd Richards" (Hugh Marlowe) was the dramatist who wrote plays for Margo Channing and Eve Harrington in Mankiewicz's classic ALL ABOUT EVE!
Harry is one of the people that wealthy control freak Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens) finds available because they are on beams end. Harry has had drinking problems, and his career as a film director is in the toilet. Edwards has found Maria in the slums of Madrid, and believes she has great potential. He wants Harry to direct her in a film test, just to be sure. Harry has little choice, and does the test - but he gets to know Maria and win her trust. And he finds a way to somehow do his work for Edwards but give Maria a fighting chance to not be under Edwards' iron glove control.
We watch Maria's career progress, with her honesty able to capture public approval when she runs to defend her father from a homicide charge. Later we see her successfully break with first Edwards, and then his Latin American rival Alberto Bravano (Marius Goring) and then falling in love with the Count Vincenzo Torlato - Favrini (Rossano Brazzi) whom she marries in the belief he is her long awaited knight in shining armor. But the Count has a secret, and in learning it and trying to overcome it Maria destroys all she achieved in four short years.
All of Joseph Mankiewicz's films are literate - he is possibly the most verbally careful of all major film directors. Some by the way find that THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA may stray too far afield because of the dialog (most of the film's narration is during a funeral). But he still gets some very effective scenes in. The confrontation between Edwards, a humorless example of the Puritan work ethic, and Bravano (who for all his defects is honest about enjoying his money and position to appreciate living) at a party is a great highpoint. So is such a minor moment as when a royal pretender to a throne makes a tragically accurate comparison between himself and Torlatto - Favrini. So stick to that dialog - it pays off.
The film is also a roman-a-clef. Some of the characters are obviously clones of real people. Edwards the millionaire control freak is based on Howard Hughes, especially with private contracts for performers like Jane Russell. Bravano has a lot of the Dominican Republic playboy Porfirio Ruberosa. The background of Maria Vargas is supposedly based on that of Rita Casino (Rita Hayworth). I am sure that Harry Dawes is based on some directors that Mankiewicz knew of, as was Edmond O'Brien's publicist and factotum Oscar Muldoon (catch his scene on the telephone talking to Harry when the latter is in Hollywood and Oscar is in London, or his final break with Edwards - "the Party's Over" - and realize this role, not D.O.A., was the one that netted O'Brien his Oscar for best supporting actor). A fascinating study of the limits of movie fame and fortune in winning happiness.
Final note: Mankiewicz apparently could not avoid having a small joke at the expense of his audience. When we see Maria's first film, the marquee has a poster that mentions the screenplay is by "Lloyd Richards". "Lloyd Richards" (Hugh Marlowe) was the dramatist who wrote plays for Margo Channing and Eve Harrington in Mankiewicz's classic ALL ABOUT EVE!