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The Barefoot Contessa

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The Barefoot Contessa

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Summary

Satirical drama starring Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner. Harry Dawes, a fading Hollywood director, discovers beautiful flamenco dancer Maria Vargas in a tawdry Madrid nightclub and turns her into a star. However, Maria soon tires of the Tinseltown world she has conquered.

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IMDB

Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Tony Sloman

"The world's most beautiful animal", shrieked the ads for this mordant satire on the movie business. Unsurprisingly, nobody disputed the fact, for "the animal" was none other than Ava Gardner in her prime, playing a character based on her glamorous predecessor Rita Hayworth. Humphrey Bogart co-stars as her cynical director, Harry Dawes ("I made her," he snarls, witheringly, and you believe him). Director/writer Joseph L Mankiewicz had previously satirised Broadway in the multi-Oscar-winning All about Eve, and this is similar, but far less theatrical. Edmond O'Brien collected an Oscar here as the sweaty publicist, and there's a star-making performance from Rossano Brazzi. By the way, the bare feet belonged not to Gardner but to Margo Lorenz, who was also the foot-double for Gardner in The Little Hut, and went on to star in some British B-movies.

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6.9/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameHarry DawesHumphrey BogartMaria VargasAva GardnerOscar MuldoonEdmond O'BrienAlberto BravanoMarius GoringEleanora Torlato-FavriniValentina CorteseVincenzo Torlato-FavriniRossano BrazziJerryElizabeth SellarsKirk EdwardsWarren StevensPedroFranco InterlenghiMyrnaMari AldonMrs EubanksBessie LoveDrunken blondeDiana DeckerJ Montague BrownBill Fraser

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Crew

rolenameDirectorJoseph L Mankiewicz

Details

Theatrical distributor

United Artists Corp. Ltd

Languages

English | Italian | French | Spanish

Available on

video, DVD and Blu-ray

Formats

Colour

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