The Barefoot Contessa

Has-been director Harry Dawes gets a new lease on his career when independently wealthy Kirk Edwards hires him to write and direct a film…

• Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Genre:Crime / Drama / Mystery / Romance
• Runtime:125 minutes

Cast

Humphrey Bogart : Harry Dawes
Ava Gardner : Maria Vargas
Edmond O’Brien : Oscar Muldoon
Marius Goring : Alberto Bravano
Valentina Cortese: Eleanora Torlato-Favrini (as Valentina Cortesa)

Down on his luck, veteran movie director and writer Harry Dawes is reduced to working for abusive, emotionally stunted business tycoon Kirk Edwards, who has decided he wants to produce a film to stroke his monumental ego. Looking for a fresh leading lady, they discover, in a Madrid night club, stunning dancer Maria Vargas, a blithe but proud spirit who likes to go barefoot and has a troubled home life.

Maria takes an instant dislike to Kirk but trusts Harry, whose work she knows. Thanks to his expertise and the help of sweaty, insincere publicist Oscar Muldoon, her film debut is a sensation. Kirk tries to control Maria’s life by publicly ordering her to stay away from wealthy Latin American playboy Alberto Bravano, but Maria rebels.

She is a great star, but Maria is not satisfied. She envies the happiness her friend Harry has found with his wife Jerry and wants a prince charming of her own. Alberto is too frivolous and shallow for her. When he berates her in public for supposedly ruining his luck at a gambling table, he receives a slap in the face from a stranger. This turns out to be Count Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini, who offers Maria his arm. They walk out.

Maria has found the great love of her life. They wed in a lavish ceremony, but there is a problem. The count and his spinster sister are the last of the Torlato-Favrinis; without offspring, the noble line will die out. Unfortunately, he is incapable of fathering a child because a war injury has left him impotent. He tells Maria about this on their wedding night. Read more