Review of Barefoot Contessa, The

Introduction

This 1954 movie from director Joseph L. Mankiewicz tells the story of film director Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart) who sees an opportunity to get his foundering career on track with the discovery of "The Barefoot Contessa", Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner). However, she is as intelligent as she is beautiful, and any thoughts that the filmmakers had of exploiting her talent to their own ends are soon cast aside as it becomes clear that she is very much in control. The film received an Ocsar nomination for Best Screenplay and Edmond O`Brien won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Oscar Muldoon.

Video

The video is presented in 4:3 full-frame, which is of average quality, displaying some dirt and grain. The picture is quite colourful with good contrast and is stable. Whilst not comparable to modern movies, for a film made in 1954, the presentation is very good indeed.

The visuals aren`t especially exciting, with the film set inside a studio, with interior sets used throughout the film.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital Mono, and is, like the video, of average quality. The dialogue is always clear and understandable, and the sound effects and music well reproduced.

If, like me, you have a subwoofer with a power-saver function, make sure that you disable if before watching the film - the long periods of dialogue will have it clicking on/off irritatingly.

Features

In common with far too many other MGM discs, the only extra is the trailer.

Conclusion

The Barefoot Contessa is what I would describe as a Sunday afternoon movie - easy viewing that doesn`t tax the brain, is neither exciting nor dull and watchable but not memorable.

Overall good presentation and a watchable film , but whether it`s worth buying on DVD is questionable. For £15.99 you get a film that you probably won`t watch again, with only a trailer on the disc, so this is one to rent out, or watch out for on TV instead.