Barefoot Contessa - Humphrey Bogart

Going to see The Barefoot Contessa this evening with my friend Margaret. This is the last in the University of Chicago, DOC Tuesday night series of Humphrey Bogart movies. I saw this movie years and years ago on an old black and white TV. I'm sure it will be better on the big screen.

"A script has to make sense; life doesn’t.”

– director Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart) in THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA

Tuesday, March 6 • 7 • 128m

The Barefoot Contessa

Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1954 • At the funeral of a countess, those who knew her recall her past. Bogart plays Harry Dawes, a once-successful film director and writer, eventually reduced to working for Kirk Edwards, an unpleasant millionaire who has decided to make a film. Harry casts a beautiful nightclub dancer, Maria, played by Ava Gardener, in the lead role, and when the film is a hit she becomes a star. Press agent Oscar Muldoon recounts her affair with a wealthy playboy, before dissatisfaction, despite her great fame, leads her to seek love with an Italian count. 35mm

According to Turner Classic Movies,  Mankiewicz based the film's central character of Maria Vargas on American movie star and dancer Rita Hayworth, who had been married to Prince Aly Khan. Here is an original review of the movie by the New York Times in 1954: 
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9507E1DC123AE53BBC4850DFBF66838F649EDE