THE MOVIE

This movie is director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s follow-up to his hugely successful “All About Eve”. It follows a similar plot as it tracks the rising career of a female in show business, this time it is in film (“All About Eve” was about the stage). The female lead is the impressive Ava Gardner as Maria Largas, a Spanish dancer who enjoys life’s challenges. Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens) is a producer determined to get her into one of his movies.

At first Edwards gets his PR man, Oscar Muldoon (Edmond O’Brian who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in this role), to entice Maria to come and star in his movie but she is not interested and sees both men as the money hungry men that they are. Edwards then asks Harry Dawes (Humphrey Bogart), a once successful Hollywood writer and director to persuade her and he eventually manages to get her to talk with Kirk. After doing a screen test she ends up starring in an instant smash-hit movie.

Without spoiling the movie, Maria doesn’t want to be caught up in all the glitz of the movie industry but does want to find a man to share her life with, so we watch as her character deals with fame and relationships and the eventual tragedy of death.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Barefoot Contessa is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame and is not 16x9 enhanced.

Film artifacting in the form of grain is present throughout the transfer, although it is not an overly distracting problem, and is to be expected from a film of this age.

The transfer is not very sharp and at times scenes look extremely soft. Often soft filters are used for female characters to make them appear more appealing; due to this technique the transfer varies from scene to scene. The shadow detail is not impressive but is acceptable given the age of the film. Colours appear well rendered although they are quite subdued.

Audio:

The DVD contains a Dolby Digital 2.0 mono audio track so there is no use of surround speakers.

There is nothing outstanding about this transfer, but for what it is, it has been done quite well. The dialogue is always clear and easy to understand. Mario Nascimbene’s score is similarly clear but is limited in its frequency response.

THE EXTRAS

Theatrical Trailer
A standard 1950s trailer that has not been restored and is presented in a full-frame aspect ratio.

SUMMARY

Mankiewicz’s follow-up to “All About Eve” is nowhere near as entertaining but because of the impressive cast it is good to watch. With a satisfactory transfer given the films age it is good to have this released as a region 4 disc.