Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

The Barefoot Contessa Blu-ray Movie Review

"If you can act, I can help you. If you can't, nobody can teach you..."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown May 21, 2024

Once considered a bonafide, indisputable classic, The Barefoot Contessa has slid downhill a bit, coming to rest somewhere near numerous beloved films of yesteryear that, today, don't play with the same power or pizazz they once held. More melodramatic than you might remember and slower than you might enjoy, it's a film that hasn't aged as well as the memory of its stars and the nostalgia of the golden age of Hollywood and all it represented culturally at the time. It's strange to see Humphrey Bogart light a cigarette every time he wants to lay on the riz, as if it's an improv actor's go-to prop when it actually represented everything smooth and suave in its day. And that's just one of many elements that combine with a supporting cast of over and under-performing actors who make for a wobbly, sometimes jarring series of scenes. That said (and soon to be disagreed with in the forum I'm sure), there's a certain charm to the whole thing that makes Bogart's washed-up film director seem that much cooler and Ava Gardner's titular lounge singer that much more alluring. It might just work. Might...

"To a girl with nothing a man with hundreds is just as rich as a man with millions."

Told as a series of graveside flashbacks narrated by Bogart's Harry Dawes, a has-been alcoholic working for the wealthy Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens), who's eyeballing a new career in Hollywood as a producer. All he needs is a great actress; a starlet people won't be able to take their eyes off; a woman like dancer Maria Vargas (Gardner), living in Madrid, who just needs the right pitch to join his team. Produced, directed and written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (A Letter to Three Wives, All About Eve), The Barefoot Contessa also stars Edmond O'Brien, Marius Goring, Valentina Cortese, Rossano Brazzi, Elizabeth Sellars, Franco Interlenghi, Mari Aldon, Alberto Rabagliati, Enzo Staiola, Maria Zanoli, Renato Chiantoni and Bill Fraser.

Click here to read Jeffrey Kauffman's 2020 review of the film, which he calls "a glossy fairy tale, albeit one of the Grimm Brothers variety due to some kind of disturbing subtexts that are added." Going on to write, "Mankiewicz seems to want to "out Hollywood" Hollywood, by presenting an overly glamorized tale of a woman who is handed stardom without much fuss and bother, something that makes the roiling "personal" story of Maria seem almost ridiculously melodramatic by contrast."

The Barefoot Contessa Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hm. Strike that. Let me try again. Hmmmm. The Barefoot Contessa returns to Blu-ray with a problematic 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer that, one minute, looks fantastic, and the next looks... rough. First, let's discuss the aspect ratio. Filmed at 1.75:1 and later presented on DVD at 1.33:1, Sandpiper (and Eureka before it) have elected to stick with the master given to them, which is 1.85:1. The change from the original photography is negligible thankfully, despite the fact that those who have only seen the 4:3 DVD may be (mistakenly) more irritated. The rest of the image, though, is where the problems lie. Colors are generally warm and simmering with life, but there are too many instances where skintones drift toward red. Very red. Or orange, peach, pale pink? It's a bit of a crap-shoot honestly. Black levels and contrast are inky and vibrant, but look closer and you'll spot some crush, particularly (of all places) in some of the actors' black-as-pitch hair.

Detail, meanwhile, is decent, though spotty. At its best it offers clean edges, notable textures and a fine veneer of grain. At it's worst? *Shudder* Not good. Edge fringing (colors splitting into three distinct red, green and blue "edges") is a far too frequent occurrence, and sometimes is downright distracting. Clarity also takes hits on the regular, with softness invading quite a bit. Much of it is presumably optical problems that trace back to the original photography. But it's the 21st century. Restoration houses fix these sorts of issues all the time, and without anyone being the wiser. Speaking of things that can be fixed easily today, the print utilized here is also plagued by slight but continuous specks, spots, hairs, lines and other nuisances, which never helps. Ultimately, The Barefoot Contessa is a film sorely in need of a proper makeover. Here's hoping whoever inherits it after Sandpiper will put in the time, money and TLC to rejuvenate its ailing bones.

The Barefoot Contessa Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's primary DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track has a few issues of its own. Prioritization is a tad strange, with narration sounding as if it's in a completely different space than dialogue. Voices are clear and intelligible otherwise, without anything that might spoil the experience. Likewise, environmental ambience, while a touch more subtle than I would've preferred, is well represented -- crowd noise, seaside or out-on-the-ocean elements, screening studios, and other locations are decently varied -- and dynamics are adequate. LFE output is slight too but it rarely matters. The Barefoot Contessa sounds... alright; delivering on expectations with only a few disappointments.

The Barefoot Contessa Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

In typical Sandpiper fashion, no extras -- including those on previous releases from other studios -- have been ported over to this Blu-ray release of The Barefoot Contessa.

The Barefoot Contessa Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Like the Limited Edition Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray before it, the Sandpiper release of The Barefoot Contessa has one too many issues to recommend. The film's mileage varies -- some will continue to love it and declare it a must-see classic, others will be less enthused -- but still earns its place among a very special class of 1950s movies that helped define an entire era of cinema. Its video presentation is more problematic, as anomaly after anomaly renders it excellent one moment, unsightly the next. A proper remaster or full restoration would work wonders, though that's probably not in the cards anytime soon. The disc's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is a bit better, despite a few issues of its own, and there's no substantive special features to speak of, which is another disappointment considering previous releases have included a commentary. Bottom line? Proceed with caution.