Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

george-purdy This Director is OK as a director and has directed some great films, but is generally not so good as a writer. This one is spectacularly bad. He did write and direct the very successful "People will talk", but that had originally been written as a play by someone else, so he was really mainly being a director. Also, "Barefoot" was an inside Hollywood story by a Hollywood insider, and so perhaps he lost his objectivity. They say that autobiographies are nearly always bad.

Mark Turner I've long been a fan of Humphrey Bogart. Growing up in the sixties provided me with ample opportunity to see his films since back then VHS stations had classic films as their staple. Even with that being the case I didn't have the chance to see them all or even most of them. Thank goodness for the invention of video and later disc. Because of that I now have the chance to see things I missed like this feature.Opening with the funeral of a movie star the movie features Bogart as Harry Dawes, a down on his luck director who's been teamed up with a producer new to the business, Kirk Edwards (Warren Stevens). Kirk is a man with too much money and too little know how. To support him he has PR man Oscar Muldoon (Edmund O'Brien) on hand to kiss his ring and do as he's told. It was a performance that won O'Brien an Oscar.One night they come across a flamenco dancer named Maria Vargas (Ava Gardner) in a small club while scouting locations. Having caught his eye Kirk wants her for the movie even if she has no experience. Except that she speaks to no one.Harry tracks her down to the small apartment where she lives with her family. There he convinces her to join the team and from there she achieves stardom. Maria and Harry remain friends but to Kirk she remains a possession. She leaves him to be with a wealthy South American named Alberto Bravano just to spite Kirk but eventually leaves him as well. It isn't until she meets Count Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini (Rossano Brazzi) that she finds love but there is a secret there that remains hidden until her death.All of this might seem like a spoiler but most going into the film know the story already. Even the blurbs on disc covers discuss most of it. It isn't the beginning to end tale that is the main focus here but the way the story unspools that holds the viewer's interest. Some have called the story weak and found it boring, others praise it for its simplicity and straightforward telling of the tale. As for myself I found it tedious at moments but entertaining on the whole.Bogart isn't used as much as I would have liked to have seen him, especially since he's a name above the title here. One has to assume that was to create a draw for the film as he was still a box office presence at the time. Still his performance is a subtle one that displays his abilities quite well. Gardner is a sight to behold as well, showing she had more talent than given credit for over the years.In the end it's one of those movie that talks about the tragedies that befall those in the film business without trying to make it appeal for sympathy of those involved on the seedier side of things. It's entertaining and a piece of film history to be enjoyed.Twilight Time presents the film in the best way possible but what else would we expect? Extras include an isolated score track, audio commentary with film historians Julie Kirgo and David Del Valle, a stills gallery from the David Del Valle Archive and the original theatrical trailer. Once more pressings of this were limited to just 3,000 copies so if interested pick one up now.

dougdoepke An oddity for a decade prone to fairy tale type movies. After all, the build-up is that of a fairy tale coming true for peasant girl Maria (Gardner). In stages she's lifted from poverty-- first, by a film director who gets her a screen test; then, from a successful test she becomes a successful star; after which, she blossoms into a popular super star. From those heights, however, she unwisely marries a rich man (Goring), who soon proves intolerably abusive. In a ballroom showdown, she's happily rescued by a handsome Prince Charming (Brazzi) who spirits her to his European castle to be married. But there, just as her Cinderella tale seems to be coming true, she finds out her Prince's secret, a word that unfortunately could not be used in 1954. So we're left to infer the problem and the movie's crux.Small wonder the story's told in a series of flashbacks from Maria's graveyard funeral. Thus, interest is aroused from the start as to why a girl so young and wealthy could possibly be dead. On my view, the movie's really a modern fairy tale turned into a tragedy. For example, consider a recurring theme; namely, Maria's constant attachment to bare feet over shoes. That I take as an underlying desire for a naturalness stripped of the kind of social pretensions shoe styles can convey. Thus, her struggle, on this view, is really between the stark reality of feet and the societal contrivance of shoes. Extrapolated a bit, it can also convey the importance of foundations to a person's well-being. Perhaps that's why she seems reluctant to accept her fairy tale climb-- it goes against a deeper instinct. Be that as it may, in view of the ending, it's too bad she doesn't stick with instinct rather than temptation.All in all, the indie production was a biggie of that year, featuring two marquee stars, a lavish production, and Hollywood honcho Mankiewicz in charge. Unsurprisingly, it all led to some Oscar go-rounds. Never mind that Hollywood doesn't come off looking very good in the persons of tyrannical producer (Stevens) and sycophantic public relations man (O'Brien). There's still enough gloss, travelogues, and close-ups of the beauteous Gardner to keep us diverted. Happily, Bogie gets his trademark role as a cynical observer, while Gardner gets to show she's more than a pretty face, along with O'Brien who bathes in fast-talking. Not much really happens besides character development. So, credit director Mankiewicz for keeping things moving. Though dated, the movie's worth catching up with; that is, if you can stand the taboo word "impotence", which the 1954 movie obviously couldn't.

Roedy Green The movie starts with the funeral of a relatively young woman. Her story is told in flashbacks. You keep watching because you want to know how and why she died.She is not a particularly interesting person, more a china bust with a frozen smile. She is supposedly a spectacular dancer but does only one rather embarrassing dance routine that reminded me of my mother dancing when drunk.She is surrounded by interesting people e.g. screenwriter Harry Dawes, played by a very mellow and likable Humphrey Bogart.Kirk Edwards is a gum chewing billionaire, who makes his life miserable by bullying everyone just for the fun of it.Alberto Bravano is a South American tycoon, who is perfectly candid about his own selfishness. His honesty and lack of hypocrisy makes him extremely charming.The movie makes clear how wealth and fame can most of the time get in the way of happiness. It shows how they seduce and corrupt. It pokes fun at the airhead wealthy who descend on the Riviera each year to gamble.The movie also explores jealousy, how pleasant life can be when it is in check and how miserable when it is not.It is a quite slow paced, somewhat boring movie. Not much happens. It just meanders around to its rather surprising conclusion.