THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA

Apredatory movie producer (Warren Stevens) buys his way into the life of a starlet (Ava Gardner) in this somewhat timely re-release of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s wordy, gaudy stab at Hollywood morals. Sixty-four years on, it hasn’t lost any of its caustic force. Gardner steals all the key lights and an Oscar-winning Edmond O’Brien makes the best worst PR in history, but the film belongs to Humphrey Bogart, at this most haggard and cynical as a washed-up hack director. Scholarly extras. Paul Bradshaw