Humphrey Bogart Movies

Humphrey Bogart played the role of Harry Dawes, a ruined film director, in the movie The Barefoot Contessa as one of his final films before passing away in 1957. The movie is about Bogart’s character trying to climb up the ladder of success with the help of a very talented Spanish dancer (Ava Gardner) named Maria Vargas. Harry’s unfaltering character and his desire to let Maria keep her independence develop an undying friendship between the two. They endured the tempestuous Hollywood seas, made stormy by Maria’s spirit and the avariciousness of the film industry, together. However, Maria’s biggest break from Hollywood led her to a devastating road by luring her into the arms of a dark, mysterious, and secretive young man. Director-writer Joseph L. Mankiewicz has always shown impatience with Hollywood evident in his movies as that of the memorable All about Eve. However, in The Barefoot Contessa, the decline of Maria’s character was carefully planned unlike most films with similar plots which portray this decline as a response to fame. The hallmark of the movie is still Bogart in his role of the most sympathetic character in the film as a platonic friend to his female costar, which is a highly uncommon role to play. However, this made the film worth watching while Gardner’s eyes searching for her fairy-tale ending.

Directed by Edward Dmytryk (Murder My Sweet, Raintree County) in 1954, The Caine Mutiny is a movie set during World War II in a navy ship undergoing mutiny. The movie was based one of Herman Wouk’s novels. Humphrey Bogart stars as the heartbreaking captain Queeg that is ousted from authority by a couple of officers under his command played by Robert Francis and Van Johnson during a destructive storm. He then becomes an essential witness during court martial geared on disclosing information regarding the invisible injuries of war. With the movies scenes guided carefully by Edward Dmytryk, the all-male cast’s character performances soon became one of the most excellent in the 1950s cinema. Although it is much better to see the whole story in context, it is worth mentioning that the courtroom scenes from the movie alone became the basis for a television film in 1998, and a stage play. –Tom Keogh