The Wanton Countess (1954) Reviews

To be honest, it has been while since I have seen this flick but like everything directed by Luchino Visconti, it was quite fascinating to behold. Even though Visconti started his career with ‘Ossessione’, the first Italian neorealist film, later on in his career he would become famous for his luxurious dramas involving the Italian aristocracy, the most famous one being ‘Il Gattopardo’. Surprisingly, I still haven’t watched ‘Il Gattopardo’ but I did watch his one which Visconti made 10 years after his directing debut. To be honest, I’m not sure I really cared about the story. Basically, it was a rather standard doomed love story and the fact that I wasn’t really familiar with this time period didn’t help either. Eventually, what I really enjoyed about this movie was above all the mood created thanks to a gorgeous cinematography. On top of that, apparently, Visconti wanted Ingrid Bergman and Marlon Brando to play the lead roles but Alida Valli and Farley Granger were some great choices as well. To conclude, even though it might not be one of Visconti’s best movies, it was still a really solid period drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.