As the Contessa Maria D'Amata (Ava Gardner) is laid to rest, her business partners, lovers,  and longtime confidante (Humphrey Bogart) recall her rise from peasant cabaret dancer to silver-screen sensation, and the events that led to her final, tragic fate. Sumptuous, passionate, and delightfully loopy, Mankiewicz's melodrama doubles as juicy Hollywood lore, modeling many of its characters after the famous personalities of its day, including starlet Rita Hayworth and tycoon Howard Hughes.