The Contessa's Secret (, ) is a 1954 French-Italian film starring Yvonne De Carlo as Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione.
Plot
Cast
Yvonne De Carlo as Virginia Oldoini
Georges Marchal as Lucio Falengo
Paul Meurisse as Napoleon III
Rossano Brazzi as Count Cavour
Lucienne Legrand as Empress Eugénie
Lea Padovani as Princess Princess Mathilde Bonaparte
Georges Lannes as Mocquart
Michel Etcheverry as Pietri
Tamara Lees as Princess of Metternich
Claude Boissol as Nigra
Lisette Lebon as Luisa
Alberto Bonucci as Castiglione
Roldano Lupi as Orsini
Pierre Flourens as M. de Nieuwerkerke
Charles Bouillaud as Un indicateur
Production
De Carlo signed on for the film in late December 1953. The film was to be shot entirely in French with no English version, which no Hollywood star had done before. It was originally called Castiglione and Raf Vallone and Georges Marchall were meant to co-star.
Filming had to be brought forward earlier than planned so de Carlo could make a film with Cornel Wilde.
The film was shot in France in March 1954. De Carlo did not enjoy working for the producers . "I was very much put out when they gave me a stand in for a French dialogue coach," she said. "I thought I deserved better than that, particularly as I studied day and night to perfect myself in the reading of the lines. That was only one of numerous irksome things which not only I but other people had to put up with in that French production."
She later claimed the film was the first time a Hollywood actress did the lead in a film for which there was no English language version. "It was a distinction that made me feel proud."
See also
The Countess of Castiglione (1942)