Fini de rire

We have watched this movie several times.

The first time was simply because this movie stars Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell.

Every viewing after that is because of Vincent Price.

Price doesn't just steal a scene: he steals the entire movie,

If you've never seen this film, you're in for a treat.

If you have previously seen it, then you know what I mean: watch it again for Vincent Price.

Noir comedy adventures starring Robert Mitchum are a Hollywood rarity; especially this is true when the storyline is a good straight mystery to begin with adding fine touches of first-rate satirical comedy. He and Jane Russell, beautifully teamed as an adventurous tough-guy and a brave saloon singer are very smooth together, in a movie where Vincent Price supplies many of the laughs, and everything works as effortlessly as a wave crashing onto a Mexican beach's sands. The plot line is innately interesting. A gambler played by powerful Raymond Burr ensnares Mitchum by wrecking his enterprises. He then pays him to come to work for him. Object: to get back into the US from which he was deported as a crime boss--as a dead Mitchum, using his papers, etc. But where does Jane Russell fit into the plot? The joker in the deck is Price as a ham motion picture star who jumps at the chance to play a death-defying adventurer, and ends becoming a hero. The best moment in the film comes as Price and a mountainous cowardly deadpan brother-in-law of the Police Chief start off in a small boat overloaded with help for Mitchum--and slowly sink like a stone. But the battle on a boat is finally won, Price is thrilled to be wounded, Mitchum gets Russell and all comes out favorably in the end. The film was finished by Richard Fleischer with Howard Hughes after John Farrow had shot it already. Leigh Harline provided the music, Albert D'Agostino the inspired art direction. A very stylish B/W film all in all, with a leaven of comedy. The pace is surprisingly good, the gambling joint depicted very believably and the intricate storyline by Gerald Drayson Adams and Frank Fenton, Jack Leonard and others, holds together amazingly. This film was an enjoyable experience for many viewers when it was first released; a sultry romance, played by believable leads, added to the pluses. Mitchum and Russell are fine. Others in the huge cast include Charles McGraw, Tim Holt, Marjorie Reynolds, Jim Backus, Philip Van Zandt and many more, some familiar faces. A most enjoyable romp and a surprisingly good mystery.

HIS KIND OF WOMAN, the first of two pairings of RKO's resident 'tough guy', Robert Mitchum, and it's major sex symbol, Jane Russell (the near-classic MACAO would follow, a year later), is such a wonderful, convoluted 'film noir' spoof that it is amazing that it has never appeared on video. Broadly funny, and a more than a bit surreal, the tale of down-and-out gambler Mitchum 'hired' to travel to a remote Mexican resort to provide a 'body' so that a notorious gangster (Raymond Burr, sleekly villainous) can feign his death and return to the U.S., is action-packed, and has been described as "Bogie and Bacall on Steroids'!

A great deal of the success of the John Farrow-directed film is due to the inspired casting of Vincent Price as a ham actor who gets to 'live out' his celluloid life, aiding Mitchum. Price quotes Shakespeare, critiques his performance, and is amazed by his own heroics, and he has never been funnier, on screen.

An excellent supporting cast, including Tim Holt, Charles McGraw, Marjorie Reynolds, Paul Frees (the famous Hollywood 'voice' actor, actually seen, for a change), and Jim Backus contribute to the on screen mayhem, and Russell sings "Five Little Miles From San Berdoo", one of her more memorable 50s numbers.

From the opening scene, as Burr, exiled in Italy, listens to a short-wave radio broadcast of his successful career as an American crime kingpin ("Where is my money?" he demands, as an estimate of his revenue is quoted), to the brawling climax with Mitchum, aboard his yacht, as Price attempts a rescue, HIS KIND OF WOMAN is pure escapism, at it's best.

Here's hoping that a DVD edition may soon be released!

A broke California gambler is paid thousands to travel to a resort in Mexico and meet someone who'll instruct him on what comes next. The plot is initially quite muddled and does not become clear until about halfway through. It starts as a film noir, turns into a romantic comedy, and finishes with furious action. Russell is a sultry presence and she and Mitchum have good chemistry. However, Price steals the film in a hilarious turn as a hammy Hollywood actor. The action scenes are not convincing. The bad guys take forever to aim their guns, allowing Mitchum and Price adequate time to react. There is also a ridiculously protracted scene where bad guys try to stick a needle into Mitchum.

The central character of `His Kind of Woman' is Dan Milner, a down-on-his luck gambler, who is persuaded by local villains to undertake a mysterious assignment that involves his travelling to a luxury Mexican holiday resort. On arriving there, Miler meets and falls for Lenore, the beautiful mistress of the famous actor Mark Cardigan. Lenore is hoping to marry Cardigan after he has obtained a divorce from his wife; he, however, is having second thoughts after being warned by his agent that a divorce would be bad for his clean-cut image. As the film progresses, the reason why Milner has been lured to the resort becomes clear; the man behind the scheme is Nick Ferraro, an Italian gangster who has been deported from the USA for his criminal activities. Ferraro wants to return without attracting the attention of the US authorities, and is hoping to do so using Milner's passport, having first disposed of Milner himself and undergone plastic surgery to make himself look like the dead man.

In a way, the film can be seen as three films in one. The opening scenes are shot in the dark, menacing film noir style. (Robert Mitchum appeared in a number of films of this type around this period). When Milner arrives in the resort the mood becomes lighter, and the film resembles more one of those `sophisticated' comedies about divorce and adultery that were the nearest that the fifties got to sex comedies. When the villains arrive and the nature of their plans becomes clear, the mood of the film changes again. It does not, however, revert to the dark mood of the opening scenes, but rather resembles a comedy action-thriller as Milner and his allies (principally Cardigan) try to thwart Ferraro and his designs.

Despite these shifts from one style of film-making to another, the film hangs together reasonably well. The real star performance comes from Vincent Price as Cardigan, the sort of `luvvie' actor who overacts as much in real life as he does in the swashbuckling roles for which he has become famous, and whose conversation is enlivened by frequent resort to Shakespearean or pseudo-Shakespearean language. Cardigan is delighted to be caught up in a real crime drama, as it gives him a chance to act out his on-screen persona for real. (I found myself wondering if his character was based on Errol Flynn). Although he is at times outshone by Price, Mitchum succeeds in making Milner a likeable hero despite his rather seedy past. Jane Russell was not the greatest of actresses, but here she brings the necessary touch of glamour and sex-appeal to the part of Lenore. There are, as other reviewers have pointed out, holes in the plot, but given that this is light-hearted entertainment, played as much for laughs as for thrills, these should not trouble the viewer too much. Not a classic, but still very enjoyable for all that. 7/10.