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His Kind of Woman
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His Kind of Woman is a black-and-white 1951 comedy drama film noir starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. The film features supporting roles by Vincent Price, Raymond Burr, and Charles McGraw. The movie was directed officially by John Farrow and based on the unpublished story Star Sapphie by Gerald Drayson.
Post-production on the film was rife with problems and Howard Hughes was dissatisfied with John Farrow's work, and a number of scenes were cut, added, and re-shot by the uncredited Richard Fleischer.
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Encyclopedia
His Kind of Woman is a black-and-white 1951 comedy drama film noir starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. The film features supporting roles by Vincent Price, Raymond Burr, and Charles McGraw. The movie was directed officially by John Farrow and based on the unpublished story Star Sapphie by Gerald Drayson.
Post-production on the film was rife with problems and Howard Hughes was dissatisfied with John Farrow's work, and a number of scenes were cut, added, and re-shot by the uncredited Richard Fleischer. Hughes also organized a screenwriting team which extensively rewrote the film and added many pages to the first script. Despite the turmoil surrounding the film's production, the film was commercially successful and has developed a cult following, despite its lack of widespread distribution in the decades since its release.
Plot
Deported crime boss Nick Ferraro (Raymond Burr) lures Dan Milner (Robert Mitchum) and glamorous lounge singer Lenore Brent (Jane Russell) to a remote hideaway in Mexico. When Milner arrives, he finds that all the guests at the luxurious Baja California resort are playing roles, each with hidden motives. He begins to distrust everyone, and questions his reason for being at Ferraro's resort, though he befriends eccentric actor Mark Cardigan (Vincent Price).
Cast
Critical reception
In a review of the film, the staff at Variety magazine lauded the pairing of Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell as the lead characters, writing, "[The] two strike plenty of sparks in their meetings as each waits out plot development...Both Mitchum and Russell score strongly. Russell's full charms are fetchingly displayed in smart costumes that offer the minimum of protection. Much is made of Vincent Price's scenery-chewing actor character and much of it supplies relief to the film's otherwise taut development."
Critic Dennis Schwartz called the film, "An oddball tongue-in-cheek crime thriller, filled with ad-libs, from Howard Hughes' RKO studio that strays from its conventional film noir plot to try its hand at comedy." Schwartz also appreciated the acting, writing, "It's a part where Mitchum is perfectly at home with being a loner anti-hero and Russell is perfectly cast as the bouncy 'his kind of woman,' who in the last shot kisses him while his pants are being scorched by the iron--a perfect metaphor to end on."
Linda Rasmussen liked Mitchum's performance but as a film noir proper gave the film a lackluster review, "As a serious film-noir thriller, it lacks suspense and depth. However, the film has its moments, and Robert Mitchum is in his element as the loner anti-hero."
External links
- at DVD Beaver (includes images)
- at Senses of Cinema
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