Ein Satansweib

The first half of the movie is classic noir with an ensemble cast of interesting characters that seem to be plucked from an Agatha Christie novel. The second half morphs into an entertaining spoof reminiscent of the Pink Panther movies.

Robert Mitchum plays a gambler down on his luck who is lured into a shady deal at an exclusive Mexican resort hotel. Mitchum does his usual thing and swaggers around the set exuding machismo and testosterone, gets beaten up a few times, and enters into a romantic relationship with the ravishing Jane Russell -- who spices up the plot with a tight, slinky dress that looks like it was sprayed onto her voluptuous figure.

The tone changes with the appearance of Vincent Price, who steals the second half of the movie as a goofy swashbuckling B-movie star on vacation. Raymond Burr delivers a convincing performance as a sinister crime boss whose sadistic thugs keep beating up Mitchum, who is splendidly bare-chested for the rest of the movie.

Mitchum is finally rescued by Price -- who takes advantage of the mayhem to live out his lunatic fantasies -- and a heroic posse of intrepid hotel guests and cowardly Mexican cops. There is some terrific dialog, like this sparkling gem between Mitchum and Price:

Mitchum: "I'm too young to die. How about you?" Price: "Too well-known." Mitchum: "Well, if you do get killed, I'll make sure you get a first rate funeral in Hollywood, at Grafman's Chinese Theater." Price: "I already had it. My last picture died there..."

The direction and cinematography are first rate with good performances by the entire cast, especially Price, who literally goes off the deep end quoting Shakespeare in his hilarious attempt to rescue Mitchum. The plot is schizophrenically twisted and gives the movie a rather insane quality. Well worth the price (!) of admission.

This is an odd but entertaining film.

Don't take any of the story too seriously -- the film seems to be a satire of classic cliches including a slick but really, really evil villain vs. the crude but sort-of worthy hero. I don't want to spoil it for you, but it does have a happy ending which should come as no surprise. The real treat of the film is Price mocking himself as a B-picture actor who gets a chance to be heroic and plays it for all the melodrama it's worth.

In Lee Server's biography about Robert Mitchum the recounting of the making of His Kind of Woman could actually be the basis of an interesting film itself.

Jane Russell of course was the personal creation of Howard Hughes and when Hughes bought RKO Studio, Robert Mitchum was his number one male star. It was only natural that Hughes seek to team them and in fact they do go well together.

But Howard Hughes filmed this thing essentially three times with three different actors playing villain Nick Ferraro a Hollywoodized version of Lucky Luciano. First it was Howard Petrie, then Robert Wilkie, and finally Raymond Burr before Hughes got a Ferraro he liked.

Besides that the original film had few laughs in it and Hughes did get a good streak of inspiration when he hired Vincent Price as the film was being re-shot for the second time and integrated scenes with him into the plot. Price plays a Hollywood swashbuckling movie star, shades of Errol Flynn, who really steals the film from both stars. It's a part that calls for Price to overact outrageously and he does so. His Kind of Woman is worth seeing for him alone.

The basic story has drifter/gambler Robert Mitchum being persuaded with money and other less gentle means to go to a resort located in Baja, California. Of course who's ultimately hired him is our gangster villain Burr and let us say that His Kind of Woman may have been the inspiration for Faces Off with John Travolta and Nicholas Cage a few years ago.

Tim Holt makes a brief appearance here as a Federal cop who warns Mitchum of what is in store for him and gets killed for his trouble. Holt was starring in B westerns for RKO and occasionally doing other film appearances like this one. When he went to war back in the mid Forties, RKO looked around for another replacement to be its B western hero and Mitchum got his first big break and his first starring role. But irony of ironies, Mitchum moved on to bigger and better things and Holt kept grinding out B films that were good, but way beneath his talent.

Other assorted familiar movie faces like Charles McGraw, Marjorie Reynolds, Jim Backus, and Alberto Morin are in His Kind of Woman and give it a comfortable feel.

His Kind of Woman is one of the great noir films ever done, even if it had to be shot over and over to get it right by Mr. Hughes's lights.

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.

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.