Fini de rire

This brilliant and mind-boggling film noir might be more properly called an anti-noir, doing for the crime movie what 'The Missouri Breaks' would do for the Western. It's not every noir hero who both offers marriage guidance AND does his own ironing.

'His Kind of Woman' is, in fact, three movies. It starts off as a fairly straight film noir, although its poker-faced pastiche of 'Out of the Past' is a little TOO poker-faced. Then, when the hero goes to Mexico to meet the other characters, the plot stops dead and enters narrative limbo, in a kind of noir precursor to Bunuel's 'The Exterminating Angel': Six Noir Characters In Search Of A Plot.

Then lunacy truly takes hold, as the plot eventually arrives, and Vincent Price, playing a barmy ham actor, takes over from Mitchum (magnificent as ever, baffled and goaded by a plot even less alert than he!) as the presiding spirit, and turns a moody thriller into the giddiest farce, where all the unpleasant aspects of film noir (fatalism, misogyny) are happily overturned. Proof that genre-busting didn't begin with Melville or Godard.

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.

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.

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.