His Kind of Woman
His Kind of Woman (1951) was a kind of film-noirette set in Mexico and made by RKO, starring Robert Mitchum as the sap Dan Milner and Jane Russell as singer Lenore Brent. The production, like many headed by Howard Hughes, was filled with false starts, conflicting direction, jealousy, pride, envy, etc. The film was directed by John Farrow, better known for The Big Clock (1948) with Ray Milland and Maureen O’Sullivan (Farrow's longtime wife) and Hondo (1953) with John Wayne and Geraldine Page--who is always slightly disturbing once you've seen Don Siegel’s Civil War film The Beguiled (1971) with Clint Eastwood. Farrow also wrote the screenplay to the excellent adaptation of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days (1956) starring David Niven and Cantinflas. 
Filmed by Harry Wild, whose credits include Johnny Angel (1945), Murder My Sweet (1945), and Macao (1952), His Kind of Woman traces the story of loner Mitchum on vacation at a seaside Mexican resort and his involvement with Russell; Raymond Burr as mobster Nick Ferraro; Vincent Price as vacationing actor Mark Cardigan. Like all noirs, the film addresses the whims of fate and the hidden motivations behind courtship, crime, and love. Jane Russell’s name “Lenore” is nearly synonymous with young death, as it was used repeatedly in the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe (Price's presence reinforces the connection to Poe). A film that does not quite live up to the sum of its many parts, it is still a work of note for any fan of Mitchum, Russell, Price, Burr, Hughes, RKO, movies set in Mexico, or all of the above.
His Kind of Woman (1951) was a kind of film-noirette set in Mexico and made by RKO, starring Robert Mitchum as the sap Dan Milner and Jane Russell as singer Lenore Brent. The production, like many headed by Howard Hughes, was filled with false starts, conflicting direction, jealousy, pride, envy, etc. The film was directed by John Farrow, better known for The Big Clock (1948) with Ray Milland and Maureen O’Sullivan (Farrow's longtime wife) and Hondo (1953) with John Wayne and Geraldine Page--who is always slightly disturbing once you've seen Don Siegel’s Civil War film The Beguiled (1971) with Clint Eastwood. Farrow also wrote the screenplay to the excellent adaptation of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days (1956) starring David Niven and Cantinflas. 
Filmed by Harry Wild, whose credits include Johnny Angel (1945), Murder My Sweet (1945), and Macao (1952), His Kind of Woman traces the story of loner Mitchum on vacation at a seaside Mexican resort and his involvement with Russell; Raymond Burr as mobster Nick Ferraro; Vincent Price as vacationing actor Mark Cardigan. Like all noirs, the film addresses the whims of fate and the hidden motivations behind courtship, crime, and love. Jane Russell’s name “Lenore” is nearly synonymous with young death, as it was used repeatedly in the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe (Price's presence reinforces the connection to Poe). A film that does not quite live up to the sum of its many parts, it is still a work of note for any fan of Mitchum, Russell, Price, Burr, Hughes, RKO, movies set in Mexico, or all of the above.
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