HIS KIND OF WOMAN

US, 1951, 120 minutes, Black and white.
Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent Price, Charles Mc Graw, Marjorie Reynolds, Raymond Burr, Jim Backus.
Directed by John Farrow.

His Kind of Woman is a melodrama of the fifties set in Hollywood. It is of interest in its starring of Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. Mitchum has proved one of the most durable of the Hollywood stars to have emerged in the forties and has received top billing through the forties, fifties, sixties and even into the late seventies. Jane Russell was in her glamorous heyday at this period. Direction is by John Farrow, whose films seem now to be very much studio-bound and contrived. Vincent Price has a sardonic role as a villain.

1. How successful was this as a gangster film? As a gangster melodrama? What are the main characteristics of this genre? How were they employed here?

2. How does this film of the fifties depend on its black and white photography, its music, songs, the poses of the characters, the styles of the characters, the melodramatic situations? How enjoyable are these? How closely are they associated with Hollywood and its styles? Why?

3. How well did the film utilize the personalities of Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, Vincent Price? The style of acting (poses)? The implications of American heroism, heroine and toughness, the amusing lines in melodramatic situations?

4. Are the situations and people in this kind of melodrama credible? Is this real behaviour? Do things like this happen? Why? If so, what is the value in presenting them in such films? If not, what is the value of presenting them?

5. Comment on the use of the techniques - the maps, the various stages of the development in the plot, the locations?

6. How interesting a hero was Milner? How typical the American hero, his no ties, gambling, the kind of possibility of being bought, the toughness? His growing in trust and heroism? Was this how Americans saw themselves in the ‘tough guy' image? Why? How successful is Robert Mitchum at this kind of thing? Is it real? Comment on Jane Russell's heroine - her snobbery. her going after money, her toughness, her bad breaks, the vigour of her personality, her being changed by the typical American hero and finding love? Is this a kind of dream figure for American women? Why? Was it typical of the fifties? Is it still in date or out of date?

7. The presentation of the villains? Again, were these Hollywood villains? Raymond Burr as Farraro? Charles McGraw? as Thomson with his toughness? Were these too much cliches?

8. How well were the melodramatic sequences done? the shootings, the sequences on the ship, the escape?

11. The importance of such minor characters as Lusk representing the F.B.I.? Of Myron, Jim Backus, as the gambler In Mexico?

11. What did the film gain by having Vincent Price portraying Cardigan? The Hollywood background, the actor and his humorous lines, his zeal for hunting, his preoccupations? How amusing was Vincent Price in this role? Was his change of character credible for the shootout at the end? How did the film utilize satire in its presentation of Price and his kind of film? Did this add to the film?

12. The film sent itself up, especially in the character of Cardigan. How did this change the atmosphere of the whole melodrama? Did it make it more enjoyable?

13. Is this a typical example of the American gangster film of the fifties? If so, how? If not, where does it differ? Was it a good example?