According to a blurb from newspaper columnist Louella Parsons, 1951’s His Kind of Woman boasted “the hottest combination that ever hit the screen”. This made me intrigued to see if the cinematic pairing of Jane Russell and Robert Mitchum would live up to that hype.

Deported due to his various illegal activities, crime boss Nick Ferraro (Raymond Burr) desperately wants to return to the US to oversee his empire. He concocts a scheme in which he assumes the identity of down-on-his-luck gambler Dan Milner (Mitchum).

As his reward, Milner enjoys a good payday and a seemingly cushy life at a posh Mexican resort. However, complications ensue, especially when he becomes involved with sexy singer Lenore Brent (Russell), already the mistress of movie star Mark Cardigan (Vincent Price).

Did Warner Archive choose a film related to deportation as a social commentary given events in the USA circa summer 2025? Probably not, but I can’t help but wonder.

Issues connected to American politics aside, deportation doesn’t play a massive role in Kind. Yes, Nick’s status prompts the plot, but the writers could’ve come up with some other premise to motivate the action pretty easily.

Not that I would call Kind a standard film noir. Indeed, it detours away from the usual genre fare in some surprising ways.

Part of this stems from the use of the leading couple. While Kind does get into the romance between the Mitchum and Russell characters, this takes a backseat for big chunks of the movie.

Indeed, Russell disappears for awfully large sections of the tale. During the third act, Kind suddenly becomes something of a “buddy action” movie in which Dan and Mark pair to fight off foes.

And you know what? It works, mainly because Mitchum and Price create such a likable pair.

Honestly, they show better chemistry than Mitchum and Russell do. While those two look good together, their combination doesn’t live up to the hype of the quote I cited at the start.

That said, maybe Louella Parsons actually meant that Price and Mitchum were the “hottest combination ever to hit the screen”. They certainly make the movie’s final act a lot of fun.

Most of the credit goes to Price. He hams it up in a delightful way as the movie hero eager to earn some real-life credibility and he elevates the film immeasurably.

Without this third act twist, Kind would probably feel like a good but not great noir effort. The manner in which it subverts expectations adds real spark to the flick, though, and makes it a winner.

His Kind of Woman appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with a positive presentation.

For the most part, sharpness worked fine. Occasional shots felt a bit on the soft side, but these stayed in the minority, so the film largely appeared accurate.

I saw no signs of jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes failed to mar the proceedings. Grain seemed light but natural, and print flaws never popped up along the way.

Blacks seemed deep and dense, while shadows appeared smooth. I felt pleased with this solid image.

While the movie’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack showed its age, it still came across as above average given this vintage. Speech seemed concise and fairly natural.

Effects they lacked distortion and seemed appropriate for recordings from 1951. Music showed reasonable clarity as well. The audio seemed good for a film of this one’s vintage.

When we move to extras, we locate an audio commentary from film historian Vivian Sobchack. She presents a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and crew, genre elements, production topics and her thoughts about the film.

Expect a spotty track here, as Sobchack mixes useful notes and insights with basic narration. Though moderately informative, the discussion lacks consistency.

Along with the film’s trailer, we find a vintage short: Bunny Hugged (7:14). As implied by the title, this one offers a Bugs Bunny affair.

Bugs faces off against pro wrestler Crusher when the latter’s original opponent gets destroyed. This leads to predictable but amusing events.

Note that Hugged also appeared on the Blu-ray for 1951’s Storm Warning. Aren’t there enough cartoons that Warner Archive doesn’t need to repeat them across releases?

An unusual noir tale, His Kind of Woman takes unexpected twists. I like that it departs from the expected femme fatale narrative to go down some entertaining paths. The Blu-ray delivers positive picture and audio along with a few bonus features. Woman largely entertains.