MARIO GAUCI According to the IMDb, apart from the delightful Jack Conway-Clark Gable-Myrna Loy screwball comedy from 1938, there are 5 more movies that go by the name of TOO HOT TO HANDLE. The film under review (retitled PLAYGIRL AFTER DARK in the U.S.) is the would-be steamy noir-ish Jayne Mansfield vehicle made in Britain and co-starring actors who normally are above this sort of thing – Leo Genn, Carl Boehm and Christopher Lee – but which decidedly help in raising it above the rut of contemporaneous quota-quickie gangland thrillers; indeed, Patrick Holt – whom I recently watched in a film from that very ilk, SERENA (1962) – even plays the Police Inspector here! The American "Blonde Bombshell" plays Midnight Franklin, the star attraction of a Soho strip club called "The Pink Flamingo"; suave Genn is her boss whom he affectionately calls "12 O'Clock" and she has feelings for; Boehm (in his second British film) plays an inquisitive journalist reporting on the sordid London nightlife – typically he falls for one of the girls but, surprisingly, it is not the leading lady but gloomy Danik Patisson; and Lee is Novak, Genn's double-faced right-hand man/MC. Another well-known figure (pun intended) that is featured further down in the cast list but whose violent demise plays a pivotal role in the film's climax with respect to the major characters' fate is future "Carry On" star Barbara Windsor.Indeed, the film's unhappy ending – in which most characters show their true (and uglier) colours – is its real trump card…more so than the much-touted "hot" numbers of Miss Mansfield; speaking of which, unfortunately, not only is the print I watched shorn of colour (which is how it is widely available today – probably a disservice to the great Otto Heller's original lensing – and which, arguably, also enhances its ties with the aforementioned sub-genre)…but her two songs are bereft of sound, too!! Luckily enough, the sequences are intact – if still just as monochromatic and chaste – when looked up individually on "You Tube" (which is where I came across the film in the first place) and, apparently, TOO HOT TO HANDLE is available in colour on a German DVD. Incidentally, while the film may have been intended as a dramatic showcase for its shapely star, she had fared much better in Paul Wendkos' debut, the superior noir THE BURGLAR (1957), which I have caught up with just the other day; besides, while it may seem odd that a film originally shot in colour would "exist" solely in a black-and-white print, this is the 10th such instance I have come across in my film collection alone

titanicflint For those who think that Jayne Mansfield's career was nothing more than an overblown publicity stunt I boldly state they should at least see this before making any final judgments. I too started watching this with a fair amount of skepticism, and yet I was blown right out of the water by both Jayne and the movie. Both are a lot better than I was anticipating. This is the best Mansfield performance I've ever seen. She is perfectly cast in the role of Midnight Franklin. She makes the character all too human, and all too believable. The movie itself is fast-paced, packing a lot into its 93 minutes. It's also well-acted by everyone involved, and very well-directed. It's intriguing and holds your interest. It has the air of a good Warner Brothers gangster film, as well as a definite film-noir feel to it. I don't know what happened to the color prints of this, but, in my opinion it's the sort of movie that actually plays better in black-and-white. And Jayne's musical numbers are always worth seeing. I definitely recommend this one.

HarlowMGM TOO HOT TO HANDLE was Jayne Mansfield's first film away from 20th Century-Fox after achieving stardom in the mid 1950's. This British drama is usually marked as the beginning of her descent into low-budget productions but actually despite being set almost entirely in a nightclub, it's clearly no cheapie with a large cast and somewhat lavish production numbers with solid direction from Terence Young who later did many James Bond films.Jayne plays the lead in this ensemble picture as the headline attraction and longtime girlfriend of strip club owner Leo Genn who lately has been the recipient of several extortion attempts. Tough guy Genn is determined to fight back rather than give in much to Jayne's distress. Jayne sings two numbers including the title song performed in fairly transparent costume (reminscent of Marlene Dietrich's famous Las Vegas gown) that covers the basics but not much else. This number is badly shot with too many shots of the audience and not enough of Jayne although this may have been the work of the censors. The movie's American release was held up two years because of the racy numbers (finally released in 1962 as PLAYGIRL AFTER DARK) but today it could play on primetime TV and not raise an eyebrow although the numbers remain sexy. Jayne generally looks gorgeous for the most but in a couple of scenes is not photographed well and in some scenes appears to be unusually plump (she may have been pregnant or had not yet lost post-baby weight, she was cranking out kiddies almost as often as movies during this period). She is appealing as always as the warm-hearted star of the show whose good love may all be for naught. Give her credit too, for sharing the screen with a number of other lovelies among the showgirls and entertainers at the club. Beautiful brunette Danik Pattison gets almost as much screen time as Jayne as the loner, secretive showgirl and she has a sensational faux strip number set in a steamy train berth that still packs an erotic wallop. Barbara Windsor is cast as the "jailbait" showgirl, "Ponytail", who wants to grow up in the worst way. While Ms. Windsor is clearly not underage like her character, she effectively captures the simplistic foolishness of someone too young to understand the big picture. Ms. Pattison went on to have a career in the French film industry that lasted into the 1970's, Ms. Windsor later became quite well-known in England for her work in the "Carry on..." films and television programs and is still active today in the series "East Enders".British star Leo Genn is very effective as the James Cagney-tough club owner while Christopher Lee does well as his right-hand man. The movie was filmed and released in Eastman Color but video and DVD prints are regrettably black and white. It was fairly common for B&W prints to be struck of color films to be shown on television during the 1960's and 1970's for local stations. Surely color prints of this movie must exist somewhere, hopefully eventually one will find it's way to DVD. This movie is a low-key effort but it still interesting and actually has a lot to offer with a fine performance by Genn, the warmth and glamour of Mansfield, and a number of other beautiful young women on parade in various stages of dress.

bensonmum2 What a shocker! Who knew that Jayne Mansfield could actually pull off a role that required some real acting? No, she's no threat to knock Ingrid Bergman off of anyone's top actress list, but she's surprisingly good in Too Hot to Handle. It's quite a change of pace from her roles that I'm more familiar with. Mansfield is definitely much more than the blond sex-kitten I had thought.The other "names" in the cast are Leo Genn and Christopher Lee. Genn is his usual solid self. In fact, I can't remember seeing Genn in anything where he wasn't solid. It's a shame this man isn't better known by the general public. Being something of a Christopher Lee completist, Lee is the reason I wanted to see Too Hot to Handle in the first place. But other than introducing a few dancers, he really doesn't do much.As for the movie, it's a total melodrama with one cliché after the next. It may be listed as "Crime" on IMDb, but the crime elements have very little to do with the actual plot. And, it's dull. Who would have thought that a movie with Jayne Mansfield working in a strip club could be so boring. I didn't care if Genn lost his club. I didn't care if Mansfield got her man. I didn't care if there was an underage girl working in the club. I didn't care about any of it. All I wanted was for the thing to end.There's a sub-plot in the movie involving a dancer who is in the country illegally and the writer who falls for and wants to help her. Their story is the most interesting thing in the movie and keeps me from rating the movie any lower. Unfortunately, this sub-plot goes nowhere.