La blonde et les nus de Soho

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.

The dance numbers with Jane Mansfield were the main draw of this show, and we don't get to see the bareness of her outfits in black and white. It's too bad foreign films where this was in color are still made without any English dialog on DVD. The subplots that made the backdrop of this story are interesting, but Mansfield's part wears out while she acts out as a mother figure to Johnny, the nightclub owner, warning him not to use his gun against a rival club across the street that's blackmailing him. Then she's mom to an underage girl, attempting to keep her from going to a fatal date with a villainous club investor. The supporting characters like Christopher Lee as the host and the various strippers help break up the monotony of her "don't do this" speeches. Koch Vision had a color version but I don't know why no one has it now.

The large cast milling about Leo Genn's Soho burlesque joint The Pink Flamingo (including a poignant cameo by John Salew as a lonely German toy salesman) manages to include both Christopher Lee and Babs Windsor (the latter playing a minor, which shows how long ago this was made); although sadly they don't share any scenes.

Jayne Mansfield is the one billed above the title but she's offscreen much of the time, and the actual lead is Genn himself, cast well against type as a tough guy hero.

The film otherwise teams largely with busty fifties starlets in sweaters, slacks and leotards; and there's even a catfight between two of them. But sadly most of the available prints are in black & white, since the original embellishment of gaudy late fifties Eastman Color must have made Otto Heller's already vivid photography a real visual treat.

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.

My first film with Jayne Mansfield, a copy of Marilyn Monroe but not so charming as the original. In this one, Jayne is not bad, she moves well, she sings well enough, with the acting there is a small problem. Marilyn was a much better actress and much more beautiful. And what great body had Marilyn, Jayne is a lot too big, too much in all: thighs, bust, ass, lips, etc. Unfortunately, both of them with a similar destiny and a very sad final. Leo Genn is very good as Johnny Solo. Good role by Christopher Lee. Karlheinz Böhm is from another film, totally inappropriate and insipid. There is also a very young Barbara Windsor in it and a guy called Ian Fleming, but it's not the famous father of James Bond. But, Mr.Terence Young, the director, after this film, he had to screen three novels from the famous Ian Fleming: "Dr. No", "From Russia with Love", "Thunderball", the first three of the series and, in my opinion, the best.