Londra a mezzanotte

After the Hollywood successes of 'The Girl Can't Help It' and 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter', 20th Century Fox were at a loss as to what to do with the outlandish personality of Jayne Mansfield. So, as a way of making some quick cash out of their star without having to put her in a picture, they often loaned her out for cheapo European productions such as this B-movie pot-boiler filmed in England.

However, the finished results are surprisingly good. Jayne Mansfield puts in an incredibly accomplished turn as jaded stripper Midnight Franklin. Jayne acts so well in this movie - she really gives a great impression of someone who can turn on the sexy, sleazy charm of a showgirl on stage whilst being disillusioned and fearful behind the scenes. Her pep-talk to a young Barbara Windsor is quite rightly often highlighted as the high-point of Jayne's dramatic career.

The story is at times a little muddled but is well acted by a solid supporting cast including Christopher Lee, Leo Genn and Karl Bohm and is presented in a seedy, gritty manner befitting the film's seedy setting of London strip joints. The only complaint I could make about the movie and its setting is that in basing the film around strip joints the limitations of what could be shown due to censorship laws (this was 1960 after all) are painfully obvious as all we are left with are several musical numbers of supposed strippers writing around more or less fully clothed. Although, it is not absolutely necessary to make this movie a sordid nude-fest I think it is obvious how strict censorship was in those days given what little nudity we actually get to see. And why feature so many 'strip' numbers anyway...?

All in all this is a pretty good movie and worth a look to see Jayne Mansfield flexing her acting muscles. The version I managed to track down on video is unfortunately in black and white and with a rather poor sound mix but catch it if you can!

Low budget but decent crime drama. Jayne, approaching the end of her brief heyday, is pretty good as the sort of den mother to a group of strippers, she even performs a few mediocre numbers. This really shows how the vision of the desirable female form has changed over the years. Nowadays the lithe hard body look is the goal but Jayne is anything but that, very curvy and quite plump she is harshly lit as is the film but even with that at times she looks stunning. The plot takes a while to get going and really isn't focused sharply enough to make the film as involving as it should be but Leo Genn is good in the lead and he and Jayne hold your interest whenever they are on screen.

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.

The plot concerns the owner of the "Pink Flamingo" club and his battles with rival club owners and the police. Christopher Lee has a small role, but the main attraction for most viewers would probably be Jayne Mansfield, who surprisingly, is very good in her role as the club owners girlfriend. She has a big musical number and you'll wonder how they squeezed her into some of the tightest costumes you'll ever see.