La blonde et les nus de Soho

A perfect example of a film whose sum is far less than its parts, "Too Hot to Handle" (1960) proved to be a real letdown for me. On paper, the film would seem to have a lot going for it: Jayne Mansfield playing a stripper in a seedy London club; a moustachioed Christopher Lee as the club's manager, who is plotting against the owner/boss (Leo Genn) with the rival strip club owner across the street; Carl Boehm (so memorable in that same year's "Peeping Tom") as a French reporter doing a story on the club; AND direction by Terence Young, who in the next five years would go on to helm three out of the first four Bond films. Unfortunately, it doesn't work, although the multiple plot threads (rival strip joints, Jayne's infatuation with her boss, an underage dancer) keep things spinning along. Jayne does get to perform two sexy and amusing musical numbers, and acts decently enough, but even her assets aren't enough to float this picture. (In truth, she looks pretty matronly during most of the film.) Part of the problem, for me, is the level of tawdry sleaziness on display, with repeated shots of Brit businessmen ogling at the dancers, who have only stripped down to their skivvies. (No nudity at this club, it seems.) Worse for me was the quality of the DVD itself that I just watched. It would seem that the source for this DVD was a crummy 16mm print, and with lousy sound. Heavy British accents PLUS lousy sound make for an exasperating and difficult cinematic experience. (Potential viewers should also be aware that, despite the Maltin book's claim that this is a color film, it is in truth black & white.) Perhaps if the DVD had looked and sounded a bit better, I might have enjoyed the film more, sleazy and cheesy as it is. But I still wouldn't have thought it was, um, too hot.

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.

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!

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.

If you've seen Jayne in her two most successful movies ("Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter" and "The Girl Can't Help It"), it might be easy to dismiss her as a one-trick pony. However, she's startlingly good in her best dramatic role as a clubowner's girlfriend in "Too Hot To Handle". I'm still looking for the plot in this movie (if there even is one), but Jayne steals the show (her motherly talk to mixed-up, ambitious Ponytail played by Barbara Windsor is one of the best moments in Jayne's career). She also demonstrates her singing and dancing skills in a couple of cute musical numbers (watch for her ridiculously long cigarette holder, her see-through gown with strategically placed beaded fringe, and a baffling feathered swimsuit). After seeing this movie, it's hard to believe anyone ever called Jayne Mansfield "the poor man's Marilyn Monroe".