Too Hot to Handle (1960 film)

Infobox Film
name = Too Hot to Handle

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caption = United States release poster
director = Terence Young
producer = Selim Cattan, Phil C. Samuel
writer = Herbert Kretzmer, Harry Lee
starring = Jayne Mansfield, Leo Genn, Sheldon Lawrence, Karlheinz Böhm, Christopher Lee, Danik Patisson, Patrick Holt
music = Eric Spear
cinematography = Otto Heller
editing = Lito Carruthers
distributor =
released = 15 August, 1960
runtime = 90 min
country = United Kingdom
language = English
budget =
website =
amg_id = 114083
imdb_id = 0053365

"Too Hot to Handle" (released in the United States as "Playgirl After Dark") is a low-budget neo-noir British gangster thriller, directed by Terence Young. Christopher Lee has a small role in the film.

"Too Hot to Handle " was Jayne Mansfield's first film away from 20th Century-Fox after achieving stardom in the mid 1950's. When the studio didn’t know what to do with their “trouble” stars, they would lend them to Foreign productions. Studios made thousands of dollars while Jayne only made her regular salary of $2500 a week. 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 not a cheapie with a large cast and somewhat lavish production numbers with solid direction from Terence Young, who later did many James Bond films.

Notorious in its day because Mansfield's risqué see-through clothing and racy musical numbers that caused some controversy, holding up the American release for two years, while the sexiest frames were fully displayed on Playboy magazine.

While filmed and released in Eastman Color, the video and DVD prints were released in black and white. It was fairly common for B&W prints to be struck of color films to be shown on television during the 1960s and 1970's for local stations, and this fact could possibly be the main reason for the B&W DVD editions of the film.

Plot

The plot revolves around Johnny Solo (Leo Genn), the owner of the "Pink Flamingo" club in London's Soho area, and his battles with rival club owner Diamonds Dielli (Sheldon Lawrence) and the police. When the tough entrepreneur starts getting threats and demands for protection, he fights back.

Johnny's girlfriend Midnight Franklin (Jayne Mansfield), who's one of the club's headliners, wants to get him out of the business. In the background are a sadistic client, an underage chorus girl, a wisecracking siren who's not averse to rough trade, a visiting journalist, and a dancer who guards her past.

The reporter gets involved in the strip scene while writing a story on the clubs, and in the end he has quite a lot to write about. The competition between the two clubs heats up. Johnny becomes an unknowing instrument in the death of the chorus girl. Midnight informs on him to save his life from the violent blackmailers after him. Both rival clubs head for a crash.

Main cast

External links

*
* [http://www.lovingjaynemansfield.com/THTH.html|Review at a Mansfield fan site]
* [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/114083/Too-Hot-to-Handle/overview|Movie summary in the NYTimes]