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[citation needed], they would lend them to foreign productions[citation needed]. Studios made thousands of dollars[citation needed], while Mansfield only made her regular salary of $2500 a week[citation needed]. 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 (Mansfield), 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
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Films directed by Terence Young |
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Corridor of Mirrors • One Night with You • Woman Hater
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