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.

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.

What a shocker! Who knew that Jayne Mansfield could actually pull off a role that required some real acting? No, she's no threat to knock Ingrid Bergman off of anyone's top actress list, but she's surprisingly good in Too Hot to Handle. It's quite a change of pace from her roles that I'm more familiar with. Mansfield is definitely much more than the blond sex-kitten I had thought.The other "names" in the cast are Leo Genn and Christopher Lee. Genn is his usual solid self. In fact, I can't remember seeing Genn in anything where he wasn't solid. It's a shame this man isn't better known by the general public. Being something of a Christopher Lee completist, Lee is the reason I wanted to see Too Hot to Handle in the first place. But other than introducing a few dancers, he really doesn't do much.As for the movie, it's a total melodrama with one cliché after the next. It may be listed as "Crime" on IMDb, but the crime elements have very little to do with the actual plot. And, it's dull. Who would have thought that a movie with Jayne Mansfield working in a strip club could be so boring. I didn't care if Genn lost his club. I didn't care if Mansfield got her man. I didn't care if there was an underage girl working in the club. I didn't care about any of it. All I wanted was for the thing to end.There's a sub-plot in the movie involving a dancer who is in the country illegally and the writer who falls for and wants to help her. Their story is the most interesting thing in the movie and keeps me from rating the movie any lower. Unfortunately, this sub-plot goes nowhere.

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!