Highly Overrated But Still Good

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

"Playgirl After Dark" (also known as "Too Hot to Handle") is a movie that sure hints at healthy helpings of skin. However, if that's what you really want, you could sure find better flicks than this one. Despite the titles and despite the movie being set in a strip club, the strippers really just dance around in very little...but show no more than ladies do today at the beach. So, while you get to see the sizzling Jayne Mansfield in this one, she's rather chaste and sings a few forgettable songs.In this den of iniquity(?) there are some minor stories. One involves a French reporter hanging about in order to get a story. But Karlheinz Böhm ("Peeping Tom" and the Sissi movies) is a German- Austrian....so why say he was French? He sounded about as French as Mantan Moreland! There's also a story involving some shakedown artist trying to extort money out of the guy who runs the place, Johnny (Leo Genn)...and Johnny's attempts to catch the guy. But mostly, it's just ladies gyrating and singing!So is it any good? Well, no especially. It does give you a chance to see Mansfield as her career is beginning to tank. Her good films were behind her and ahead would be crap like Italian strong man movies and sex comedies ("The Loves of Hercules" and "Promises Promises") as well as one of the worst films of the 1960s, "The Fat Spy". But considering that the film doesn't give her a lot to do but sing (NOT one of her strong points), it's actually a bit of a disappointment. Overall, a somewhat dull film which should have been spicier and more interesting than it was.

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.

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".

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.