Playgirl After Dark

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.

My first film with Jayne Mansfield, a copy of Marilyn Monroe but not so charming as the original. In this one, Jayne is not bad, she moves well, she sings well enough, with the acting there is a small problem. Marilyn was a much better actress and much more beautiful. And what great body had Marilyn, Jayne is a lot too big, too much in all: thighs, bust, ass, lips, etc. Unfortunately, both of them with a similar destiny and a very sad final. Leo Genn is very good as Johnny Solo. Good role by Christopher Lee. Karlheinz Böhm is from another film, totally inappropriate and insipid. There is also a very young Barbara Windsor in it and a guy called Ian Fleming, but it's not the famous father of James Bond. But, Mr.Terence Young, the director, after this film, he had to screen three novels from the famous Ian Fleming: "Dr. No", "From Russia with Love", "Thunderball", the first three of the series and, in my opinion, the best.

The dance numbers with Jane Mansfield were the main draw of this show, and we don't get to see the bareness of her outfits in black and white. It's too bad foreign films where this was in color are still made without any English dialog on DVD. The subplots that made the backdrop of this story are interesting, but Mansfield's part wears out while she acts out as a mother figure to Johnny, the nightclub owner, warning him not to use his gun against a rival club across the street that's blackmailing him. Then she's mom to an underage girl, attempting to keep her from going to a fatal date with a villainous club investor. The supporting characters like Christopher Lee as the host and the various strippers help break up the monotony of her "don't do this" speeches. Koch Vision had a color version but I don't know why no one has it now.

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".

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.