Erotic Intertitle of the Week: Bottoms Up

Surprising intertitle from THE NAUGHTY FLIRT, one of those early-thirties talkies that still uses title cards between scenes. And yes, we’re talking pre-code. The director is Eddie Cline, a former colleague of Buster Keaton — yet he shows no particular flair for slapstick, or even inclination towards trying it, in this standard-issue rom-com enlivened by Alice White’s exaggerated comic playing and cuteness, and Myrna Loy’s slinkiness. Cline would rediscover his mojo in films for WC Fields a little later.

Pert spankee Alice White.

As for the spanking theme, it’s really one of those punitive beatings that are more common in fifties films with John Wayne. All about putting a woman “in her place.” Here’s a movie I know I will never watch:

He may well be “McNificent,” but he has an arm jutting from his ribcage like some ghastly SILENT HILL mutant. A harrowing gurn distending his puffy mug. The gaping maw yawning hellishly from amidst an inflamed countenance like a skelped arse. Which is ironic, if you think about it.

While the makers of THE NAUGHTY FLIRT are clearly aware of the appeal of spanking as erotic play, the narrative use of it isn’t particularly playful. It compares unfavourably with thos dialogue in TROUBLE IN PARADISE:

“Your accounts are a disgrace! If I were your father I would spank you.”

“And if you were my secretary?”

“I’d do just the same.”

“You’re hired.”

Lubitsch, as always, is in a class by himself for naughtiness.