Purely Joyful Movie!

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

. . . geography bee flunk-out "Katherine Constance 'Kay' Elliott" asks her working stiff crush "Alan Ward" toward the end of THE NAUGHTY FLIRT. This flick is just another example of the Doomsday Prophecies emanating from the always eponymous Warner Bros. during the 1900s. Warner trots out THE NAUGHTY FLIRT to warn us of the sorry days in which fraudulent White House occupants will get away with placing America's most sacred duties into the incompetent fumbling hands of their trust-fund kiddies such as "Buy Her Stuff" and "Putin's Laundry Boy." THE NAUGHTY FLIRT is crammed chock full of such crass nepotism, as Rich Fat Cat One Per Centers like "J.R. Elliott" ram their clueless offspring down America's throat. Warner portrays Kay as a seductive harlot, wreaking chaos and disorder upon every precinct she deigns to visit. Kay is the sort of worthless mercenary bimbo who'd fly Air Force One into a disaster zone, step off the jet wearing an expensive "designer jacket" bearing the motto "I just don't care!" as she flings rolls of defective "Koch Brother" paper towels at victims of the catastrophe. Some might argue that Warner went too far with THE NAUGHTY FLIRT in so hatefully depicting the Rich. However, Recent History suggest to many that Warner did not go far enough.

This is a small film and isn't really about much more than a bunch of spoiled rich kids finding out that there is more to life than just being minor league juvenile delinquents. But there are a number of things that make this charming and fun and it's under an hour long so there's not much to lose. First of all, as many have said, Alice White is such a quintessential flapper that it's no wonder she didn't last beyond the Clara Bow years. Her New Joisey oops Jersey accent is a hoot and different from that of the great prima donna actresses of the era. There is a sequence early in the film where she bats her eyes at Paul Page while riding in a car and she more than bats them. Her eyes are so enormous and dominant that they practically do cartwheels flirting with him. In short, as a male, I find her irresistibly cute and delightful and her firm, clear delivery of lines (essential in early talkies for theaters with not so great sound systems) stands out with the sharpness of a female Eddie Cantor. Watch also for the barely seen singing group at the big party where microphones are not yet de rigeur and the ensemble sings through megaphones! The flapper clothes are all wonderful and so are the beautiful cars so if you like period fun this is a delight. Myrna Loy is still in her bad girl period here and makes a nasty femme fatale. Paul Page is a Frederic March clone as a leading man and shows naturalness and real talent. Too bad his career simply faded away after 1934. There's nothing super spectacular here but either you find Alice White doing her naughty flirting is as they used to say "the bee's knees" or you don't. It's easy to underestimate the way she uses her eyes, her body language and her desire to get the most out of every scrap of dialogue she gets. I'm so sorry she had such a fall from grace and a difficult later life but she has become a cult figure for movie buffs who love the early talkies.

"The Naughty Flirt" is a delightful period piece that evokes the (relatively) care-free life many of the very rich maintained even in aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash.Alice White plays the spoiled socialite Miss Katherine 'Kay' Elliott and does a very charming comic turn. This is a Pre-Code film in which the figures of all the female beauties are provocatively shown off in revealing attire in the party scenes. While the sex - including a somewhat surprising spanking scene - is played up, the prohibition age drinking is can only be suggested.The film starts with a gay gang of young socialites in the back of a Police Paddy Wagon headed to the police station to be booked on creating a public nuisance. It seems pretty obvious they've all been drinking as well as dancing at a riotous rooftop party.White as Kay is quite the unflappable flapper, a Daddy's girl with an income of $100,000 a year. Imagine what that could buy in 1931! She's been kicked out of every fine private school her father could get her into and is the dedicated decadent until her world is turned around by a straight-laced country-boy-turned lawyer who happens to work for her Dad's firm.It's a classic case of opposites attract - with a dash of Taming of the Shrew. The two are instantly drawn to each other starting when the lawyer, Alan Ward (Paul Page), - studiously attending a session of night court at the police station - first lays eyes on the naughty platinum blonde.Their romance is tested by a scheme masterminded by Linda Gregory (Myrna Loy) and her brother Jack (Douglas Gilmore) who wants to marry her for money. These dark characters hope to recover from the loss of their fortune in the stock market crash.There are also trust issues as regular guy Alan attempts to gage the loyalty of this 'belle of the ball' while taking stock of her seemingly countless admirers.I saw this on TCM which has a very high technical standard. I'm always impressed at how quickly sound movies progressed. Just four years into the sound era, there's a scene with a wax cylinder Dictaphone in which we listen in as White puts on headphones and hears the recording of Alan speaking for dictation and then get sidetracked into another far more personal conversation with a friend drops into his office unexpectedly. The sound is played back in the scratchy Dictaphone mode - differentiating it from the regular sound.This is a fun and funny story, providing a glimpse into a fascinating age (especially if you were rich) where Jazz Age attitudes intersected with an elite American Anglophile culture.

.... that showcases her comedic skills and vibrant personality is eventually sunk by poor script and blah costar Paul Page (who resembles Fredric March). Miss White and Myrna Loy, however, are fun. White was saddled with lousy scripts in her brief starring career. She could have and should have been a rival to Clara Bow or Jean Harlow. She was terrific in Employees' Entrance but continued to slide anyway. Such is Hollywood. Catch her in Show Girl in Hollywood---she's good in that one too!!