A Lesson in Love (1931)

Lesson In Love, A (1931)

*** (out of 4)

Flapper legend Helen Kane is the star of this Paramount short that contains enough sexuality that would make the Hayes Office explode in a few more years. In the film Kane plays a college student who is in class as her teacher tries to explain what love is and where it comes from. Kane doesn't want to hear any of his sappy reasons and instead up fighting with the man. However, she's crazy about him and gets one more chance to show him what real love is. There's very little plot here but that doesn't matter because Kane is so wonderful here that it will make you really depressed that more films with her wasn't made. The "Boop Boop Ba Doop" woman certainly had the biggest influence on Betty Boop who would also sing Kane's "I Wanna Be Loved by You" several times. This film contains some wonderful pre-code sexual talk as there's no doubt everyone will know what Kane means when she talks about her kind of "love". It's also pretty funny to see a film where the student and teacher are lusting after one another so this is a great candidate to show people who feel older movies didn't do anything naughty. The songs in the film aren't very good but that (and the title) shouldn't keep fans away as there's still plenty of stuff here to enjoy.