Missed spanking opportunity in vintage Hollywood movie

Caught up last night with a lesser-known Hollywood movie from 1935, 'Star of Midnight'. It's a 'Thin-Man'-style comedy-thriller, with William Powell as an NYC attorney-cum-sleuth and Ginger Rogers as his feisty fiancée. The plot's over-convoluted and Myrna Loy is much missed, but it has its moments.

At one point Powell has agreed to help Rogers avoid tabloid publicity for some indiscreet behaviour. This dialogue follows:

He: "I'm only doing this because of your mother. She's a nice woman. It must be terrible for a woman to have a daughter like you."
She: "My mother adores me."
He: "It'd be more to the point if she spanked you. I've a mind to do it myself."
She (turning round and bending over): "Well, this will be new."
He: "Well, you asked for it."

And then - he kicks her backside.

Idiot!

There is a spanking scene in one of the later Thin Man movies - think it's the Thin Man Goes Home

That's right, there is: William Powell spanks Myrna Loy with a folded newspaper, so it's not the world's most effective spanking. But he does it in front of his parents, and his father says: "I should have done that to your mother years ago." Which is a nice line.

@PhilK
I totally agree: He's an idiot - a complete fool. I'm annoyed at all those missed opportunities in lots og movies.

There's a half decent on screen spanking in a film called In The Navy. It was actually an Abbott and Costello vehicle and I think it may have been the sequel to Buck Privates. The spanking comes at the start and it's done in the style that you first hear the slapping and the protest of the woman, then they do a close up when the boys peek and see the girl's skirted behind draped over the man's knee and his hand slapping her backside. It wasn't totally played for laughs, either.