Baby Face is a sexually-charged,
pre-CodePre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Hays Code censorship guidelines, which went into effect on July 1, 1934...
DramaDrama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a collective...
film, first released in
1933-Events:*British Film Institute founded.*March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey....
. The film was based on a story by
Darryl F. ZanuckDarryl Francis Zanuck was a producer, writer, actor, director, and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors .-Early life:Zanuck was born in Wahoo, Nebraska, the son of Louise Torpin and Frank Zanuck, a...
(under the pseudonym Mark Canfield), written by
Gene MarkeyEugene "Gene" Lawrence Markey, Jr. was an American author, producer, screenwriter, and highly decorated naval officer.-Biography:...
and Kathryn Scola, and directed by Alfred E. Green. It stars
Barbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck was an American actress, a star of film and television, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors such as Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
and
George BrentGeorge Brent was an Irish film and television actor in American cinema.-Early life:He was born George Brendan Nolan in Raharabeg, County Roscommon on the opposite bank of the River Shannon from the town of Shannonbridge, County Offaly, Ireland, to a family with a history of British Army service...
, and features
Donald CookDonald Cook was an American stage and film actor.Born in Portland, Oregon, Cook was known for his portrayal of Mike Powers in the film The Public Enemy. He also was one of the first film actors to portray Ellery Queen, in The Spanish Cape Mystery...
, Alphonse Ethier,
Henry KolkerHenry Kolker was an American stage and film actor and director. Kolker like fellow actors Richard Bennett and Robert Warwick had a substantial stage career behind him before entering silent films...
,
John WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , born Marion Robert Morrison, better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and has become an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive voice, walk and height...
, and
Margaret LindsayMargaret Lindsay was an American film actress. Her time as a Warner Bros. contract player during the 1930s was particularly productive...
.
Lily Powers (
Barbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck was an American actress, a star of film and television, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors such as Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
) is a
speakeasyA speakeasy was an establishment which illegally sold alcoholic beverages during the period of United States history known as Prohibition...
waitress in
Erie, PennsylvaniaErie is an industrial city on the shore of Lake Erie in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth largest city , with a population of 104,000...
, coerced by the owner (her own father Nick, played by
Robert BarratRobert Harriot Barrat was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor.-Career:Born in New York, Barrat acted in some one-hundred fifty films over four decades Hollywood career and appeared in seven pictures with James Cagney during the 1930s...
) into sleeping with some of the customers from the age of 14.
Baby Face is a sexually-charged,
pre-CodePre-Code Hollywood refers to the era in the American film industry between the introduction of sound in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Hays Code censorship guidelines, which went into effect on July 1, 1934...
DramaDrama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a collective...
film, first released in
1933-Events:*British Film Institute founded.*March 2 - King Kong premieres in New York City.* June 6 - The first drive-in theater opens, in Camden, New Jersey....
. The film was based on a story by
Darryl F. ZanuckDarryl Francis Zanuck was a producer, writer, actor, director, and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors .-Early life:Zanuck was born in Wahoo, Nebraska, the son of Louise Torpin and Frank Zanuck, a...
(under the pseudonym Mark Canfield), written by
Gene MarkeyEugene "Gene" Lawrence Markey, Jr. was an American author, producer, screenwriter, and highly decorated naval officer.-Biography:...
and Kathryn Scola, and directed by Alfred E. Green. It stars
Barbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck was an American actress, a star of film and television, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors such as Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
and
George BrentGeorge Brent was an Irish film and television actor in American cinema.-Early life:He was born George Brendan Nolan in Raharabeg, County Roscommon on the opposite bank of the River Shannon from the town of Shannonbridge, County Offaly, Ireland, to a family with a history of British Army service...
, and features
Donald CookDonald Cook was an American stage and film actor.Born in Portland, Oregon, Cook was known for his portrayal of Mike Powers in the film The Public Enemy. He also was one of the first film actors to portray Ellery Queen, in The Spanish Cape Mystery...
, Alphonse Ethier,
Henry KolkerHenry Kolker was an American stage and film actor and director. Kolker like fellow actors Richard Bennett and Robert Warwick had a substantial stage career behind him before entering silent films...
,
John WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , born Marion Robert Morrison, better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and has become an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive voice, walk and height...
, and
Margaret LindsayMargaret Lindsay was an American film actress. Her time as a Warner Bros. contract player during the 1930s was particularly productive...
.
Plot
Lily Powers (
Barbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck was an American actress, a star of film and television, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors such as Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
) is a
speakeasyA speakeasy was an establishment which illegally sold alcoholic beverages during the period of United States history known as Prohibition...
waitress in
Erie, PennsylvaniaErie is an industrial city on the shore of Lake Erie in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth largest city , with a population of 104,000...
, coerced by the owner (her own father Nick, played by
Robert BarratRobert Harriot Barrat was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor.-Career:Born in New York, Barrat acted in some one-hundred fifty films over four decades Hollywood career and appeared in seven pictures with James Cagney during the 1930s...
) into sleeping with some of the customers from the age of 14. When he is killed in a
stillA still is an apparatus used to distill miscible or immiscible liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor...
explosion, she sheds no tears for him. She and her African American co-worker and friend Chico (Theresa Harris) hop on a freight train out of town, but are discovered by a railroad worker, who threatens to have them thrown in jail. Lily changes his mind with her feminine wiles.
In
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, Lily charms her way into a job at Gotham Trust, even though she has no experience, by seducing an employee in the personnel department, the first of many sexual conquests in the film. Her progress sleeping her way to the top is illustrated by recurring shots of the bank building's facade, moving ever upward.
She eventually ensnares Ned Stevens (
Donald CookDonald Cook was an American stage and film actor.Born in Portland, Oregon, Cook was known for his portrayal of Mike Powers in the film The Public Enemy. He also was one of the first film actors to portray Ellery Queen, in The Spanish Cape Mystery...
), a rising young executive engaged to Ann Carter (
Margaret LindsayMargaret Lindsay was an American film actress. Her time as a Warner Bros. contract player during the 1930s was particularly productive...
), the daughter of important first vice president J.R. Carter (
Henry KolkerHenry Kolker was an American stage and film actor and director. Kolker like fellow actors Richard Bennett and Robert Warwick had a substantial stage career behind him before entering silent films...
). Lily schemes to have Ann walk in on the two locked in an embrace. When J.R. attempts to smooth things over by meeting her, Lily soon adds the older man to her list of admirers. J.R. installs her in a lavish apartment, with Chico along as a maid. However, when Ned finds her with his future father-in-law, he first shoots the older man, then himself.
The new bank president, Courtland Trenholm (
George BrentGeorge Brent was an Irish film and television actor in American cinema.-Early life:He was born George Brendan Nolan in Raharabeg, County Roscommon on the opposite bank of the River Shannon from the town of Shannonbridge, County Offaly, Ireland, to a family with a history of British Army service...
), rebuffs her attempt to extort $15,000 from the firm in return for withholding her diary from the press. He only offers her a job in the firm's Paris office, where she can do no harm. To maintain her appearance as a "victim of circumstance", she has little choice but to accept. Some time later, when Courtland goes to Paris on business, he is surprised and impressed to find her not only still working there, but also promoted to head of the travel bureau. He soon falls under her spell and marries her.
Courtland is called back to New York when the bank fails due to mismanagement. Although he isn't responsible, he is indicted. He begs Lily to return all the gifts he showered on her, so he can finance his defense, but Lily decides to keep them and flee to Europe. However, she changes her mind when she realizes that she has finally found a man she can love, but returns, only to see her husband on the floor of his office, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. On the ride to the hospital, the attendant assures her that Courtland has a good chance of survival.
Controversy
Because the original cut was rejected by the
New York State Censorship BoardThe Motion Picture Division of the State of New York Education Department, also known variously as the New York State Censorship Board, New York Censor Board, and New York Board of Censors, was an organ of film censorship in the Pre-Code era....
in April 1933, the film was softened by cutting out some material (such as Lily's study of
Nietzschean philosophyFriedrich Nietzsche developed his philosophy, sometimes referred to as Nietzscheanism, during the late 19th Century amid growing criticism of Hegel's philosophic system. Since the dawn of the 20th Century, it has had great intellectual and political influence around the world...
as well as various sexually suggestive shots). The producers also inserted new footage and tacked on a new ending. In June 1933 the New York Censorship Board passed the revised version, which then had a successful release.
The uncensored version remained lost until 2004, when it resurfaced at a
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
film vault in Dayton, Ohio. George Willeman is credited with the discovery. The restored version premiered at the
London Film FestivalThe Times BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening over 300 films from 60 countries. The festival, the LFF, currently in its 53rd year, is held every year by the British Film Institute and currently sponsored by The Times newspaper. The 2008 Festival ran from 15...
in November 2004. In 2005 it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected for preservation in the United States
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head...
National Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
and also was named by Time.com as one of
the 100 best movies of the last 80 yearsThe All-TIME 100 Greatest Movies is a compilation by Time magazine featuring and celebrating 100 of the best movies released between March 3, 1923 and early 2005...
.
Aside from its depiction of a female sexual predator, the film is notable for the "comradely" relationship Lily has with her African-American maid, Chico.
Cast
- Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress, a star of film and television, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors such as Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
as Lily Powers
- George Brent
George Brent was an Irish film and television actor in American cinema.-Early life:He was born George Brendan Nolan in Raharabeg, County Roscommon on the opposite bank of the River Shannon from the town of Shannonbridge, County Offaly, Ireland, to a family with a history of British Army service...
as Courtland Trenholm
- Donald Cook
Donald Cook was an American stage and film actor.Born in Portland, Oregon, Cook was known for his portrayal of Mike Powers in the film The Public Enemy. He also was one of the first film actors to portray Ellery Queen, in The Spanish Cape Mystery...
as Ned Stevens
- Alphonse Ethier as Adolf Cragg
- Henry Kolker
Henry Kolker was an American stage and film actor and director. Kolker like fellow actors Richard Bennett and Robert Warwick had a substantial stage career behind him before entering silent films...
as J.P. Carter
- Margaret Lindsay
Margaret Lindsay was an American film actress. Her time as a Warner Bros. contract player during the 1930s was particularly productive...
as Ann Carter
- Arthur Hohl
Arthur Hohl was a stage and motion-picture character actor. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and began appearing in films in the early 1920s...
as Ed Sipple
- John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , born Marion Robert Morrison, better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and has become an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive voice, walk and height...
as Jimmy McCoy Jr., one of Lily's early bank conquests.
- Robert Barrat
Robert Harriot Barrat was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor.-Career:Born in New York, Barrat acted in some one-hundred fifty films over four decades Hollywood career and appeared in seven pictures with James Cagney during the 1930s...
as Nick Powers
- Douglass Dumbrille
Douglass Dumbrille was an actor and one of the Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood.Dumbrille was born in Hamilton, Ontario. As a young man, he worked as a bank clerk in his home town of Hamilton while at the same time pursuing an interest in acting...
as Brody (as Douglas Dumbrille)
- Theresa Harris as Chico
See also
- List of American films of 1933
- John Wayne filmography (1926-1940)
The filmography of John Wayne from 1926 to 1940. John Wayne also acted in many films from 1941–1960 and 1961–1976.-Overview:John Wayne began working in films in 1926 as an extra, propman, and stuntman, mainly for the Fox Film Corporation...
- Barbara Stanwyck filmography
- Overview :Barbara Stanwyck appeared in a total of 85 theatrically released motion pictures. She played the lead — or one of the leads — in all but three of these films. Below is a chronological list of her film appearances along with the names of her leading men and directors and also the names...
External links