In early May I wrote about 1933’s Baby Face, starring Barbara Stanwyck in a highly charged pre-Code melodrama about a woman’s dubious rise to the top. My thoughts about Baby Face here.
And a couple of days ago House of Mirth and Movies wrote an essay about Baby Face, with some very thought-provoking observations about it (it’s still a difficult film – you realize just how much the ugliness of life was squelched by the Code when you see something like Baby Face).
Iâve seen several films of this type from the era, from Harlowâs The Red Headed Woman to the comedy-driven Gold Diggers of 1933. This one somehow feels far more immediate and dangerous. Iâm finally undecided what to think of Powers, and canât help putting myself in her place. Itâs more difficult than I could imagine, especially considering her upbringing. How reckless is her behaviour? Should she have just been satisfied to live her life in abject poverty and abuse? Very early the film the point is made that honesty and kindness are not going to get people anywhere (especially not women it seems), so how wrong is she to abuse the loop holes of a system that only works to oppress and destroy people like her (people without money, and women in general)? I canât help coming back to the fact that her own father prostituted her to men as young as fourteenâ¦
I donât think itâs a matter of condemning her, but rather understanding the circumstances of her actions. Putting myself in her shoes, it becomes a question of life and death. She stays behind, she is killing herself, and that isnât an option for her.
Wonderful essay – go read the whole thing – and certainly, if you haven’t already, check out Baby Face. The version I saw had both the pre-release version and the version that was deemed okay to go into the theatres. There’s an interesting shot-by-shot analysis here of what was cut – which was mainly the explicit images of money passing hands at the saloon, making clear that Lily’s father is her pimp, selling her to the highest bidder. The line about how “it’s been nothing but dirty stinking men since I was fourteen years old” was cut. But you can see it in the pre-release version, and it still shocks. Her pain, and rage. But more than that – Lily’s defense of herself when one of the guys gets rough, smashing a bottle over his head … stuff like that. Not to mention the kind of egalitarian relationship between Lily and Chico, the black woman who works in her father’s saloon. It’s a class and gender issue that binds them together (not to mention friendship) – but they’re women. They both know they’re low chick on the totem pole. They’re on equal footing. It’s well worth watching both versions, for any movie buff – it gives you a tiny glimpse into how the Hays Code operated. Baby Face was one of the reasons the Hays Code was instituted (Public Enemy with Cagney was another) – and the film is still breathlessly subversive today. Amazing.
And come on. Let’s give Stanwyck the props. She’s my favorite. I love her hardness – which never seems like a put-on – but a true defining characteristic – think of how she was able to really fly with that in Double Indemnity where she played the bad dame to end all bad dames.
Anyway. Back to the link: Go read the whole thing.
Thanks for the nod, and I love to see a shared enthousiasm for such a great film. I’m especially happy you touched on the relationship between Lily and Chico, because soon after I finished my piece I realised that I failed to touch on the strength of their friendship. Now, I don’t really have to, because I think you said everything I would have and more.