The restored version of Baby Face starring Barbara Stanwyck, originally released in 1933, is going to have a run at the Film Forum, starting Jan. 24.
Baby Face tells the story of Lily, a trampy bootlegger’s daughter (who is better than Stanwyck at playing a tramp??) who sleeps her way to the top. Literally. She goes conquest to conquest, starting in the basement, in her father’s boot-legging headquarters.
The interesting thing about Baby Face is that … like Public Enemy (well, actually, many others, too – but that one comes to mind immediately) – it was filmed in between 1930 and 1933 (before the infamous “code” descended on Hollywood).
Mark. A. Vieira, author and general film know-it-all, says in that NY Times article, “‘Baby Face’ was certainly one of the top 10 films that caused the Production Code to be enforced.”
Public Enemy was another one. Public Enemy has no restraint on it. NONE.
Movies in the late 30s, and 40s had to deal with the strict censorship of the Hayes office, they knew that any blatant suggestion of sex or any other “deviance” would be vetoed – and so they had to come up with clever sneaky ways to get their message across (all of this, I might add, led to some spectacular film-making, amazing scripts – and the Golden Age of Hollywood). Censorship ain’t always bad. And sometimes the sexiest stuff is what you DON’T see.
Like when Michael Curtiz cuts away after the big kiss in Bogart’s office between Bogart and Bergman in Casablanca. She comes to him, desperate, it is night … they talk … they fight … they kiss. Fade out. It is OBVIOUS that they then proceed to have hot monkey sex, but the head-office MADE CERTAIN that neither of them had changed clothes in the next “scene” – they were in the same clothes, no hair mussed, nothing. BUT – the sneaky Curtiz put in one sneaky pesky little shot – one tiny thing which subverts the entire censorship. There’s a shot of the searchlight, swooping through the night sky. So how it goes is:
— Bogart and Bergman fall into a passionate embrace. Cut away from scene.
— Random shot of searchlight swiveling, like a lighthouse.
— Cut back to Bogart at the window smoking, still in a tuxedo. He says some line which picks up (apparently) RIGHT where they left off before the kiss.
What I love about the searchlight subversion, though, is this:
— It implies passage of time. So the audience can think: What would happen after a kiss like that? Only one thing, of course! BED!!!
— It also has a vaguely sexual look to it, somehow – that searchlight tower. Phallic. With this massive swiveling searchlight.
I am SURE that that was not an accidental choice. Curtiz didn’t just show an empty cobblestone street, or a random desert landscape … He CHOSE to cut away to this huge tall tower jutting up into the sky. A tower that … er … also moved.
It says to you a couple of different things: Ahem, these 2 characters are now writhing about naked. Even though when we cut back to them, we are going to PRETEND that nothing happened. We all KNOW what has happened.
I don’t know. I think it’s kind of sexy to NOT see the sex. If you know what I mean. Power of the imagination and all that.
Goodness. I am a blabbermouth today.
Speaking of the power of the imagination: I have to bring up Cary Grant’s performance in Only Angels Have Wings again. That movie was made in 1937, I think? 1938, something like that. Full on into censorship. So there can be no blatant intimation that the 2 main characters fuck, there can be no suggestion of any consummation of ANY kind … and so there isn’t. But that doesn’t take anything away from the movie, the censorship actually makes it even MORE sexy, somehow. It sizzles. It pulses. (Or maybe that’s just me. Highly possible.) All you need to do to see what I’m talking about is to hear Cary Grant say to Jean Arthur, “Want to come up to my room?” and you’ll see what I’m talking about. It’s a casual line. He’s talking about showing her his family pictures. Or at least that’s what the LANGUAGE says. But it ain’t about the words. Cary Grant makes “want to come up to my room” sound like the most indecent and dirty proposal I have ever heard.
But I digress.
I remember when I rented Public Enemy last year – and I had just been coming off an EXHAUSTING Cary Grant jag. I barely escaped from that one with my sanity intact. All of Cary Grant’s main films are made POST-code. So I decided I needed to … get AHOLD OF MYSELF AND WATCH A MOVIE THAT HAD SOMEONE OTHER THAN CARY GRANT IN IT … so I rented Public Enemy. Public Enemy is PRE-Code. HUGE difference.
And there’s one scene in particular in Public Enemy – I think it’s the grapefruit-in-the-face scene …
I mean, I know I live in the 21st century and all, but MOST of the movies I watch were made in between 1935 and 1950 … so sometimes, watching modern movies can be this weird experience, like: did they just DO THAT??? You can’t just take off your clothes, ma’am, please! Cover yourself up, you young hussy!!
The scene in Public Enemy has the two criminals shacking up (literally) in a hotel with two slutty broads. There’s no bones about it. The women are sluts. These people are not married. The women are always in slutty negligees. They are all living in blatant sin. It’s not suggestive, like later films. It’s right there. The grapefruit scene starts with Cagney being annoyed, feeling trapped … he wants to get out of the situation with his girl (hence – the grapefruit in the face) … and you can HEAR the sounds of raucous laughing sex in the next room. Yes. The sound of 2 people messing around. Public Enemy was released in 1931.
Pre-code.
The NY Times article about Baby Face has this to say about the film (and I’ve never seen it – although I have been dying to. I’m a HUGE Barbara Stanwyck fan):
“Baby Face,” directed by Alfred E. Green from an original story by Darryl F. Zanuck (who was then in charge of production at Warner), remains one of the most stunningly sordid films ever made, a standout even among the wave of risqué entertainments that filled American screens in the early years of the Depression. Even the cut version is a jaw-dropper; with its five full minutes of sleaze restored, it has to be seen to be not quite believed.
The heroine of “Baby Face,” Lily Powers (Ms. Stanwyck), was raised in her father’s second-story speakeasy in a working-class neighborhood of Erie. Pa. Dad (Robert Barrat), apparently, has been offering her services to the local steelworkers (one describes her as “the sweetheart of the night shift”), but when he sells her in a whispered conversation with a corrupt politician (we see a greasy wad of bills passing between them), Lily has had enough. The pol tries to touch her thigh, and she dumps a cup of hot coffee on his hand; obviously a slow learner, he comes up from behind to grab her breasts, and Lily smashes a beer bottle against his forehead and knocks him cold.
And that’s only the first reel.
And more and more and more …
Dee-lish. Fascinating.
Barbara Stanwyck – an American treasure. The lady never seemed to make a false move. I’ve never seen her be phony. Ever.
She’s a real idol o’ the O’Mallster. Here she is in Ball of Fire with Gary Cooper, my personal favorite of her movies (“I love him cause he gets drunk on a glass of buttermilk…”) …
but there are SO many other indelible performances.
The “missing scenes” of Baby Face have been restored … and I am SO there. To glory, once again, in the earthy MIRACLE that is Barbara Stanwyck.
I must be a troglodyte as the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Barbara Stanwyck is “The Big Valley”. As a little kid, I always wondered why they added the “Miss” to Barbara Stanwyck’s billing, like, what makes her so special?… now I know.
Unfortunately, the second thing that comes to mind is Double Indemnity, which, based on the remake, kind of makes me have to disagree with your theory of: “sometimes the sexiest stuff is what you DON’T see”. Then again, when I saw “Body Heat” the first time there were some mitigating factors:
1) I was a pretty horny 19 year-old
2) On a rare free weekend away from the Naval Academy (Choir trip)
3) in Manhattan
4) on a blind double date
5) who was, surprisingly for a blind date, good looking
6) and who was, um, “moved” by the movie as much as I was
BTW, going to Central Park to make out at 11:00 pm was probably not the smartest thing I did that year (1981)
Well, I shamefully admit to being a huge Stella Dallas fan . . . Stanwyk was GOD. DAMNED. PERFECT. Yes, it’s a ridiculous story, really, but she’s flawless as the tactless mother of a refined-looking daughter. I love it when she dresses up in these amazing two-tone shoes, stockings and ruffly dress, with a head of Shirley Temple curls and lots of jewelry, and she admires herself in the mirror, and she really is a godforsaken orgy of excess (sigh). Not to mention the tear-jerk, really it’s a tear-hemorrhage finale, looking through the window at her daughter’s wedding . . . the thing is, Stanwyk is real throughout and doesn’t pander, not like Bette Midler in a hideous remake for TV a while back. Midler’s performance looks like the dated one, while Stanwyk’s is still FRESH. How did she do it? So unusual, so her own person.
Stevie –
Great point about Bette Midler’s performance seeming dated while Stanwyck’s is still fresh. I have no idea how she does it – but all of her performances seem that real, and totally contemporary. She’s not dated at all.
There are only a couple of others I could say that about. Cary Grant, of course. Gary Cooper. Irene Dunne. (LOVE her. She could hold her own with Meryl Streep) Jimmy Stewart, Gregory Peck. These people transcend their own eras.
And yeah, Stella Dallas … TOTAL manipulative CRAP, really … but still, she is GREAT in it.
Ball of Fire is still my favorite. She’s so FUNNY in it. If you see Ball of Fire back to back with Double Indemnity (which – ahem – I have. Because I’m a geek) you realize: this chick is a PHENOMENAL talent. It’s the CONTRAST which really shows it.
JFH –
Oh sure, I agree with your point … I think Big Easy has got to be one of the hottest movies ever made … and those sex scenes. Good Lord. I have a whole theory on that movie and WHY it’s so hot, but I won’t bore you.
The movie definitely benefits from going into the bedroom with the 2 characters.
But my point is you really don’t HAVE to, in order to make a sexy movie. It’s not REQUIRED.
Like I said, Only Angels Have Wings, with Cary Grant and Jean Arthur, is one of the most sexually charged movies I’ve ever seen. (And it has so much ELSE going on in it, too – great flick) And there’s no nudity, no consummation … only one real kiss … but the chemistry SPARKLES.
If you’re talking about suggestive scenes I’ve got to mention Bogart in The Big Sleep.. the bookstore scene.. there’s that great dialogue again and, IIRC, when Bogart’s leaving Dorothy Malone isn’t in shot.. just her voice is heard.
Red, I agree with what you’re saying about the relationship between onscreen consummation and sexually charged movies. One approach isn’t better than the other – it’s just two different avenues that in brilliant hands can both lead to sublime achievements. The Big Easy vs. Only Angels Have Wings – luckily we don’t have to choose!
Hmmm.. I may have mis-remembered the end of that bookstore scene in The Big Sleep.. still a remarkable scene though.
Red, only you would know this, so here goes:
There’s an Irene Dunne movie where she’s being wooed by this classic movie cowboy hick. And he sings laments. And after he’s finished warbling this sad “Lonesome Prairie” type of number he says to her, “I need to work on that lament.” She replies, “Yes, it’s ever so gay in spots.”
That line has stuck with me for a lifetime, so hilarious, and hilariously delivered by the subtle, delicious Irene Dunne.
Oh, and what’s your take on “Penny Serenade?” Starring two of your great favorites. Another schlock fest, but soooooo good. . . .
peteb:
The last shot of that bookstore scene (which I agree – is so hot that it’s a wonder it wasn’t censored – it’s so obvious they just had a quickie) –
Anyway, she stands at the window, he leaves and says something like: “Thanks for the information”
and she says “anytime.” She’s at the window – but it might be true that she can only be heard.
It’s such a lovely moment.
Stevie-
Was that from The Awful Truth with Cary Grant and Ralph Bellamy? There is a laugh-out-loud funny scene (one of many) when she plays the piano for Bellamy and he sings “home home on the range” HORRIBLY – and her FACE as she plays. It is HILARIOUS.
Dude, I’m so nuts that I tracked down a quote from Bellamy about the filming of that scene. It is indeed on this blog somewhere.
I’m insane.
AND I LOVE PENNY SERENADE, schlock and all. Here’s the rambling essay I wrote on it.
Yes, it is so sentimental you literally want to die. You also want to shoot their little adopted girl right between the pigtails. She’s disgusting. But the two of them are great. And her scene where she doesn’t know how to diaper the baby is high comedy. Remember it?
I love the two of them together.
The Awful Truth is HILARIOUS.
Stevie –
Forgive me. Here was the rambling obsessive thing I wrote about The Awful Truth. I love that movie.
It’s just such a casual scene, Sheila, so co-incidental that I’m always surprised that it’s there.. the transformation of the scene is also all down to the change in attitude of the character of the bookstore owner – Dorothy Malone – it’s only when she says a suggestive line – “You interest me” – that Bogart responds… and I think the end lines are something like.. Bogart – “Thanks, Pal”.. Malone – “Anytime”
Sheila… Alex and i watched The Ghost and Mrs. Muir last night…starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison…oh my god..so good!!! so sexy…nothing shown..in fact they cant even touch because he is a ghost and she is living..but the sexual tension is ripe and very much an issue. Try to find it..u won’t be disappointed.
Oh Sheila, I forgot about that creepy kid in Penny Serenade!!! She was so icky! After every line, she would wait a beat, then do this big fake smile. God! I’m getting goose pimples just thinking about it. Like fingernails on a chalkboard. She has her big moment because she sings the “echo” to Silent Night in the school pageant. Cary and Irene in the audience, tears streaming down their faces . . .lordy, lordy.
And oh, the diaper scene! With the handyman showing Irene the ropes. Perfection. Thanks for the superb ramblings!
Sheila, have you ever seen the footage of that famous luncheon MGM held on one of their stages and all the actors are seated in rows, facing forward? I think it was in “That’s Entertainment.” Anyway, the camera pans and there’s Lena Horne, and Spencer Tracy, and Kathryn Hepburn, and Cary Grant, and Judy Garland, and on and on, and Lassie, and the Barrymores, and a memorable moment by Buster Keaton. But I remember Irene Dunne, elegant as always in a trim hat and suit, looking up from her lunch, bemused that the camera is on her, and she has this, “I know this is a set-up and you know this is a set-up and there’s no way this can look ‘natural’ like a real lunch between superstar friends,” and I love her for that, because the veil between THEM and US was rarely raised on those days. What a class act.
Her house in Hollywood was pointed out to me once – it was a full-on Anne Hathaway affair with an ersatz thatched rambling roof, tudor cross-beams, quaint dormers and a wishing well in the front yard. Just thought you’d like to know! :)
Goodness. I am a blabbermouth today.
Hahaha. That should be the tagline of your blog. And I mean that in a good way. Keep up the great stuff!
Re;
Barbara Stanwyck is my favorite classic movie actress.I`m looking forward to the release of STELLA DALLAS on DVD in April.Barbara received her Honorary Oscar in April of 1982 five months after the tragic death of her GOLDEN BOY leading man William Holden.Barbara dedicated her Oscar to
“My Golden Boy”-a touching moment which made me cry.I also remember the 1978 Oscars when Barbara and Bill Holden were presenters.Bill took the opportunity to make a public tribute to Barbara for the kindness and generosity she showed him during the filming of GOLDEN BOY.Barbara was so moved by Bill`s unplanned tribute that she looked as if she was going to faint.Another touching moment that made me cry.Barbara was beloved in Hollywood for her professionalism, kindness and generosity.
I`ve just ordered THE GREAT MAN`s LADY(1942) on video- a western in which Barbara`s character ages from 16 to a 109.
Lorraine
Re;
Barbara Stanwyck is my favorite classic movie actress.I`m looking forward to the release of STELLA DALLAS on DVD in April.Barbara received her Honorary Oscar in April of 1982 five months after the tragic death of her GOLDEN BOY leading man William Holden.Barbara dedicated her Oscar to
“My Golden Boy”-a touching moment which made me cry.I also remember the 1978 Oscars when Barbara and Bill Holden were presenters.Bill took the opportunity to make a public tribute to Barbara for the kindness and generosity she showed him during the filming of GOLDEN BOY.Barbara was so moved by Bill`s unplanned tribute that she looked as if she was going to faint.Another touching moment that made me cry.Barbara was beloved in Hollywood for her professionalism, kindness and generosity.
I`ve just ordered THE GREAT MAN`s LADY(1942) on video- a western in which Barbara`s character ages from 16 to a 109.
Lorraine
Stevie –
I have not seen That’s Entertainment – but I know I must.
Oh, and I went back and watched The Awful Truth this weekend, and no – the “it’s ever so gay in spots” is NOT from that movie. Although the “Home Home on the Range” scene is one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life.
I remember last year or something Vanity Fair did a HUGE piece on Irene Dunne. It was wonderful to see her get the props she deserved.
That chick could act.
Stevie –
And yes, hahahaha, that annoying kid plays “the echo”. Even though she is so annoying, the two of them in the audience (Grant and Dunne, I mean) do a great job, I think. They really seem like real parents, puffed up with pride over their daughter’s performance in the pageant.
But still. BLECH.
My favorite scene in that movie is when she joins him in Japan, they are now married, only to find him living the high life, living COMPLETELY on credit, racking up debt, living beyond his means … and she tries to put the brakes on, and he says, teasing, “Oh you’re not going to be THAT kind of wife, are you?” – and then she breaks the news to him that she’s pregnant. His response – the way he takes the news in – is so wonderful. It’s the kind of scene where you don’t know who to look at – him or her. Both of them are doing such good work. And the scene is done without cut-aways – no close-ups – it’s the two of them onscreen the whole time.
It’s delicious.
Oh, yes, Sheila, that’s an incredible scene. I had forgotten about it; thanks for the memory jog. Your point about their modernity is spot on. I’m gonna make it my mission to discover which movie contains the “Ever so gay in spots” line.
Small obsessive note:
Cary Grant was such a gentleman that he refused to answer the question “who was your favorite leading lady?” He would dodge it, be polite, make nice comments about all of them …
But apparently he whispered once, in Irene Dunne’s ear, “Out of all the actresses I’ve worked with, you smell the nicest.”
He adored her. Apparently, he adored her, too, because no matter what he did, she would roar with laughter. He loved making her laugh, and she said that she felt like she was “his perfect audience”.
So in between takes, he would regale her with ridiculous stories, or sing old music-hall songs, and she would laugh so hard they would have to re-do her makeup.
Just a little insane tidbit there for your enjoyment.
First, hope this is the right place for this.
Regarding the comment about Public Enemy not being restrained….
Any chance of elaborating.
You see, I happened to buy and watch this last week and they never even showed any of the actual
violence. It was always off screen (If I recall
correctly).
During the grapefruit scene, I never did notice the sounds from the other room.
Hence my wondering about the comment that it
was not restrained.
Regards, Hank
Right, Hank … by today’s standards, Public Enemy doesn’t seem that shocking – but if you watch films made just 2 years later, you can see the difference. There was sounds of laughing-sex through the wall … you never would have gotten away with that later in the 30s.
Also, the OPEN cravenness of that main character … Now James Cagney could never not be likable – and that was why that film was seen as so dangerous. Like: we’re supposed to SCORN this guy as dangerous!!! We have to have CLEAR bad guys and CLEAR good guys …
The good actors always circumvented those silly conventions anyway …
but it’s really about the contrast between movies made in the first couple of years of the Depression and those made at the end of the 30s. There is a noticeable clamp-down on sex and violence. You never would have had those two guys OPENLY living in sin, the way they were in Public Enemy. stuff like that.