Alfred E. Green's 1933 film Baby Face is an amazing example of a film that has aged excellently while providing a fresh meaning to new audiences. This very quick movie's narrative makes for its most interesting aspect, as its characters and story can be evolved in today's culture as creating a strong, feminist, film. Barbara Stanwyck gives one of her best performances in this pre-code film that not only shocked many audiences, but paved the path for more female-led films in the time to be released. Despite this movie's predictability and often flat plot, there is no doubt that pre-code Stanwyck is much better than post-code Stanwyck.
Barbara Stanwyck plays Lily, a young woman working for her father who runs an illegal drinking hall and sexually exploits her for his own profit. After a fatal accident leaving her father dead, Lily moves to New York in order to use her sexuality to climb to the top of the corporate ladder. Stanwyck amazingly embodies this character who definitely would have been banned if this film were produced after the Production Code took effect. Her character of Lily is one of the most complex female characters of this era of film and makes for the most interesting performance out of all the cast involved. Her multidimensional characteristics stood out the most, as the majority of female characters in this time were delegated to one of two roles: wife or mother. Lily, however, is neither, as she plans to do what she does best in order to get what she wants; sleeping her way to the top of the bank that she works for without batting an eye. Lily's corporate ruthlessness and relentless quest for control began with the death of her father, as she watched him burn to death without remorse in a strangely emancipating scene. This of course was aided by Stanwyck's amazing performance, as her face in that one shot said it all. The performance by Alphonse Ethier as Lily's friend Cragg was amazing too and provided a lot of motivation for Lily's character as he helped her gain her confidence in turning the tables on the men. We love a male-feminist, best friend character!
Lily's reverse exploitation of men is not only hilarious but also empowering to many degrees. I personally feel as if the aging of this narrative has not devalued what the original filmmakers intended, but has evolved to fit today's culture. This story, especially when it was released in 1933, was attempting to create a negative reaction towards Lily from the audience. Since the biggest portion of moviegoers at the time were white males, they most likely rooted against Lily until, of course, she was "tamed" by the CEO of the bank in the conclusion as they fell in love. The ending of this film is happy regardless of personal taste, as Lily decides to put emotional feelings over monetary gain, which is a sweet message for any generation. However, in today's culture, I feel as if Lily has become more of an icon for her actions in this movie. Since women's rights and feminism are rightfully gaining more traction in popular culture and Hollywood, Baby Face is a fantastic film to look back on and see that these kinds of characters did exist. Lily was aware of her powerful sexuality and weaponized it to attain what she wanted; by taking advantage of the stupidity and carelessness of the male characters in this film. This provides for an excellent look at how many aspects of femininity have changed but also stayed the same in order to empower women. The only part of this movie that I did not particularly enjoy was Green's direction. This was an incredibly quick film without too much complex plot and I feel that it could have benefitted from either a more developed screenplay or more flushed out supporting character arcs.
Baby Face is one of Alfred E. Green and Barbara Stanwyck's best movies that they ever worked on, as there are so many elements that prove it to be unusually timeless. With an incredibly emotional performance from Stanwyck and a groundbreaking narrative, I would absolutely recommend this film. Especially to experience the kinds of stories that were unfortunately banned once the Production Code was put in place.
My Rating: ★★★½
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