Baby Face

I'm fascinated by a very small sliver of the history of cinema: 1927-1933. This six-year span covers a moment in time when talkies began and cinema was irrevocably changed, and before the Hays Code -- the precursor to the MPAA -- was enacted. The Hays Code was insanely puritanical and restrictive; words like God, Lord, and Jesus Christ couldn't be used unless it was "reverently" within the context of a religious ceremony, and there was NO criticism of clergy. Mixed-race marriages were taboo. The illicit drug trade was off limits. And sex? Well, kisses had to be no more than three seconds in length and couldn't be too "lustful". That six year span saw directors explore concepts and ideas that the Hays Code would shut down for over 30 years. Baby Face is one of those movies, and is in fact one of the movies that was considered so provocative and outrageous, it helped usher in the Hays Code. Barbara Stanwyck plays Lily Powers, a barmaid in a speakeasy run by her abusive dad. When the speakeasy gets shut down, she gets advice from a friend to use Nietzsche's philosophy of using her personal power over others to get what she wants. Since men find her so attractive, she decides to use what she has and sex her way to the top of society. The movie is not subtle about this at all; when she goes to work for a major bank in New York, her ascent is visualized by a camera literally panning up the building, floor by floor, as she uses men and tosses them aside. I was continually impressed with what they were able to get away with insinuating or even downright saying in Baby Face. It is outright said her father has been prostituting Lily since she was 14, and that she was having sex with a local politician to keep the speakeasy off the cops' radar. Oral sex is heavily implied in one scene. This movie pulls no punches in its characterization of Lily as calculating and merciless, fully buying into an ends-justify-the-means philosophy. But interestingly, it doesn't portray the men as nice guys who just got caught up; they're stupid and horny, their libidos overriding their common sense. When she ruins marriages, businesses, and lives, the movie never asks you to feel sorry for the men in this. They're victims of themselves, not tragic heroes falling to a witchy temptress, but complicit morons who wanted more than they had and fell hard reaching for it. Even more surprising is that, other than the sappy ending where Lily finally falls in love with someone, she never is held accountable for the destruction left in her wake, which is no small list (two people die because of her, and an international banking business goes under). I'm not going to sit here and apply modern sensibilities to a 91 year old movie. Personally, I think that is, more often than not, a fool's errand. Besides, I could totally see this being remade today, and it would likely get as divisive a reaction as it did back then, just with different reactions. No, what I will do is judge it on its merits. Is it a good movie? Yeah, it's good. It's not great, mainly because the structure of the movie for a good 30-40 minutes of it is quite repetitive; she goes to work at the bank, she flirts/screws a guy, uses the leverage to move up, repeat for four iterations. Stanwyck does a great job as Lily, able to come off as a sweet and flirtatious girl next door one moment, and a conniving, amoral sociopath the next. She's never shamed for owning her sexuality, but the movie never exploits it either. Most the guys are just there, though. They're fine, but nobody's gonna stick with you. And that holds true for most of the other elements; direction, score, cinematography, it's all perfunctory. It does the job, never looks bad, but never hits a higher gear or leaves an impact. This is really Stanwyck's movie; everything revolves around her and lives in her shadow. You watch this for her owning every moment she's on screen. Stanwyck and the historical value of it all are really the best reasons to see Baby Face. There is something so bizarre about seeing a movie so old, from an era none of us were alive to see, being so brazen with sexuality, to allow a woman (gasp!) such physical and emotional autonomy, and to have a woman holding dominion over powerful men. Whether or not it is a positive or negative portrayal is up to the viewer and their personal beliefs, but it can't be argued that, in the history of cinema, it is a memorable and important one, and in either case, it makes for a fascinating watch.