Baby Face (film)
| Baby Face | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Alfred E. Green |
| Produced by | William LeBaron Raymond Griffith |
| Written by | Darryl F. Zanuck Gene Markey Kathryn Scola |
| Starring | Barbara Stanwyck George Brent Donald Cook Alphonse Ethier Henry Kolker Margaret Lindsay |
| Music by | Harry Akst Ralph Erwin Fritz Rotter Beth Slater Whitson |
| Cinematography | James Van Trees |
| Editing by | Howard Bretherton |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | July 1, 1933 |
| Running time | 71 min. (restored version 76 min.) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $187,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
Baby Face is a sexually charged feature film first released in 1933.
The film stars Barbara Stanwyck as Lily Powers, a speakeasy waitress who leaves her hometown and "sleeps her way to the top" of a New York City financial institution, ultimately gaining an appointment as head of the travel desk in the firm's Paris office. Lily uses men, seducing them and granting sexual favours liberally in order to get material goods or to advance her career, then abandons them when she no longer has use for them (often breaking their hearts or destroying them in the process).
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.[1]
Because the original cut was rejected by the New York State Censorship Board in April 1933, the film was softened by cutting out some material (such as Lily's study of Nietzschean philosophy as well as various sexually suggestive shots). The producers also inserted new footage and tacked on a new ending.[2] In June 1933 the New York Censorship Board passed the revised version, which then had a successful release.[3]
The uncensored version remained lost until 2004, when it resurfaced at a Library of Congress film vault in Dayton, Ohio. George Willeman is credited with the discovery.[4] The restored version premiered at the London Film Festival in November 2004. In 2005 it was added to the list of films preserved in the United States National Film Registry and also was named by Time.com as one of the 100 best movies of the last 80 years.
External links
- Baby Face at the Internet Movie Database
- Article about the film's resurfacing
- London Film Festival note
- Time magazine note
- Article by Betsy Sherman, April 7 2006, WBUR radio
- Review by Chris Dashiell from July 2000 (pre-restoration)
- Article by Brooks Boliek, December 28 2005
- Review by Mick Lasalle, San Francisco Chronicle, February 3 2006
- Library of Congress press release, December 20 2005, re films added to National Film Registry
- Blog entry from Filmradar.com, May 20 2005
- Lengthy article from MovieDiva.com, March 2006, including list of censor cuts
- Article by Kendahl Cruver, Senses of Cinema, September 2005
- Review by Richard von Busack, Metro (Silicon Valley), February 1-7, 2006
- Article by Rich Drees, 2005
- "A Wanton Woman's Ways Revealed, 71 Years Later", Dave Kehr, New York Times, January 9 2005
- Review by Ty Burr, Boston Globe, April 7 2006
- Review by Connie Lee, Synapse (UCSF Student Newspaper)
- "Revealing the Racy Original Cut of 'Babyface'", Scott Simon, January 29 2005
Categories
1933 films | United States National Film Registry | Black and white films | XRCO Hall of Fame