Baby Face was the subject of our culture club this month, and what a terrific movie it is. This movie was so racy that even in pre-Code 1933, several scenes, bits of dialogue, and images had been censored. The original pre-censored copy was discovered in 2004. The Netflix DVD we watched had both versions. It’s only about 75 minutes long.

Barbara Stanwyck stars as the irresistable Lilly Powers, whom we meet working in her father’s Pittburgh prohibition era sleazy speakeasy.

the film's portrayal of working class masculinity, at least in the pre-edit version, is unambiguous

We learn she has been pimped out since the age of 14. When her father dies, Lilly takes the advice of a Nietzsche-quoting (Will to Power and Thoughts Out Of Season) German immigrant cobbler who has been a father figure, and heads for the big city. Once there, noticing the wealth all around her, she proceeds to sleep and scheme her way to riches, leaving a trail of ever more powerful and wealthy brokenhearted men. The original version ends with Lilly married to a man she loves, richer than she ever dreamed (the edit has her — totally implausibly — losing her fortune, returning to steel town, poor but happy with the man she loves.)

Stanwyck is sexy and in control and amazing to watch, and seeing a very young John Wayne as an early conquest was loads of fun, but most of my enjoyment of the movie came from just being amazed at the frank way it dealt with sex and pondering what it was trying to say about it.

Lilly is a very sympathetic protagonist, and in the initial version she goes to Gotham not just to get rich, but to exercise her will to power. Here’s the quote from her mentor:

A woman, young, beautiful like you, can get anything she wants in the world. Because you have power over men. But you must use men, not let them use you. You must be a master, not a slave. Look here — Nietzsche says, “All life, no matter how we idealize it, is nothing more nor less than exploitation.” That’s what I’m telling you. Exploit yourself. Go to some big city where you will find opportunities! Use men! Be strong! Defiant! Use men to get the things you want!

Unfortunately, her quest looks vastly less interesting in the edited version of this speech, which a member of the Studio Relations Committee wrote:

A woman, young, beautiful like you, can get anything she wants in the world. But there is a right way and a wrong way. Remember, the price of the wrong way is too great. Go to some big city where you will find opportunities! Don’t let people mislead you. You must be a master, not a slave. Be clean, be strong, defiant, and you will be a success.

In the original version, Lilly was not the subject of moral disapproval: the weak, duplicitous, cuckolded men were. Although they were in suits and ties, and employed at the big skyscraper bank (screen shots of which symbolized Lilly’s ascent), Lilly was the one who was winning at capitalism.

In some ways, the film worked as a kind of feminine (but not feminist) fantasy. Although Lilly undeniably suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her father and the men who paid him for her body as a teenager, we don’t see that. What we see onscreen is a woman who, although surrounded by men frequently drunk and in a state of nearly insane lust, is always in total control.

Lilly protecting herself from sexual assault in a scene cut for the theatrical release

In the real world, a file clerk who gets caught having sex in the ladies room with her married boss would lose her job and be disgraced. In Baby Face, the boss is fired and Lilly becomes the mistress of the man who fired him. [This is an amazing scene, especially the moment we see Lilly seeing her lover's boss watching her in the mirror.]

Another interesting thing about this movie is Lilly’s relationship with the one African American character, Chico, Lilly’s friend/maid. It wasn’t easy to find any stills with Chico, but here’s one:

As an aside, the scene pictured above was edited. In the initial version, the camera pans slowly and leeringly up Stanwyck’s body. In the edited version, the camera focuses on her face and shoulders.

Lilly’s complex relationship with Chico provides some of the more poignant moments in the film, as on a Christmas Eve when Chico heads out for a night with friends and Lilly is all by her lonesome (married men can’t usually get away on holidays), and near the end, when Chico tries to intercede and Lilly firmly, verbally and physically, reminds her of her inferior racial and class status.

In the end, love prevails, although it doesn’t clearly prevail over money in the original version (it’s ambiguous whether she and her husband stay wealthy — he’s facing a massive lawsuit thanks to her).

So is this a romance? I don’t think so. It’s Lilly’s story. We don’t even really get a sense of why she falls for the man she does, except perhaps that he’s the bank president, so there’s no higher conquest, and the narrative has to close at some point.

Lilly is smart, tough, beautiful, driven, and, in the end, happy. I think if this movie were made today, Lilly would been raped, beaten, and wound up poor and lonely. What do you think?

Here’s the theatrical trailer for your enjoyment.

“She played the love game … with everything she had… for everything they had .. and made ‘IT’ pay!”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6tmkW_ykt0