Baby Face (1933)

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  • BABY FACE


    DIRECTED BY ALFRED E. GREEN
    PRODUCED BY WILLIAM LeBARON/ RAYMOND GRIFFITH
    WARNER BROS



    Photo with the courtesy of lasbugas


    INFORMATION FROM IMDb


    Plot Summary
    Lilly (Baby Face) sleeps her way from basement speakeasy bartender,
    literally floor by floor, to the top floor of a New York office building.
    Bank submanager Jimmy McCoy finds her a job in the bank only
    to be cast aside as she hooks up with the bank's president.
    When he complains of not seeing her she says:
    "I'm working so hard I have to go to bed early every night."
    Summary written by Ed Stephan


    Full Cast
    Barbara Stanwyck .... Lily Powers
    George Brent .... Courtland Trenholm
    Donald Cook .... Ned Stevens
    Alphonse Ethier .... Adolf Cragg
    Henry Kolker .... J.P. Carter
    Margaret Lindsay .... Ann Carter
    Arthur Hohl .... Ed Sipple
    John Wayne .... Jimmy McCoy Jr.
    Robert Barrat .... Nick Powers
    Douglass Dumbrille .... Brody (as Douglas Dumbrille)
    Theresa Harris .... Chico
    Walter Brennan .... (scenes deleted)
    Joan Barclay .... Job seeker (uncredited)
    James Bush .... Paris bank clerk (uncredited)
    Charles Coleman .... Hodges (butler) (uncredited)
    Heinie Conklin .... Speakeasy waiter (uncredited)
    Cecil Cunningham .... Paris bank clerk (uncredited)
    Frank Darien .... Paris bank agent (uncredited)
    Arthur De Kuh .... Lutza (uncredited)
    John Elliott .... Bank director (uncredited)
    Harry Gribbon .... Doorman (uncredited)
    Grace Hayle .... Mrs. Hemingway (uncredited)
    Maynard Holmes .... Pratt (personnel office) (uncredited)
    Edward LeSaint .... Bank director (uncredited)
    Reginald Mason .... Gault (bank director) (uncredited)
    James Murray .... Brakeman (uncredited)
    Spec O'Donnell .... Office boy (uncredited)
    Henry Otho .... Laborer (uncredited)
    Nat Pendleton .... Stolvich (laborer) (uncredited)
    Matty Roubert .... Newsboy (uncredited)
    Cliff Saum .... Laborer (uncredited)
    Charles Sellon .... Vanderlure (bank director) (uncredited)
    Harry Semels .... Speakeasy drunk (uncredited)
    Harry Tenbrook .... Laborer (uncredited)
    Jacques Vanaire .... Paris bank clerk (uncredited)
    Edward Van Sloan .... Jameson (bank director) (uncredited)
    Sailor Vincent .... Laborer (uncredited)
    Renee Whitney .... Office worker (uncredited)
    Josephine Whittell .... (uncredited)
    Harry Wilson .... Laborer (uncredited)
    Toby Wing .... Office worker (uncredited)


    Writing Credits
    Darryl F. Zanuck (story) (as Mark Canfield)
    Gene Markey (screenplay) &
    Kathryn Scola (screenplay)


    Cinematography
    James Van Trees


    Trivia
    Originally banned in some US cities due to its sexual innuendo.


    In spring of 1933 this film was submitted to the New York State Board of Censors, who rejected it, demanding a number of cuts and changes. Warner Brothers made these changes prior to the film's release in July 1933. In 2004, a "dupe negative" copy of the film as it existed prior to being censored was located at the Library of Congress. This uncensored version received its public premiere at the London Film Festival in November 2004, more than 70 years after it was made.


    In the original 1933 sneak preview, Barbara Stanwyck's dialog in the opening sequence where she attacks her father for surrounding her with men since she was the age of 14 is intact, although it was actually cut from the release version.


    Ship scene features same set used in "Three on a Match" a year earlier.


    SPOILER: In the original version of the film, before changes were made to appease censors, the film ended with Lily finding that Courtland had killed himself. Censors forced the change to a relatively "happy" ending where it turns out that Courtland survived and it is suggested that Lily abandoned her pursuit of material wealth for true love.


    Goofs
    * Miscellaneous: After Lily mentions to Courtland she would like to be a Mrs., there are two shots of newspapers announcing the wedding. The second shot is a close up of two paragraphs. The first paragraph misspells Courtland's name as "Courtney" and the word company as "comany."


    * Revealing mistakes: When Lily reads from Nietzsche's book, Thoughts Out Of Season, the page that's highlighted repeats the same paragraph above, and again below, the highlighted lines.


    Memorable Quotes


    Filming Location
    Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank Studios, Burbank, California, USA
    (studio)


    Watch this Clip


    Baby Face

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 6 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Baby Face is a 1933 American dramatic film directed by Alfred E. Green,
    and starring Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent.
    Based on a story by Darryl F. Zanuck (under the pseudonym Mark Canfield),
    this sexually-charged, Pre-Code Hollywood film is about an attractive young woman
    who uses sex to advance her social and financial status.


    Marketed with the salacious tag line, "She had it and made it pay",
    the film's open discussion of sex made it one of the most notorious films
    of the Pre-Code Hollywood era. and helped bring the era to a close.
    The New York Times quotes Mark A. Vieira, author of Sin in Soft Focus:
    Pre-Code Hollywood as saying, "'Baby Face' was certainly one of the top 10 films
    that caused the Production Code to be enforced."


    In this Barbara Stanwyck film, Duke is 8th. in the credits,
    and seen 19 minutes, into the film!
    Duke has 2 scenes, totaling less than 2 minutes of screen time.


    However the significance of this review, is to point out,
    that Baby Face was an important production and offered the advantage
    of casting Duke opposite major stars.


    The picture aroused the ire, of the censorship office, as it included,
    subjects such as seduction, suicide and murder.


    User Review

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited once, last by ethanedwards ().

  • "Baby Face" has been released on DVD this week. It's more of a Barbara Stanyck Picture than John Wayne, but still worth the JW collection. It comes in a two disc (2 movies that is) set call "Forbidden Hollywood Collection".
    The reason is that at the time of release it was very racy and had to be edited down to an acceptable version. I am not sure if this is the full version of the movie. I have read that they restored the movie to its full uncut version. I will let you know, or I'm sure someone will find out. I hope it is the full restored version. DeepDiscount price is 37.80.


    This movie cause an uproar among the Hays committee and had to be edited. If you follow the link I have provided, you will read about the movie and see what cuts have been done to the movie. this movie also cause problems for the head of the studios to where I belive Zanuck quit. He formed his own studio call "20th Century Fox"! Or so it is said.


    Here is a link to follow to read more about this racy (for 1933) movie: http://www.moviediva.com/MD_root/reviewpages/MDBabyFace.htm.


    Here is a write up on the movie you ought to read. http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2...ughty_but_nice/


    Hope you enjoy!


    [SIZE=3]"Here's to you Duke, untill we meet again."[/SIZE]

  • Hi baron von Rassilon,


    Thanks for your post, and the information
    is of great interest.
    I'm a fan of this film, and was aware
    of the Film Board's concern.


    We now have a dedicated Movie Forum,
    where this movie is discussed,
    so for benefit of continuity
    I have taken the liberty of
    placing your post here

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

  • Baby Face (1933) is being released on DVD on December 5, 2006 as part of a "Forbidden Hollywood Collection" along with Red-Headed Woman (1932) and Waterloo Bridge (1931). According to Amazon and DeepDiscount, this release will include two versions of Baby Face; both the pre-Code Director's Cut and the post-Code censored Theatrical Version. Here are the links:



    http://www.amazon.com/Forbidden-Hollywood-...5?ie=UTF8&s=dvd


    http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/prod...JH75R7SQTNR7NR4


    http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=WBD067964


    Quote

    "I am not intoxicated - yet." McLintock!

  • I ordered a copy of it and it showed up today. The DVD set has an uncut version of Baby Face. Here is what an insert said about the film...


    Quote

    Baby Face - Uncut: Already the most notorious film of Hollywood's pre-code era, Baby Face (1933) has resurfaced in its original form, which includes about 5 minutes of previously cut material that make the Barbara Stanwyck melodrama all the more shocking. After being requested to strike a new print of the film for the London Film Festival in 2004, Library of Congress curator Mike Mashon discovered a duplicate negative that ran a few minutes longer than the original release version. In "a moment archivists live for" as Mashon has described it, he realized that he was the first person since 1933 to see the uncut Baby Face.


    Even by loose pre-code standards, the story of Baby Face was enough to rouse the ire of the New York Board of Censors, which rejected the movie on moral grounds. The vivid, powerful Stanwyck plays Lily Powers, a blonde beauty who is prostituted by her father in his Erie, Pennsylvania speakeasy before fleeing to Manhatten, where she sleeps her way, floor by floor, to the top of an Art Deco skyscraper. Even after the alterations demanded by censors, baby Face remained so potent that its release heped put teeth in the Production Code, created only a few years earlier. It became one of the first films to be withdrawn from theaters under the Code's rigid standards.


    Can't wait to watch this one. Probably pretty bland by today's standards. I may have to "share" this one. This puts my collection at 80.2% complete.


  • Hi Dakota,
    Good to have in your collection, and a significant film at the time,
    but don't get too excited about seeing Duke!!!

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

  • I know he has just a small part... I want to see why it was pulled from theaters and what the extra 7 minutes was all about that they had to censor it from the film. One movie I have of The Duke, he's in one scene for about 5 sec. Brown of Harvard. But it fits nicely in the collection.

  • With this movie coming out on DVD today, I thought I'd say


    "Bump"


    to bring this thread back to the top


    Good job, ejgreen!


    We'll have to check this one out.


    Chester :newyear:


    P.S. We did check it out, and right now, at least on Deep Discount and Amazon, Baby Face is only available in the Forbidden Hollywood collection, $27.10 at DD and $29.99 at Amazon.

  • Just watched this for the first time. This is a really good movie. Except for "The Big Trail", none of the other movies I have seen with John Wayne in it from this time period comes even close to being this good. Barbara Stanwyck is great.

  • Watched this movie for the first time today. Interesting, but the title character is absolutely amoral. Don't know cut or uncut version I've got, since I've got it in Russian release...
    Was there 2 endings?