Baby Face (1933)

My Review

“Baby Face” is a romantic comedy-drama film about a young woman who uses sex to promote her social and financial status. Director Alfred E. Green (“Silver Dollar” 1932) put together a film which had open discussion about sexual activities, making it one of the most notorious of the Pre-Code Hollywood movies. The Motion Picture Production Code (The Hays Code) went into effect in 1934 (until it was removed in 1968) largely due to pictures like this one.

The screenplay of “Baby Face” was written by Gene Markey and Kathryn Scola from a story by Darryl F. Zanuck, under the name of Mark Canfield. The cast was headed by Barbara Stanwyck, who did her usual marvelous acting job as naughty Lily Powers. Her co-stars include George Brent, Donald Cook, Douglass Dumbrille, Margaret Lindsay, and John Wayne in one scene as one of Powers’ boyfriends. “Baby Face” was modestly popular at the Depression Era box office for Warner Bros. Pictures.