Baby Face (film)

Baby Face
Baby Face
	theatrical release poster
Directed by	Alfred E. Green
Screenplay by	Gene Markey; Kathryn Scola
Story by	"Mark Canfield"; (Darryl F. Zanuck)
Produced by	William LeBaron; Raymond Griffith
Starring	Barbara Stanwyck; George Brent
Cinematography	James Van Trees
Edited by	Howard Bretherton
Production; company	Warner Bros.
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	July 1, 1933 (US);
Running time	76 minutes; 71 minutes (censored version)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$187,000
Box office	$452,000

Baby Face is a 1933 American pre-Code-enforcement drama film directed by Alfred E. Green for Warner Bros., starring Barbara Stanwyck as Lily Powers, and featuring George Brent. Based on a story by Darryl F. Zanuck (under the pseudonym Mark Canfield), Baby Face portrays a young woman who uses sex to advance her social and financial status. Twenty-five-year-old John Wayne appears briefly as one of Powers's lovers.

Marketed with the salacious tagline "She had it and made it pay",^[3] the film's open discussion of sex made it one of the most notorious films of the Pre-Code Hollywood era^[4] and helped bring the era to a close as enforcement of the code became stricter beginning in 1934. Mark A. Vieira, author of Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood ^[5] has said, "Baby Face was certainly one of the top 10 films that caused the Production Code to be enforced."^[6] In 2005, Baby Face was included in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.^[7]^[8]

^ ^a ^b Baby Face at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
^ ^a ^b Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 13 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551
^ “It” refers to the idea of indefinable but powerful sex appeal publicized by Elinor Glyn in her famous—and, at the time, infamous— book, It. Glyn adapted her novel for the screen, for the 1927 film of the same name starring Clara Bow, who thereafter was known as “the It girl”.
^ Turan, Kenneth (2004) Never Coming to a Theater Near You: A Celebration of a Certain Kind of Movie. Public Affairs ISBN 1-58648-231-9. p.375
^ Cite error: The named reference Sin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference NYTimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[afi-1] Baby Face at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

[warners-2] Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 13 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551

[3] “It” refers to the idea of indefinable but powerful sex appeal publicized by Elinor Glyn in her famous—and, at the time, infamous— book, It. Glyn adapted her novel for the screen, for the 1927 film of the same name starring Clara Bow, who thereafter was known as “the It girl”.

[Tu375-4] Turan, Kenneth (2004) Never Coming to a Theater Near You: A Celebration of a Certain Kind of Movie. Public Affairs ISBN 1-58648-231-9. p.375

[Sin-5] Cite error: The named reference Sin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[NYTimes-6] Cite error: The named reference NYTimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[7] "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 18, 2020.

[:0-8] Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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