Baby Face (film)

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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.[link]

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.[link] In June 1933 the New York Censorship Board passed the revised version, which then had a successful release.[link]

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.[link] 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.

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