BABY FACE at London Film Festival
September 10th, 2004 by Andre Soares
Like many top executives, Baby Face’s Barbara Stanwyck stops at nothing while climbing the corporate ladder. John Wayne is eager to be used as a solid step.
Long thought lost, the original version of the 1933 Barbara Stanwyck vehicle Baby Face that was recently found at the Library of Congress Motion Picture Conservation Center in Dayton, Ohio, will be shown at the London Film Festival in November.
The Warner Bros. picture was initially released in all its sauciness, but had to be withdrawn shortly thereafter because of vociferous protests against its alleged immorality: a woman uses her body and her sensuality to get ahead during the Depression — and succeeds admirably. Bowing to pressure, Warners reedited Baby Face and even redubbed much of the dialogue of one character, who was transformed from the power behind the young woman’s sexual awareness into the film’s moral voice.
Directed by Alfred E. Green, Baby Face, which also stars George Brent (a young John Wayne makes a brief appearance), will be shown on November 3.
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