Barbara Stanwyck, John Wayne, Baby Face
Long thought lost, the original cut of the 1933 Barbara Stanwyck movie Baby Face will be screened at the London Film Festival in November.
The racy Warner Bros. production was initially released in all its risque glory, but had to be withdrawn shortly thereafter because of vociferous protests against its "immorality": a woman (Stanwyck) uses her body, her sensuality, and her determination to ascend the corporate ladder 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 moralizing voice.
Directed by the unfairly neglected Alfred E. Green, Baby Face, which also stars George Brent and features a young John Wayne as one of the steps in Stanwyck's corporate ladder, will be shown on November 3.
The original, uncut version was recently found at the Library of Congress Motion Picture Conservation Center in Dayton, Ohio.