Oversexed in the City: The Saga of “Baby Face” (1933)

WEBVTT

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Hello, I'm film historian Tony Maietta

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And I'm Brad Shreve, who's just a guy who likes movies.

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We discuss movies and television from Hollywood's golden age.

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We go behind the scenes and share our opinions too.

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And, of course, being the average guy, my opinions are the ones that matter.

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As does your self-delusion.

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Welcome to Going Hollywood.

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Well, Brad, do you remember what we're talking about today?

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What movie we're talking about?

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Well, I hope so.

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I don't just show up to look at your handsome face.

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Well, I was going to give you a hint.

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Can I give you a hint?

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I'll give a hint to everybody else, that's what I'll do.

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Okay, that's fine, that'll work.

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I'll give a hint to our listener Babyface.

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That's not much of a hint.

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That's the name of the movie.

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I should have started somewhere.

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I didn't think that through.

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We're talking about Baby Face and not the music producer, singer, the 1933 pre-code film Baby Face today

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You also stopped listening before we lost everybody too.

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That's true.

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I always want to do that.

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I probably could have sang the whole song, because I think it's in public domain by now, but anyway, so that's yes, so that's what we're talking about today, Brad, I got to ask you because I know you never had you even heard of Babyface before.

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I said we need to do Babyface.

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No, I had no clue about this movie.

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As far as I can recall, I don't think I ever heard of this film.

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I certainly knew nothing about the film.

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So we maybe should let give people a little bit background.

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What we did was we said I the film.

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So we maybe should let give people a little bit background.

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What we did was we said I was going to give Brad a film, a suggestion to watch, to record, and he's going to give me one.

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So you'll have to wait to find out what the movie is that Brad wanted me to watch.

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Now here's the interesting thing about Babyface, and I think we need a little bit of background on what we mean when we say pre-code, because I've said it a couple times in this podcast oh, it's pre-code, it's pre-code.

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And people are like, well, what is it?

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Some people might not know what that means.

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Yeah, I think we could use more detail.

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Okay, so basically what pre-code is is an era in the American film industry that occurred pretty much between the widespread adoption of sound in like the late you know, 27, 28, 29, and the enforcement of the motion picture production code, censorship, guidelines.

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So what we're talking about when we say pre-code is a time period of about four years when Hollywood films were really crazy, insane.

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I mean, when people think of black and white film, when people think of old Hollywood films, you know mostly black and white films, I think.

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I think they think of innocent films, I think they're wholesome, certainly sexless.

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I mean there is no sex, you know, kind of dull and non-threatening.

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Did you have that idea about movies, Brad?

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This is the general whole black and white films.

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They certainly were tame as a rule, other than the innuendo here and there.

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Yes, naive, yeah, yeah definitely innuendo here and there.

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Yes, naive, yeah, yeah, definitely.

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Non-violent, sexless, certainly.

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Well, that ain't Baby Face, I'll tell you right now.

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So the thing about these pre-code films it is so astounding is that none of them are like this.

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They are some of the wildest, craziest films you'll ever see and they're in black and white.

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So so I think it's kind of like it's a little jarring to us when we see it and in Baby, and I thought a lot about how I was going to describe Baby Face when we talked about doing it and I realized that I didn't want to do any euphemisms, I didn't want to do any kind of like innuendo, because that doesn't the movie doesn't.

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There's no innuendo in this movie.

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There is no subtle suggestions in this movie.

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So this movie deserves an absolute, out there, honest description of what it's about.

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So if anybody has sensitive ears, they should close them right now.

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Cover them, because what Baby Gace is about is Barbara Stanwyck plays a woman who literally fucks her way to the top.

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Am I wrong about this description, Brad?

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No, and when you told me this was a pre-code film and everything, I thought, okay, there's going to be a lot of innuendo here.

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There is no innuendo at all.

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It is totally in your face, Victoria Barkley from Big Valley.

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I am shocked how you earned your money.

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Yeah, there's no shadings, there's no shading.

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So I didn't want to be like cutesy about.

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Oh, she slept away at the top because there's no sleeping.

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That goes on in this movie either.

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I mean, it's quite blatant what she's doing to get ahead and she plans it.

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She plans her ascent this way.

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We may not have seen on the screen, but she had to be sleeping sometime, because this woman would have been exhausted.

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Well, that's true, she was very active.

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Yeah, she had to get a rest sometime.

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All right, so let me give a.

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I'm going to give a brief history of the code Now.

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This is going to be brief and just an overview, because there are lots of books, lots of wonderful websites that you can research the history of the code, because it's full of lots of subcommittees and committees and administrations and it's yeah, I'm just going to give you an overview of it.

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So, first of all, I think the important thing to say is that when we say pre-code and we're talking about a film, it's kind of a misnomer, because the code itself the list of do's and don'ts and be carefuls was actually adopted by the film industry in 1930.

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It just wasn't enforced.

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So what we're talking about actually is when we say pre-code is pre enforcement of the code.

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But the code was in place.

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So these filmmakers knew they weren't following the code when they did this.

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But in order to talk about it you have to go all the way back to silent film, all the way back to the 20s.

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And it's also important to point out the code was established by Hollywood itself.

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It was not established by outsiders, because in the early 20s there were several major scandals that brought unwanted attention to Hollywood.

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There was the Fatty Arbuckle Virginia Rappe manslaughter trial.

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There was the mysterious death of director William Desmond Taylor.

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That involved two popular actresses, Mabel Normand and Mary Miles Minter, and there was also the drug overdose of popular leading man Wallace Reed.

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Now, these scandals, along with the increasing sexuality that was going on in films at this time after all, this was the Jazz Age.

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Okay, it wasn't just Hollywood that was going crazy, culture was going a little crazy and that would naturally bleed in to film.

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Sexuality, or this increasing sexuality in film, along with these scandals, brought a lot of unwanted attention to Hollywood and it started special interest groups to start calling for government intervention in films.

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Now, the studios did not want this.

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They did not want to get the government involved in kind of some kind of censorship, so they decided they had to do something themselves to prevent that.

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So they all got together, which is kind of amazing when you think of that.

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They all got together and formed the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, or the MPPDA.

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Are you with me so far, brad?

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Have I lost you yet?

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No, I'm still with you.

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Okay, good, you're doing well here.

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I haven't gone too deeply into the into the swamp.

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You're skimming the surface.

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You're skimming

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Okay I'm wrapping up soon.

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So, okay, real fast.

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All right, so to head this new uh mppda, they hired this innocuous uh E Newman, mad Magazine-looking guy named Will Hayes, who was actually the former Postmaster General of the US.

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And if you want a good laugh, just Google Will Hayes and you'll laugh, because he looks just like Alfred E Newman from Mad Magazine.

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But the problem was that the MPPDA, and later a subgroup called the Studio Relations Committee, didn't really have the teeth.

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A subgroup called the Studio Relations Committee didn't really have the teeth.

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It was an advisory board.

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It advised producers what to do and what not to do.

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It couldn't enforce it.

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So you know, the filmmakers just pretty much ignored it and just kept doing what they were doing before, except it got even racier.

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And then, when sound came in, these special interest groups really got nervous, because not only did they have to worry about visual things that might offend, suddenly there were words to contend with.

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So basically they said I'll take note of that.

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And then they sat down and said, fuck them.

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Yeah, exactly, they just kept, they just did what they did because there was no teeth to this there was no teeth.

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So of course, it wasn't really until 1929 that the Catholic Church got involved.

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Of course, it wasn't until the Catholic Church got involved that they began to get really nervous.

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And so, in 1930, they created the code that we always talk about, the motion picture code.

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And just I want to give you a couple examples of what was in the code.

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Okay, just so we know.

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Obviously pointed profanity, any licentious or suggestive nudity, illegal traffic and drugs, interference of sex perversion, ie homosexuality, white slavery, scenes of actual childbirth, children's sex organs.

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Well, okay, yeah, why would you anyway?

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But all right, ridicule of the clergy, because who created this code?

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The clergy?

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They didn't want to be made fun of.

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So those were just some of the rules that were in the code, but still, they created this code and nobody paid any attention to it.

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It's insane, these filmmakers, it's all PR.

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They're just saying we're doing, we're doing and we're doing it, and they turn around and do what they want to do anyway.

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So finally, in 1933, the Catholic Legion of Decency was formed and it began to rate films independently.

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Okay, and when it did this and it told his congregation you could go to hell watching this movie.

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They also got the Protestants involved and women's groups launched protests and boycotts.

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Then they really the studios finally sat up and take notice.

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Okay, that was created in 1930 was finally enforced.

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So, that's why you can see a movie from, say, May, and it can have drugs, it can have prostitution, it can have illicit sexual activity.

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And then you can see a movie two months later, from August.

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None of it existed.

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And that is my code 101 for you.

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Your applause can start now.

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While you were talking.

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I couldn't resist.

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I had to pull up a picture of William Hayes and I don't like to make fun of the way people look.

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.

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Well, he was a Republican.

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Well, I was going to say not to get political.

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He was the chairman of the RNC from 1918 to 1921.

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That happened to pop up.

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And we'll just leave it at that

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So thank you for indulging me in that brief history.

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Now we can actually talk about the movie that we're here to talk about, which is from 1933, Baby Face.

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But one more thing I want to say.

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One more thing I want to say, but it's about Baby Face.

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So even though Babyface was made in 1933, before the code was strictly enforced Baby Face was so out there I mean, they pushed that envelope so far out that Baby Face was actually censored.

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Actually, there are two versions of Baby Face.

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There's the pre-release version and the release version, and there were cuts made in the pre-release version in order for it to play in theaters, because there were still states that were censoring films.

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So Baby Face could never have played in some of these more conservative states the way it was when it was first created.

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So there were cuts made in Babyface, but we'll go into that a little bit later, I think.

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Yeah, I did see an article from back then that Iowa banned the film.

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Yeah, yeah, I'm sure no surprise.

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You know they don't want Barbara Stanwyck doing that stuff in their theaters in Iowa.

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So, Brad, now that I've gone on and on and on about and explained to everybody what the Code is, why don't you tell us a little bit about what this film Baby Face ?

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I will say it's scandalous.

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It is so fun.

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I mean we sat there.

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It was my husband, Maurice, and I and his mom.

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We sat there and watched it and we laughed and laughed.

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And it's not supposed to be a comedy, this film.

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Knowing it was from 1933 and the scandalous way that Barbara Stanwyck acted, we just were aghast and it was hysterical.

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So Barbara Stanwyck is in this industrial town.

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It's kind of later.

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She says Erie in the film, so we're kind of presuming it was Erie Pennsylvania.

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And I love that as somebody who's from northwestern.

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Pennsylvania Go Erie oh.

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I didn't know that.

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Oh, you didn't know that.

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Yes, yes, I had no clue.

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That's why I love the fact that she's from Erie Pennsylvania.

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Well, I will tell you she had a lovely view out her window.

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She kept gazing out the window.

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They looked like they lived on the grounds of this factory.

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They were always showing this big industrial building with smokestacks and they didn't live in a very nice neighborhood.

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We'll put it that way.

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Did you love it when she would blow the dust off the plants out the window?

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Yeah, so we're really seeing where she's starting out.

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Air quality not good.

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No, not good at all.

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This is during prohibition, so her dad is running an illegal gambling drinking house in their home and it's quite a busy place and all the guys there are obviously blue-collar workers, grunting guys and grabbing at Barbara Stanwyck.

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And what's really shocking is it's not even hinted at.

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It's very clear that he has been pimping out his daughter since she was 14 years old, .

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Yes, you want to know something even more interesting than that, although I don't know how you can get.

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But yes, he's prostituting his own child, pimping her out since she's 14.

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That was a suggestion of Barbara Stanwyck.

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Oh, my goodness, isn't that amazing, because Barbara Stanwyck had a little input.

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I have a little bit about this.

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This film had a story by Mark Canfield, but Mark Canfield but Mark Canfield is a excuse, my French a nom de plume for Daryl Zanuck.

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Daryl Zanuck came up with the story.

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Daryl Zanuck was head of production at Warner Brothers at this time.

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So Barbara Stanwyck, born Ruby Stevens in 1907, in New York, had a pretty rough life, not that much different than Lily Powers, and her mother died when she was a young child.

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She actually fell out of a streetcar and hit her head Terrible Wow, poor thing.

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And her father abandoned the family not long after that.

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So thankfully, ruby's older sister took Ruby and her young brother in.

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But still, Barbara Stanwyck had to scrabble to survive.

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Now, I don't think she did what Lily Powers does in this film, but she still had to work hard.

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So she still had to rough and tumble and hardscrabble life.

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She did burlesque and she was a showgirl and she eventually climbed her way up to Broadway and onto Hollywood.

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But I just want to say that I just wanted to point out that Barbara Stanwyck actually suggested the part about her father pimping her out, because that was part of Barbara Stanwyck's persona she was a tough broad even at this point.

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That really surprises me.

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I had no idea, Tony.

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I'm stopping our conversation real quick.

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Why we're in the middle of a podcast.

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But this is about the podcast and it's very important, Okay.

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Oka Listener, whatever app you're listening on, whether it's on the computer or on the phone, reach your finger or your mouse over.

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It usually says follow.

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Some still say subscribe and click that.

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And what's going to happen when they do that, Tony?

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They're going to get notified when a new episode is available and they can listen to us again.

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You know, I don't want to miss that.

00:17:05.844 --> 00:17:07.626
No, can we get back to the episode that we were recording?

00:17:07.626 --> 00:17:08.548
Of course, please.

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Of course, all right, thank you.

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Don't forget to subscribe and follow.

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There you go.

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Before I continue with the movie, I want to read a quote in this bar that her father ran in their home.

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She had a friend who was a cobbler.

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He would read Nietzsche.

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And so here is a quote from Nietzsche that he reads, and this is very important to this film "All life, no matter how we idealize it, is nothing more nor less than exploitation, and she runs with this.

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She willingly exploits herself to move up the ladder.

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That's just another.

00:17:47.096 --> 00:17:57.098
One of the wild things about this movie is that you have a Nietzsche sprouting cobbler giving her life advice From will to power.

00:17:57.098 --> 00:17:59.044
By the way, god is dead.

00:17:59.044 --> 00:18:02.060
Exploit yourself, you know, master slave morality.

00:18:02.060 --> 00:18:03.064
It's just insane.

00:18:03.064 --> 00:18:04.500
She's getting advice from this guy.

00:18:04.500 --> 00:18:09.634
That's Nietzsche In 1933, it's astounding to me, astounding.

00:18:09.755 --> 00:18:16.925
And he continues to coach her from long distance Not a whole lot, but periodically pops back in the film to coach her, encouraging her.

00:18:16.925 --> 00:18:19.663
Now, I don't think he knows exactly what she's doing.

00:18:19.663 --> 00:18:25.663
She never flat out tells him what she's doing, but she is doing what he's telling her to do, based on what Nietzsche said.

00:18:31.694 --> 00:18:36.778
He says to her, he says exploit yourself, use men to get the things you want.

00:18:36.778 --> 00:18:38.439
And she does.

00:18:38.439 --> 00:18:39.818
What else could he mean by that?

00:18:39.818 --> 00:18:41.180
You know, yeah, full stop.

00:18:41.180 --> 00:18:43.662
Okay, that's what I'm going to do.

00:18:43.662 --> 00:18:47.163
So I don't, I look, I hate, I don't hate.

00:18:47.163 --> 00:18:51.605
But I don't want to be a podcast that, like, gives plot, like and this happened, and this happened.

00:18:51.605 --> 00:18:57.048
But you kind of have to in Baby Face because it's so much a part of this.

00:18:57.048 --> 00:19:01.010
Yeah, telling you what happens is just giving you an idea of how crazy this film is.

00:19:01.010 --> 00:19:04.492
So we might have to do a little plot regurgitation here.

00:19:04.833 --> 00:19:17.386
I think we have to Anyway what happens is that her father, the bootlegger slash pimp, tries to set her up with this politician, which she's not having any of because she's got all this Nietzsche in her head.

00:19:17.386 --> 00:19:19.288
She's done, she's thinking about this Nietzsche?

00:19:19.288 --> 00:19:20.609
Yeah, she's kind of done.

00:19:20.609 --> 00:19:26.375
So he leaves, everybody leaves the speakeasy and this politician is trying to make time with Barbara Sandwick.

00:19:26.375 --> 00:19:27.217
She's not having any of it.

00:19:27.217 --> 00:19:33.184
First she smacks him and then she casually walks away and opens a bottle and pours herself a beer.

00:19:33.184 --> 00:19:38.980
She's so nonchalant about it I think it's kind of funny.

00:19:38.980 --> 00:19:43.623
And then he comes around again and tries to get it from the back and she clubs him over the head with a bottle.

00:19:44.455 --> 00:19:46.042
And then she walks away again.

00:19:46.134 --> 00:19:48.644
She's so unemotional.

00:19:48.644 --> 00:20:04.178
It's almost funny how unemotional she is and that's why I think and I know you said it's not a comedy, but I think there's a, there's a, and we can talk about this more later.

00:20:04.178 --> 00:20:05.618
But I think there's a facet of this which is kind of like commenting.

00:20:05.618 --> 00:20:06.780
I feel like Stanwyck is commenting on some of this.

00:20:06.780 --> 00:20:08.382
I mean, she's so non-emotional, she's so nonchalant when she does these things.

00:20:08.382 --> 00:20:12.006
It's almost like she's saying I know this is ridiculous too, but anyway.

00:20:12.006 --> 00:20:17.852
So the father comes back, he's very upset because the politician is going to threaten to call the cops on him and shut down his business.

00:20:17.852 --> 00:20:29.707
And just at that moment there's a problem with his still and he runs down to fix his still and of course the still explodes and there's a fire and the father's gone.

00:20:29.707 --> 00:20:32.242
So bye-bye, child pimp.

00:20:33.497 --> 00:20:39.476
So this Lily Powers is finally free, and Tony mentioned that she is cold To me.

00:20:39.476 --> 00:20:43.507
She is Rhoda Penmark, from the Bad Seed, grown up

00:20:48.506 --> 00:20:49.248
I love that.

00:20:49.335 --> 00:20:52.525
Rhoda has grown up and taken on the world.

00:20:53.015 --> 00:20:54.662
Well, Rhoda's a little bit of a psychopath, though.

00:20:54.662 --> 00:20:59.224
Barbara Stanley doesn't kill people like Rhoda does over a pair of shoes.

00:20:59.746 --> 00:21:05.907
She doesn't kill people, but she has no emotion, and when people are killed in front of her, she doesn't bat an eye.

00:21:06.655 --> 00:21:09.875
Well, I think the man who's been prostituting her since she was a child doesn't bat an eye.

00:21:10.134 --> 00:21:11.477
That is kind of what the cobbler said.

00:21:11.477 --> 00:21:14.682
He says not just use men instead of men using you.

00:21:14.682 --> 00:21:17.067
And men have been using her most of her life.

00:21:17.346 --> 00:21:20.922
Yes, yes, use men, yes, use men to get what you want before they use you.

00:21:20.922 --> 00:21:26.748
She does say at a later point in the movie that all the gentleness and kindness has been killed in her.

00:21:26.748 --> 00:21:34.801
So there's definitely somebody who's been through great trauma and we're obviously not going to be a psychoanalytic podcaster but obviously a woman who's been through great trauma.

00:21:34.801 --> 00:21:41.559
So she's completely detached from her emotions.

00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:42.703
That's how she's able to do these things.

00:21:42.703 --> 00:21:43.567
So she goes to see the cobbler again.

00:21:43.567 --> 00:21:48.320
He reads her some more Nietzsche, Will to Power, and that's when she decides she needs to go make her way.

00:21:48.320 --> 00:21:52.135
And she will make her way by using men to get what she wants.

00:21:53.298 --> 00:21:59.096
And one thing I want to bring up that I was really impressed with is her friend the maid.

00:21:59.738 --> 00:22:01.161
Oh yes, yes, I'm glad you brought her up.

00:22:01.161 --> 00:22:03.465
Yes, Chico, Chico, yes.

00:22:03.886 --> 00:22:07.400
She is a Black woman and of course, given that era, she is a maid.

00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:10.106
I'm impressed because to me it's very advanced.

00:22:10.106 --> 00:22:12.919
She not only is the maid, she's Barbara Stanwyck's friend.

00:22:12.919 --> 00:22:20.809
She is, she is her friend and she's treated mostly as an equal, as much as society would allow her to be an equal given that era.

00:22:20.829 --> 00:22:29.523
Yeah, yeah, at one point in fact, when Barbara Stanwyck's father, before he's killed, wants to fire Chico because she dropped some glasses, she says if Chico goes, I go.

00:22:30.006 --> 00:22:30.185
Yes.

00:22:31.998 --> 00:22:33.279
And so she has Chico on that level.

00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:44.847
So Chico is definitely her companion in her cohort and it is a very I mean there's the horrible stereotypical, lazy maid stereotypes in the very beginning.

00:22:44.847 --> 00:22:51.487
But you're right, the important thing is that Chico is her friend, her companion through life, through this entire film.

00:22:51.487 --> 00:22:52.288
She's with Chico.

00:22:52.935 --> 00:22:58.048
We'll get into detail of how she moves up the ladder, talking about Barbara Stanwyck's character.

00:22:58.048 --> 00:23:02.884
But she has Chico with her the whole time and, yes, chico is the maid the whole time.

00:23:02.884 --> 00:23:08.421
But she's dressing better, she is looking better, she is more a participant.

00:23:08.421 --> 00:23:12.145
So, given that time period, she was still that station in life.

00:23:12.145 --> 00:23:16.541
But Lily is pulling Chico up with her and that was rare at that time in the movies.

00:23:17.174 --> 00:23:20.124
Yeah, she's in with Lily for this ride.

00:23:20.124 --> 00:23:24.545
Yes, she takes Chico with her, which I agree with you, which I think is wonderful.

00:23:24.545 --> 00:23:26.941
Actually, it's a hallmark of these pre-code.

00:23:26.941 --> 00:23:49.959
These strong female friendships are in quite a few pre-code films and that's unfortunately something that we kind of lost when the code came down, where these strong female characters with these strong relationships and obviously very sexual ones, which kind of leads us to how she gets to new york, do you want to tell people a little bit about how lily powers and chico get to

00:23:51.021 --> 00:23:52.646
This York the one that really caught us off guard.

00:23:52.646 --> 00:23:59.621
After lily's father dies in the explosion of the still, she and Chico decide to go to the big city.

00:23:59.621 --> 00:24:00.403
I guess it is New York.

00:24:00.403 --> 00:24:01.914
Is it really ever said it's?

00:24:01.955 --> 00:24:02.256
New York.

00:24:02.256 --> 00:24:06.847
Well, it's called Gotham National Bank, so I mean I'm pretty sure it's New York.

00:24:06.847 --> 00:24:08.921
There's shots where it's definitely New York yeah.

00:24:09.603 --> 00:24:10.965
So it's in the Superman universe.

00:24:12.976 --> 00:24:13.998
Plus Erie New York.

00:24:13.998 --> 00:24:15.402
It's only six hours, so there you go.

00:24:15.502 --> 00:24:16.766
Yeah, there you go, You're probably right.

00:24:16.766 --> 00:24:19.359
So she and Chico.

00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:23.208
Well, she's going to go to the big city and she takes Chico along.

00:24:23.208 --> 00:24:29.067
So they get on a boxcar, an empty boxcar, and they're going to ride the rails to the big city.

00:24:29.067 --> 00:24:39.843
And the watchman, who is inspecting different cars, and he comes in and he finds Lily and Chico there, so naturally he's going to throw them off.

00:24:39.843 --> 00:24:44.544
He tells them both, he's going to throw them off, but he grabs Chico and is actually somewhat violent with her.

00:24:44.544 --> 00:25:12.616
We'll just say the way they stay on the car is Chico sings this little song she does throughout the movie and she walks over to the other end of the boxcar while Lily brings the watchman over the other end of the boxcar into the darkness and we don't see a lot, but we do see the lantern and we see the watchman's gloves be placed down and the lantern gets turned off and I think we all know what happened.

00:25:13.439 --> 00:25:15.825
And next thing you know, they're in New York.

00:25:15.825 --> 00:25:17.028
It worked.

00:25:18.516 --> 00:25:19.178
She bought them

00:25:21.124 --> 00:25:21.726
know what's funny.

00:25:21.726 --> 00:25:25.164
The song that Chico's always singing is St Louis Woman.

00:25:25.164 --> 00:25:32.817
She sings it through the entire movie and it makes you wonder why didn't they name this film St Louis Woman, because she sings it the entire time.

00:25:33.477 --> 00:25:37.520
I was thinking the same thing, because St Louis is a very industrial town, or definitely was at that time period.

00:25:37.821 --> 00:25:39.863
Yeah, but it's definitely New York.

00:25:39.863 --> 00:25:43.066
Oh, yeah, I know that they're in New York, you know.

00:25:43.066 --> 00:25:44.086
And now, what are they going to do?

00:25:44.086 --> 00:25:48.131
They haven't eaten, and Chico actually says that.

00:25:48.131 --> 00:25:48.991
She says that she's hungry.

00:25:48.991 --> 00:25:50.756
They haven't eaten in a day.

00:25:50.756 --> 00:25:57.729
And Lily employs a Nietzsche-esque idea, an idea from Nietzsche of mind over matter says you know, don't think about it.

00:25:57.729 --> 00:26:02.708
You know, or something like that you ate yesterday and they come upon.

00:26:02.708 --> 00:26:04.279
What did they come upon Brad.

00:26:04.756 --> 00:26:05.500
They come upon a.

00:26:05.500 --> 00:26:22.769
There's a limousine or what the equivalent of a limousine was at that time period a very upscale car, and a woman comes out who's dressed to the nines and she gets in the car and I think chico says something like how did she get there?

00:26:22.769 --> 00:26:29.297
And I don't know her exact words, but Lily pretty much lets it be known she's gonna make it happen that's, that's what she wants.

00:26:29.356 --> 00:26:34.621
That's her goal, so her goal is in mind that is what she wants, and she does make it happen, yeah, so she comes upon this policeman standing in front of the gotham national bank.

00:26:34.641 --> 00:26:35.943
She looks at the gotham national bank and she does make it happen.

00:26:35.943 --> 00:26:37.749
Yeah, so she comes upon this policeman standing in front of the Gotham National Bank.

00:26:37.749 --> 00:26:41.299
She looks at the Gotham National Bank and she walks up to the policeman and gives him that look.

00:26:41.299 --> 00:26:43.045
I'm like is she going to sleep with the policeman now?

00:26:43.045 --> 00:26:47.692
She just wants to know if he can help her get a job inside the bank.

00:26:47.692 --> 00:26:49.958
I'm like, well, is he a personnel officer as well?

00:26:49.958 --> 00:26:51.800
I don't understand that logic.

00:26:51.800 --> 00:26:56.769
But he does tell her to go to the personnel office around the corner, I think on 47th.

00:26:56.769 --> 00:26:59.842
So it's New York, and so that's exactly what she does.

00:26:59.842 --> 00:27:01.366
And she goes into the personnel office

00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:08.401
spacing-y: building.

00:27:08.401 --> 00:27:13.382
this is important because that is not the last time we see the exterior of this building

00:27:14.125 --> 00:27:14.685
No, we don't.

00:27:14.685 --> 00:27:22.109
I think that's probably the second star of Bface face is the building she's working in, and we'll tell you why in a minute.

00:27:22.109 --> 00:27:24.520
So gets gets to the personnel office and she runs.

00:27:24.520 --> 00:27:27.798
She walks in the personnel office and she says something about is this where you get jobs?

00:27:27.798 --> 00:27:29.788
And some girl goes this is where you ask for jobs.

00:27:29.788 --> 00:27:32.237
So you know it's the depression, there aren't a lot of jobs.

00:27:32.237 --> 00:27:47.087
And there's this little chubby personnel agent called Mr Pratt sitting there and she spies her prey and she walks up to him and gives him the eye and says I'd really like to get a job in here.

00:27:47.087 --> 00:27:48.559
Well, you know what?

00:27:48.559 --> 00:28:00.006
She's already proven that her new credo in life worked with the watchman on the train in the boxcar, and it has the same kind of effect on Mr Pratt.

00:28:00.006 --> 00:28:02.462
And she says she hates crowds.

00:28:02.462 --> 00:28:08.482
It's much too crowded in the personnel office, although I didn't see anybody else in there, let's go in the back and talk about this.

00:28:09.394 --> 00:28:15.307
And this was actually to me really more suggestive than the watchman, because she walks over.

00:28:15.307 --> 00:28:17.761
Mr Pratt is in an outer office.

00:28:18.083 --> 00:28:18.263
Yes.

00:28:18.535 --> 00:28:26.784
And she walks over to this other office that's more enclosed and she opens the door and gives him this seductive look and walks into the room.

00:28:27.325 --> 00:28:27.486
Yeah.

00:28:27.796 --> 00:28:31.164
She had no real reason to go in that office, except for one motive.

00:28:31.345 --> 00:28:33.556
That look, that look that she gives that look.

00:28:33.556 --> 00:28:34.681
That's kryptonite.

00:28:34.681 --> 00:28:36.420
Yes To all men.

00:28:36.420 --> 00:28:38.140
No one could resist her.

00:28:38.140 --> 00:28:39.724
I wish it's pre-code.

00:28:39.724 --> 00:28:42.505
I wish he would have come up against a gay character

00:28:47.375 --> 00:28:50.685
anyway, but I digress, but it would have been funny.

00:28:50.685 --> 00:29:00.637
So obviously it works, because this is, and this is a hallmark of Baby, baby faces, and this is what we meant when we said the building is the second star of baby face because she's in the personnel department.

00:29:00.637 --> 00:29:16.286
And suddenly we get a shot of the exterior of the building and it says personnel department on the window and the camera pulls back and goes, it pans up to the floor above which says filing department, and the camera moves in and she's in the filing department.

00:29:16.286 --> 00:29:18.917
So number two worked.

00:29:18.917 --> 00:29:31.400
She went up the tier, she did, she moved her way up to the filing department and there's an actor in the filing department and I wonder, brad, if you recognized the actor in in that, in that scene .

00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:43.162
And considering that this guy was a conservative asshole and I'm talking about conservative he was a racist pig I was absolutely shocked to see him and I thought, well, he didn't have sex wit her.

00:29:43.162 --> 00:29:47.079
But at the end it is hinted that she did, but you don't actually see it.

00:29:47.079 --> 00:29:48.339
But he is taken by her.

00:29:48.339 --> 00:29:49.143
That is quite obvious.

00:29:49.143 --> 00:29:51.981
And we are talking about John Wayne.

00:29:51.981 --> 00:29:54.441
Yes, not Cowboy John Wayne.

00:29:54.441 --> 00:30:00.847
We're talking about John Wayne, who's kind of a secondary character as far as his job goes in the suit.

00:30:01.249 --> 00:30:03.220
Here's the interesting thing about that character, about John Wayne's character.

00:30:03.220 --> 00:30:04.285
He plays Jimmy McCoy.

00:30:04.285 --> 00:30:06.054
That's his name, you're right.

00:30:06.054 --> 00:30:07.355
You're like is that that's John?

00:30:07.415 --> 00:30:10.239
Wayne you know, and the voice is obvious.

00:30:10.239 --> 00:30:13.063
Yes, yes, once you hear the voice, you're like oh my God, that's John Wayne.

00:30:13.063 --> 00:30:20.971
And here's what's important about the John Wayne character, about Jimmy McCoy he is the first person to call her Babyface.

00:30:20.971 --> 00:30:25.124
Because, as I said before, why is this film called Babyface?

00:30:25.124 --> 00:30:28.440
It should be called St Louis Woman, but he calls her Babyface.

00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:30.226
I did not catch that.

00:30:30.226 --> 00:30:32.178
So that's the importance of John Wayne's character.

00:30:32.378 --> 00:30:45.181
And, yes, it is implied and I'm not sure and I'm a film historian but I don't know everything, I'm not sure if there was a scene that was cut.

00:30:45.181 --> 00:30:46.526
It's not in the list of scenes that were cut because of censorship.

00:30:46.526 --> 00:30:53.199
So there may have been a scene that was cut which implied that she had slept with him already because he was definitely pushing her forward.

00:30:53.199 --> 00:31:03.432
He was talking to his boss, mr Brody, about her, and so he was definitely picking up the gauntlet for her and saying what do you think about this girl?

00:31:03.432 --> 00:31:04.175
What do you think about this girl?

00:31:04.175 --> 00:31:05.641
And Mr Brody's not having any of it.

00:31:05.641 --> 00:31:06.664
He's like I don't care, I don't care.

00:31:06.664 --> 00:31:20.339
And Barbara Stanwyck sees this happening and walks over to Jimmy McCoy, to John Wayne, and Mr Brody gets a good look at Stanwyck and that's all it takes.

00:31:20.339 --> 00:31:30.501
And like all men, like all men, he suddenly thinks that maybe he might be able to help her, maybe he might be able to come see me, maybe he can do some good for her.

00:31:31.154 --> 00:31:43.518
So one thing interesting to note about John Wayne's character is that, unlike other men in this film, he wasn't he wasn't just attracted to her physically, which they all.

00:31:43.518 --> 00:31:44.842
They are completely helpless by Barbara Stanwyck's looks.

00:31:44.842 --> 00:31:51.604
He also is one of the few that didn't immediately fall in love with her, because and that's obvious, because he is pushing her onto his boss Like here.

00:31:51.604 --> 00:31:52.727
I had this great dish.

00:31:52.727 --> 00:31:54.378
It's time for you to have some fun.

00:31:55.801 --> 00:31:57.867
No, I don't think he's pushing her on for sexual advances.

00:31:57.867 --> 00:32:01.384
I think he's pushing, he's promoting her for job advancement.

00:32:01.384 --> 00:32:02.426
I think he is in love with her.

00:32:02.426 --> 00:32:13.438
Good point, because if you notice, when she moves up and again, the camera pulls back up from the filing department to the next level, which is now the mortgage department, which is Mr Brody's department.

00:32:13.438 --> 00:32:18.160
And if you notice, john Wayne comes and visits her and she's like I don't have time for you, she's done with him.

00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:20.820
So he did fall in love with her.

00:32:20.820 --> 00:32:23.001
So yeah, he was.

00:32:23.001 --> 00:32:27.683
But she's now in the mortgage department with Mr Brody and if you notice, she looks a lot sharper.

00:32:27.683 --> 00:32:34.346
She got herself a little perm, she's a little Marcel Du, she's got this ridiculous frilly thing on, but she's clearly.

00:32:34.346 --> 00:32:41.709
Her plan is clearly working because she is moving up the ladder and now she's in the mortgage department.

00:32:42.529 --> 00:32:46.171
She is dressing better and looking better, but nothing compared to what's to come.

00:32:46.770 --> 00:32:49.271
Oh, God, no, oh God, no, Just wait, Just wait.

00:32:49.271 --> 00:32:56.280
So she's in the mortgage department and Mr Brody wants to.

00:32:56.280 --> 00:32:57.269
You know he's having a difficult time.

00:32:57.269 --> 00:33:03.987
He's married, as well as all these men are married, but they are helpless in the hands of Lily Powers' power.

00:33:03.987 --> 00:33:05.818
It's interesting, her name is Lily Powers.

00:33:06.019 --> 00:33:08.469
She's got this ridiculous power over men.

00:33:08.469 --> 00:33:15.228
So eventually they go back into the ladies' room, because you know he can't wait, he can't hold himself back.

00:33:15.228 --> 00:33:19.098
Ladies room, because you know he can't wait, he can't hold himself back.

00:33:19.098 --> 00:33:35.500
And who should walk in the office, the empty office, but his boss, mr stevens, played by actor donald cook, and there's no one to be found, and he looks and we don't see it, but he sees them in a somewhat must be a compromising situation in the ladies ladies' room.

00:33:35.882 --> 00:33:43.885
Well, that actually really blew my mind, because the office was closed, everybody left to go home and they go to the ladies' rooms to have sex.

00:33:44.035 --> 00:33:45.921
Yeah, well, I mean she wants.

00:33:46.102 --> 00:33:59.560
I mean this is yeah, it's clearly all part of her plan for upward mobility, and she really takes gambles throughout this movie, which I know we'll get to With each step, each man that she seduces that helps her up.

00:33:59.560 --> 00:34:05.730
Her goal, then, is to destroy him, to advance even further, which is a real gamble.

00:34:06.214 --> 00:34:11.936
I don't know if it's her goal to destroy them, but she doesn't care if she does, no but she's using them before they use her,

00:34:11.956 --> 00:34:15.862
Mr Stevens, she purposely has him get caught by his fiance.

00:34:15.862 --> 00:34:19.570
That was a gamble, she could have been hit the streets, right, so okay.

00:34:19.695 --> 00:34:22.722
So Mr Stevens tells Brody he's fired.

00:34:22.722 --> 00:34:24.547
You know, get out of here.

00:34:24.547 --> 00:34:27.362
And he's going to fire Barbara.

00:34:27.362 --> 00:34:28.224
He's going to fire Lily.

00:34:28.224 --> 00:34:29.740
But Lily's like what was I to do?

00:34:29.740 --> 00:34:36.940
He's my boss, you know, which is kind of very un-PC with sexual harassment, but there you go.

00:34:36.940 --> 00:34:37.880
What was I to do?

00:34:37.880 --> 00:34:40.744
He was my boss, she plays the victim well.

00:34:41.644 --> 00:34:42.344
Yes, she does.

00:34:42.344 --> 00:34:51.436
So of course he falls for it and the camera moves back and goes to the next level, which is Mr Stevens' department, which is the accounting department.

00:34:51.436 --> 00:35:00.516
Now Mr Stevens is not only the head of the accounting department, he's engaged to the vice president of the bank's daughter.

00:35:00.516 --> 00:35:09.840
So Lily has some quick thinking to do here, because the secretary outside Mr Stevens' office says she won't get anywhere with him.

00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:11.565
He loves his fiance.

00:35:11.565 --> 00:35:12.967
You want to bet?

00:35:14.076 --> 00:35:20.762
I love the other secretaries in this film because they all knew what she was up to and they found it very distasteful and they loved the gossip.

00:35:20.762 --> 00:35:21.844
They loved the gossip.

00:35:22.065 --> 00:35:22.827
They loved the gossip.

00:35:22.914 --> 00:35:24.280
They didn't stop her because they loved talking about it.

00:35:24.300 --> 00:35:25.083
They loved talking about it.

00:35:25.083 --> 00:35:28.416
They knew that she was going to get away with it, so it's kind of tricky.

00:35:28.416 --> 00:35:44.318
Now she's got Mr Stevens who is again engaged to the vice president of the bank's daughter, but of course Ned falls for it because the next scene is in her kind of shabby apartment.

00:35:44.318 --> 00:35:44.760
But it's an apartment.

00:35:44.760 --> 00:35:45.784
It's the first apartment we've seen that she's had.

00:35:45.784 --> 00:36:07.643
You know, her plan is working, she's moving up and they're having, you know, they're having cocktails and she's in, you know, a somewhat suggestive attire and I thought this was very funny and this is why this movie I know, we know it's not a comedy but one of the things there's some very, very funny situations in it and Ned pours a drink for her, some beer for her, and she says, oh no, I never touch the stuff.

00:36:07.643 --> 00:36:11.036
And he says just a sip, so she downs it.

00:36:11.936 --> 00:36:15.099
Yes, and that's not the last time she does that.

00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:17.141
No, that's not the last time she does that either.

00:36:17.141 --> 00:36:25.108
Oh no, I never drink so and Brody, who's lost his job in the Depression because of her, comes knocking at the door.

00:36:25.108 --> 00:36:29.132
You know, I have to see you, I have to see you, and she's like we can't see each other.

00:36:29.132 --> 00:36:30.494
You know, move on.

00:36:30.494 --> 00:36:33.137
And so she's got rid of him and his life is destroyed.

00:36:33.137 --> 00:36:36.141
I don't think she set out to destroy it, but she doesn't care that it is destroyed.

00:36:36.282 --> 00:36:42.010
And none of these men, after she casts them aside, are able to control themselves and have to have her back.

00:36:42.614 --> 00:36:49.599
No, and I think that's something we need to talk about with Barbara Stanwyck is Barbara Stanwyck wasn't a stereotypical great beauty.

00:36:49.599 --> 00:36:51.282
She was an attractive woman.

00:36:51.282 --> 00:36:58.840
Clearly she had a fantastic body because she was a dancer, you know but all she's got to do is show that leg and she's incredibly thin.

00:36:58.840 --> 00:37:01.246
She looks fantastic in some of those outfits.

00:37:01.246 --> 00:37:02.277
She's incredibly thin.

00:37:02.777 --> 00:37:03.900
And she's not busty at all.

00:37:03.900 --> 00:37:10.679
Not busty at all, no, no, but she actually got much more attractive as she got older, I think.

00:37:10.860 --> 00:37:13.527
She got a certain regalness as she got older, I think.

00:37:14.215 --> 00:37:16.443
Yes, in Big Valley I thought she was very attractive.

00:37:16.443 --> 00:37:18.902
My dad is from a different era.

00:37:18.902 --> 00:37:22.661
He always said that Barbara Stanwyck was as ugly as a mud fence.

00:37:22.661 --> 00:37:25.081
She is not that bad looking.

00:37:25.081 --> 00:37:29.623
I thought okay, maybe when I see the older movies she'll really look bad.

00:37:29.623 --> 00:37:34.155
She never looked that bad, but obviously my dad thought so yeah, she's still a very attractive woman.

00:37:34.155 --> 00:37:36.400
But she was not a traditional knockout beauty?

00:37:36.601 --> 00:37:36.961
She's not.

00:37:36.961 --> 00:37:39.146
She's not Joan Crawford, she's not Loretta Young.

00:37:39.146 --> 00:37:52.405
You know, she's not the great beauties of this era and I think that's one of the reasons why she's such a smart choice for Lily Powers, because of the fact that she's so tough and, as I said before, she's kind of commenting on this like do you believe this?

00:37:52.405 --> 00:38:01.278
I'm getting away with this and I was thinking of some of these other actresses who were quite prominent during the pre-code era, and I was thinking about Joan Crawford and I'm like could Joan Crawford have?

00:38:01.278 --> 00:38:05.835
And no, joan Crawford would have been so earnest and so sincere.

00:38:05.835 --> 00:38:07.880
There's no way Joan Crawford could have played this.

00:38:07.880 --> 00:38:18.248
Barbara Stanwyck has that sardonic attitude that makes this character work and that's why I think she's such a great choice for this.

00:38:18.248 --> 00:38:31.369
But anyway, she's in the accounting department now and she's got to figure out how she's going to move up to the next step and she knows that Ned is engaged, that Ned has a fiancé who might be coming down to see him.

00:38:31.369 --> 00:38:33.699
What should she do?

00:38:33.820 --> 00:38:45.931
now I think maybe it's a good idea to have him catch me, Ted, with her fiancé have the fiance catch them together, and that's exactly what she does.

00:38:46.005 --> 00:38:47.630
That's such a calculated risk.

00:38:47.630 --> 00:38:50.472
Don't you think that could have so blown up in her face?

00:38:50.804 --> 00:38:51.527
That is what really?

00:38:51.527 --> 00:38:53.074
Because it was a calculated risk.

00:38:53.074 --> 00:38:55.532
This is where it could have all fallen apart.

00:38:55.532 --> 00:38:58.771
She takes the risk, but she took the risk and it paid off.

00:38:58.932 --> 00:38:59.574
She takes the risk.

00:38:59.574 --> 00:39:02.474
The fiance catches them, runs up to her father.

00:39:02.474 --> 00:39:11.027
The vice president of the bank tells him what happened and of course you know Ned is freaking out.

00:39:11.027 --> 00:39:12.733
Ned gets called up there, called to the carpet, but he's not fired.

00:39:12.733 --> 00:39:13.376
He's not let go.

00:39:13.376 --> 00:39:18.172
He's told he's got to let Lily go and he can't do it, and this is really a sign of the times.

00:39:18.753 --> 00:39:23.793
You would think her future father-in-law would have fired him, but it's almost like he has this attitude.

00:39:23.793 --> 00:39:24.916
Well, men will be men.

00:39:24.916 --> 00:39:28.755
It really is, and he doesn't fire this man.

00:39:28.864 --> 00:39:30.007
He's like, yeah, you know, I get it.

00:39:30.007 --> 00:39:32.536
Okay fine, Okay fine, you know, men's got to play around.

00:39:32.536 --> 00:39:39.228
Even though you're engaged to my daughter and she just left my office in tears, boys will be boys, yeah.

00:39:39.228 --> 00:39:50.568
So he says, send the young woman up to me and you're like, uh-oh, this is, is it?

00:39:50.568 --> 00:39:51.289
This guy's goose is cooked.

00:39:51.289 --> 00:39:52.251
Because here comes lily.

00:39:52.251 --> 00:39:53.373
This is one of my favorites too.

00:39:53.373 --> 00:39:53.753
It is, it is.

00:39:53.753 --> 00:39:53.974
It's a.

00:39:53.974 --> 00:39:55.297
It's a very funny scene.

00:39:55.297 --> 00:39:57.086
Because here comes walking kryptonite.

00:39:57.086 --> 00:40:05.318
No man, all these titans of industry cannot, cannot resist Lily Powers.

00:40:05.318 --> 00:40:06.900
It's so funny.

00:40:06.900 --> 00:40:10.764
So she goes up to see him and, of course, puts on the entire act of I.

00:40:10.764 --> 00:40:12.371
You know what was I supposed to do?

00:40:12.371 --> 00:40:17.570
I didn't know what to do, but while she's giving him her sob story, she crosses her leg.

00:40:18.525 --> 00:40:20.974
Isn't she adjusting her stockings or something of that nature?

00:40:21.385 --> 00:40:26.271
No, she's crying and she she's fake crying, but she's pretending to cry and she crosses her leg.

00:40:26.271 --> 00:40:28.056
You know the leg that launched a thousand ships.

00:40:28.724 --> 00:40:36.630
Yeah, we see the light on her leg, so we see the vice president's face and we see her legs and we know he's doomed.

00:40:36.992 --> 00:40:42.052
Yes, he is, and actually the vice president's name is JP Carter.

00:40:42.052 --> 00:40:46.485
He's played by a wonderful character actor named Henry Kolker, who I think is just, is, is.

00:40:46.485 --> 00:40:50.134
So he's just a fussy, fuddy-duddy type guy.

00:40:50.134 --> 00:40:51.657
He's just, he's a little befuddled.

00:40:51.657 --> 00:40:53.530
He's a little like the wizard in the Wizard of Oz.

00:40:53.530 --> 00:40:54.474
He's a little befuddled.

00:40:54.474 --> 00:40:56.447
You're wondering how's this guy running a bank?

00:40:56.447 --> 00:41:02.735
He's the vice president of a bank, but anyway, he can't resist that leg and she's putting on her sawback.

00:41:02.735 --> 00:41:06.440
And here's another funny moment where he says where do you live?

00:41:06.440 --> 00:41:10.112
And she stops crying and turns to him and gives him her phone number Immediately.

00:41:10.112 --> 00:41:10.934
There's not even a break.

00:41:10.934 --> 00:41:12.416
I love that.

00:41:12.416 --> 00:41:13.119
I love that.

00:41:13.119 --> 00:41:15.934
It's just like there's these little moments of brilliance.

00:41:15.934 --> 00:41:20.170
So of course he goes to see her and what do you suppose happens?

00:41:20.612 --> 00:41:21.635
What, Tony, what?

00:41:24.985 --> 00:41:26.853
She becomes his kept woman.

00:41:26.853 --> 00:41:31.391
Lily Powers is in her fabulous new I'm assuming it's a penthouse.

00:41:31.391 --> 00:41:42.385
She's got a butler, you know, got the jewels and the furs, and Chico is in wonderful, wonderful uniform, beautiful uniform and she's.

00:41:42.385 --> 00:41:45.210
She's been set up by JP Carter and Carter.

00:41:45.210 --> 00:41:47.936
And who should show up but Ned?

00:41:47.936 --> 00:41:53.054
Uh-oh, JP Carter's future son-in-law.

00:41:53.465 --> 00:41:57.516
And if you want to see how cold this woman is, this is the scene that really shows it.

00:41:57.516 --> 00:41:59.047
Well, he has to see her.

00:41:59.550 --> 00:42:00.552
He must see her.

00:42:00.552 --> 00:42:02.516
Why is she ignoring him?

00:42:02.516 --> 00:42:02.996
He must see her.

00:42:02.996 --> 00:42:07.157
And she said that's done, that's over, you've got to go away.

00:42:07.157 --> 00:42:07.824
And he wants her to marry him.

00:42:07.824 --> 00:42:15.853
And he looks down and he sees two glasses and he realizes she ain't alone in that apartment, so he busts in he busts his way in.

00:42:16.344 --> 00:42:26.518
He busts his way in, he pulls out his gun and his future father-in-law is dead, but then he is overcome with grief and he turns the gun on himself.

00:42:26.518 --> 00:42:31.125
We don't see any of this, but we do see her walk in and see the bodies lying down.

00:42:31.125 --> 00:42:34.992
Not a grimace, not a tear, just matter of fact.

00:42:34.992 --> 00:42:36.068
Huh, there's bodies there.

00:42:36.530 --> 00:42:51.494
No, she just calmly, nonchalantly, as she has in every other instance, like when she hit the guy over the head with the bottle turns she sees Ned's dead body, which I'm not sure why he brought a gun, if he was going to propose to her, but anyway that's a minor minor plot point.

00:42:52.764 --> 00:43:09.750
Looks in the bathroom and sees the body of JP Carter, the bank vice president also dead Turns, we get a fabulous profile shot of her with that incredible perm she now has, Walks over to the phone, picks up and says very calmly there's been an accident.

00:43:09.750 --> 00:43:14.626
You better call for the police, like she was ordering food to be delivered.

00:43:15.168 --> 00:43:18.657
Very clear she doesn't give a shit about anybody except Chico, maybe.

00:43:19.244 --> 00:43:23.155
So now is a real problem because there's a scandal and the papers tell us that.

00:43:23.155 --> 00:43:27.757
We suddenly get the papers saying double tragedy in Love Nest.

00:43:27.757 --> 00:43:42.748
So now we're with the board of directors, so she actually has gotten to the very top of the building and there's a board of directors meeting and they are in a frenzy because of this tragedy that happened in their bank.

00:43:42.748 --> 00:43:44.614
How are they going to fix this?

00:43:44.614 --> 00:43:45.335
What are they going to do?

00:43:46.045 --> 00:43:47.630
And it is brought up that this is the depression.

00:43:47.630 --> 00:43:50.186
So they know that they're always teetering on the edge at all times.

00:43:50.788 --> 00:43:54.175
Right and banks are failing left and right, so they're in a panic.

00:43:54.175 --> 00:43:57.313
You know this is now a scandal that could bring down this bank.

00:43:57.313 --> 00:43:58.235
What are they going to do?

00:43:58.235 --> 00:44:06.514
They decided to hire a new president to handle this, to take over the bank, to take the taint off of the scandal, someone who's going to take control.

00:44:06.514 --> 00:44:15.878
But it's not just any new vice president, it's also the grandson of the man who founded the bank and the playboy, and it's George Brent.

00:44:15.878 --> 00:44:21.585
Finally, after all this time, we finally meet George Brent, who is second billed in this film because he was George Brent.

00:44:21.847 --> 00:44:22.688
That's what's so funny.

00:44:22.688 --> 00:44:25.914
He'd had second billing, but he doesn't show up, till like towards the end.

00:44:25.914 --> 00:44:26.996
I thought that was so funny.

00:44:27.677 --> 00:44:28.237
Looking good too.

00:44:28.237 --> 00:44:33.059
You know, george Brent was kind of like the poor man's Clark Gable, if you notice he was.

00:44:33.059 --> 00:44:36.072
You know he was a Warner Brothers contract player for years.

00:44:36.072 --> 00:44:37.757
He did a lot of films with Betty Davis.

00:44:37.757 --> 00:44:39.965
He did Dark Victory with Betty Davis.

00:44:39.965 --> 00:44:41.449
He was in the Great Lie with Betty Davis.

00:44:41.449 --> 00:44:46.978
She was always doing Betty Davis was always doing George Brent wrong in some way or another.

00:44:46.978 --> 00:44:50.097
But this is Barbara Stanwyck's turn to do George Brent wrong.

00:44:50.097 --> 00:44:52.585
So George Brent is the new president of the bank.

00:44:52.585 --> 00:44:57.135
His name is Cortland Trentholm and he has come in to save the bank.

00:44:57.135 --> 00:45:11.460
And they have called Lily Powers into the office of the board of directors to discuss what exactly to do, because Lily has been offered $10,000 for her story by the papers.

00:45:11.460 --> 00:45:12.300
Or was she?

00:45:12.300 --> 00:45:15.275
If the story gets out, it's a scandal, a real scandal.

00:45:15.664 --> 00:45:17.092
But was she really offered that.

00:45:17.425 --> 00:45:19.025
I think she was To me.

00:45:19.065 --> 00:45:22.003
That's kind of vague, like she's playing them with that.

00:45:22.125 --> 00:45:23.489
Well, george Brent sees through

00:45:26.295 --> 00:45:26.659
Oh, yes, he does.

00:45:26.659 --> 00:45:27.101
That's the real issue.

00:45:27.101 --> 00:45:28.748
Well, he's a playboy, he can pick up on that.

00:45:29.472 --> 00:45:32.574
Yeah Well, I mean, he's the first man who can actually see through her.

00:45:32.574 --> 00:45:34.391
I don't think she was bluffing.

00:45:34.391 --> 00:45:42.135
I think she was getting greedy because they said the only thing the board of directors agrees they're going to give her $10,000.

00:45:42.135 --> 00:45:48.373
She goes oh no, didn't you hear They've raised it to $15,000.

00:45:48.373 --> 00:45:49.699
I can't possibly go for less than $10,000.

00:45:49.699 --> 00:45:51.005
And I think that's what tips George Brent off.

00:45:51.005 --> 00:45:53.492
This is the first time her greed didn't pay off.

00:45:53.864 --> 00:46:00.405
Exactly, I think it tips George Brent off and he's like okay, we got to handle this a different way, because this won't be the end of this.

00:46:00.405 --> 00:46:03.068
If we pay this woman off, she'll come back in some way.

00:46:03.068 --> 00:46:04.951
We've got to figure out what we're doing.

00:46:04.951 --> 00:46:07.673
So he calls her bluff.

00:46:07.673 --> 00:46:09.215
Maybe it's a bluff, but maybe it's not.

00:46:09.215 --> 00:46:11.077
I don't think it is, but maybe it is.

00:46:11.077 --> 00:46:16.202
He calls her bluff because she says to him all she wanted was the chance to earn an honest living.

00:46:16.202 --> 00:46:18.244
So he catches that and he says you know what?

00:46:18.244 --> 00:46:19.525
That was her mistake.

00:46:19.525 --> 00:46:20.746
That was her mistake.

00:46:20.746 --> 00:46:22.849
I'll give you a chance to earn an honest living.

00:46:22.849 --> 00:46:34.972
We're not going to give you $10,000, but we will transfer you to our Paris office, pay for your transportation and give you the opportunity to earn that honest living you just wanted to make so badly.

00:46:35.505 --> 00:46:38.693
And, if you haven't figured it out, an honest living is the last thing she's interested in.

00:46:39.275 --> 00:46:42.947
Exactly, and she accepts it.

00:46:42.947 --> 00:46:43.608
Her goose is cooked.

00:46:43.608 --> 00:46:43.849
This is it.

00:46:43.849 --> 00:46:44.670
Her goose is cooked.

00:46:44.670 --> 00:46:45.231
This is it.

00:46:45.231 --> 00:46:46.034
Her goose is cooked.

00:46:46.034 --> 00:46:48.338
She thinks they're not going to get the money.

00:46:48.338 --> 00:46:49.610
She's not going to get the money from them.

00:46:49.610 --> 00:46:57.679
So she accepts their offer to move to Paris, I believe, because she's going to lie in wait in Paris.

00:46:57.679 --> 00:47:00.014
Plus, at the beginning of the movie she talks about where am I going to go?

00:47:00.014 --> 00:47:01.766
She had $4 after her father was killed.

00:47:01.766 --> 00:47:02.728
Where am I going to go, Paris?

00:47:02.728 --> 00:47:04.690
Well, here's an opportunity for her to go to Paris.

00:47:05.592 --> 00:47:18.034
So I don't think it's given how much time has passed, but George Brent's character, cortland, does go to the Paris office and there she is working, and it doesn't seem like she was using her feminine wiles to move up.

00:47:18.034 --> 00:47:18.726
She's working.

00:47:18.726 --> 00:47:21.347
I guess she's selling real estate, is she not?

00:47:21.347 --> 00:47:21.847
No?

00:47:22.009 --> 00:47:25.092
well, she works in the travel department, but if you notice, she's suddenly fluent in French.

00:47:25.092 --> 00:47:28.134
Yes, she can speak French to her co-workers.

00:47:28.134 --> 00:47:29.175
She could have been there a while.

00:47:29.175 --> 00:47:31.396
For all we know, she's been there a while, so she had to learn French.

00:47:31.396 --> 00:47:34.641
So, yes, and he's shocked that she's still there.

00:47:34.641 --> 00:47:35.822
He comes to visit.

00:47:46.775 --> 00:47:50.840
He's coming to visit the Paris branch and try to have a stable life Interesting.

00:47:50.840 --> 00:47:52.369
That's a good question Slept up in the air.

00:47:52.369 --> 00:47:52.911
We don't know.

00:47:53.391 --> 00:47:54.856
I don't, yeah, I don't think so.

00:47:54.856 --> 00:48:01.987
I think that we're looking really deeply into this cheapy Warner Brothers film that was made in 1933 for character motivations.

00:48:02.248 --> 00:48:05.735
In what less than three weeks this film was made.

00:48:09.125 --> 00:48:24.206
The point is is that he shows up, he's surprised that she stuck it out and kind of impressed and she's like, yeah, but if you notice, remember, when she leaves and it's raining really hard outside and there's a cab that comes to pick her up and she flags it off, she's like no, go go, I don't want.

00:48:24.206 --> 00:48:29.652
And she stands there in the rain, she's waiting for George Brent to come out to offer her a ride and she goes.

00:48:29.652 --> 00:48:32.271
You can't ever get a taxi when it's raining in Paris.

00:48:33.365 --> 00:48:34.411
Not when you wave them off.

00:48:34.846 --> 00:48:41.306
So he takes her home, he takes her to her flat and a few days later they have dinner and it's happening again.

00:48:41.306 --> 00:48:46.273
She is working her magic and George Brent is falling for her.

00:48:46.273 --> 00:48:48.114
And he does, he falls for her.

00:48:48.434 --> 00:48:51.838
And I got to say this is where I think the plot does fall apart somewhat.

00:48:52.179 --> 00:48:53.621
This is where the plot falls apart?

00:49:00.005 --> 00:49:02.791
Well, but given his history as a playboy, I don't think it would have worked with him, based on what we know of him.

00:49:02.791 --> 00:49:04.534
But anyway, this is not a film about character,

00:49:08.322 --> 00:49:09.065
that's for sure.

00:49:09.065 --> 00:49:15.552
Yes, this isn't interiors, woody Allen's interiors, where we're talking about character, motivations and psychological no, not at all.

00:49:15.552 --> 00:49:17.817
This is baby face 1933.

00:49:17.817 --> 00:49:20.748
So, anyway, he falls for her.

00:49:20.748 --> 00:49:23.155
But he offers to take her all these places and she goes.

00:49:23.155 --> 00:49:25.306
I thought you were different than everybody else.

00:49:25.306 --> 00:49:32.130
So he takes her away on a cruise, a private cruise, probably on a barge, and he's clearly fallen for her.

00:49:32.130 --> 00:49:33.831
But he does not want to marry her.

00:49:33.831 --> 00:49:36.492
He wants to keep her, anything she wants.

00:49:36.492 --> 00:49:43.016
I mean, she really has the world at her disposal with him, all except for one thing he wants to keep her.

00:49:43.016 --> 00:49:45.099
He doesn't want to marry her, but that's not good enough for her.

00:49:45.099 --> 00:49:48.920
She wants all the marbles, all the marbles.

00:49:48.920 --> 00:49:58.625
In the most romantic line in the entire movie, she says I'd like to have a missus on my tombstone.

00:49:58.625 --> 00:50:00.309
You make my heart melt when you say something like that.

00:50:00.309 --> 00:50:02.275
Stop sweet-talking me, barbara.

00:50:02.275 --> 00:50:05.496
I'd like to have a missus on my tombstone.

00:50:05.496 --> 00:50:07.668
That's her proposal to him of marriage.

00:50:07.668 --> 00:50:08.210
And he does.

00:50:08.210 --> 00:50:08.811
He marries her.

00:50:08.952 --> 00:50:12.829
But it's funny because she's also kind of said even if it's just for a few years, y

00:50:15.545 --> 00:50:16.166
What's the big deal?

00:50:16.547 --> 00:50:20.070
She wants to have a missus on her tombstone and she wants the money from a divorce.

00:50:20.070 --> 00:50:20.811
Is what she wants?

00:50:21.211 --> 00:50:30.452
She wants, yeah, well, yeah, she wants to be set up for life, basically, and she's probably thinking about all the alimonies you could get from him if he does indeed marry her, and he does.

00:50:30.452 --> 00:50:37.114
He marries her and they're ensconced in this fabulous Paris apartment and suddenly he gets a transatlantic phone call from the bank.

00:50:37.114 --> 00:50:38.590
The bank is in crisis.

00:50:38.590 --> 00:50:41.547
He has to go back to New York immediately.

00:50:42.126 --> 00:50:48.351
Not only are they in crisis, they also saw the headline from Paris that he has married her Exactly.

00:50:48.351 --> 00:50:50.092
So they aren't happy about that either.

00:50:50.331 --> 00:50:51.512
I'm so glad you brought that up.

00:50:51.512 --> 00:50:53.634
That's right, he married that bank.

00:50:53.634 --> 00:50:57.356
Hotsy totsy, the president of the bank, married the bank slut.

00:50:57.777 --> 00:51:01.498
Who got them already in scandal with two murders or a double murder, I guess.

00:51:02.079 --> 00:51:05.362
So they're in scandal again and the bank is failing.

00:51:05.362 --> 00:51:07.202
So he rushes back to New York.

00:51:07.202 --> 00:51:15.833
They both rush back to New York and he goes to see the board of directors and he's going to be indicted.

00:51:15.833 --> 00:51:19.706
And he comes back to their fabulous apartment At this moment Lily is lounging on her chaise in a fabulous outfit.

00:51:19.706 --> 00:51:21.106
She goes in the back unpacking all of her many steamer trunks.

00:51:21.106 --> 00:51:31.836
She goes in the back unpacking all of her many steamer trunks and she opens up her valise and in her valise are jewels and bonds and stocks and money.

00:51:31.836 --> 00:51:40.786
And she says conveniently, she says to Chico half a million dollars, I won't rest until I get the other half.

00:51:40.786 --> 00:51:42.489
So she's still got her plot going on.

00:51:42.489 --> 00:51:49.637
But then just then George Brent comes in and says I've been indicted, I need a half a million dollars.

00:51:50.739 --> 00:51:52.121
And we get too bad so sad.

00:51:52.121 --> 00:51:55.309
Go on, too bad so sad.

00:51:57.672 --> 00:51:58.875
she does, she can't do it.

00:51:58.875 --> 00:51:59.916
She can't do it.

00:51:59.916 --> 00:52:01.519
She has a real crisis moment.

00:52:01.519 --> 00:52:06.012
She can't do it and she says to him I'll be left with nothing.

00:52:06.012 --> 00:52:11.972
She doesn't say she doesn't have it, she says she won't do it.

00:52:11.972 --> 00:52:13.596
I kind of love her honesty.

00:52:14.237 --> 00:52:16.409
Yeah, I thought for sure she would say I don't have it.

00:52:16.409 --> 00:52:18.936
But I kept waiting for her to say that, but she never did.

00:52:18.936 --> 00:52:22.010
She just let him know you can't have it, it's mine now.

00:52:22.733 --> 00:52:25.418
Yeah, she's just as cold as cold can be.

00:52:26.224 --> 00:52:29.313
And I was kind of wondering if she was going to get murdered as a result of that.

00:52:29.313 --> 00:52:30.847
I was like, okay, is he going to kill her?

00:52:31.469 --> 00:52:43.070
Well, she's cold, as cold as can be, and that's when she says all the kindness she says she's not like other women, all the gentleness and kindness has been killed in her and she's going to head back to Paris.

00:52:43.070 --> 00:52:46.197
She tells Chico to repack those suitcases, repack those trunks.

00:52:46.197 --> 00:52:47.309
We're headed out of here again.

00:52:47.309 --> 00:53:03.668
And she heads and she just leaves George Brent to face prison and she gets back on board the ship and Chico's unpacking the trunks again, singing St Louis Woman in the background, and she's obviously, there's obviously something on her mind For the first time.

00:53:03.668 --> 00:53:06.414
Maybe she's second-guessing her choices.

00:53:07.356 --> 00:53:09.179
And for the first time she's nasty to Chico.

00:53:09.501 --> 00:53:09.961
And she is.

00:53:09.961 --> 00:53:13.090
She's nasty to Chico because she doesn't understand why she's having these Suddenly.

00:53:13.090 --> 00:53:27.329
She's got these things called feelings which she didn't think she had anymore, and she's gazing down at the record player and as the turntable's going around, table's going around, we get a bass relief of all of her former assignations.

00:53:27.329 --> 00:53:31.170
We get in order of assignation.

00:53:31.170 --> 00:53:39.996
We get the guy in the boxcar, we get John Wayne's character, we get Mr Pratt, we get JP Carter.

00:53:40.476 --> 00:53:46.380
And this is when I knew that John Wayne did have sex with her, because he was part of that lineup that went before her eyes.

00:53:47.019 --> 00:53:50.001
Yes, exactly that's a dead giveaway that John Wayne did.

00:53:50.001 --> 00:53:59.646
But we get Mr Brody, mr Stevens.

00:53:59.646 --> 00:54:00.306
Finally we get George Brent.

00:54:00.306 --> 00:54:02.550
And that's where it stops, and that's where Lily has her catharsis, she has her aha moment.

00:54:02.550 --> 00:54:06.956
She realizes she really does love courtland.

00:54:06.956 --> 00:54:09.947
So she tells chico to pack everything up again.

00:54:09.947 --> 00:54:10.668
She's headed out.

00:54:10.668 --> 00:54:12.112
She goes chasing after courtland.

00:54:12.112 --> 00:54:15.849
She gets back to his office but it's too late.

00:54:15.849 --> 00:54:17.914
He shot himself, but is it?

00:54:18.574 --> 00:54:23.771
he pulled the van gogh and he shot himself in the stomach instead of the head, which is convenient for this film.

00:54:24.992 --> 00:54:25.353
Interesting.

00:54:25.353 --> 00:54:26.496
It is convenient because he's not.

00:54:26.496 --> 00:54:30.188
You think maybe he's dead, because she screams don't leave me, cortland.

00:54:30.188 --> 00:54:31.952
She realizes she's finally come to.

00:54:31.952 --> 00:54:34.586
You know, she's like the Grinch, she's finally grown a heart.

00:54:34.586 --> 00:54:39.096
And the next scene is she's in the ambulance.

00:54:39.096 --> 00:54:45.695
The medic is administering to Cortland and he says to her he's got a good chance of making it.

00:54:45.695 --> 00:54:49.429
So we know okay, he's going to be okay.

00:54:49.429 --> 00:54:59.369
And just then her jewels, her valise that she's been carrying around with half a million dollars, falls to the floor of the ambulance and the ambulance attendant says you know, your bag dropped.

00:54:59.369 --> 00:55:00.634
And she said I don't need those anymore.

00:55:00.634 --> 00:55:01.887
And that's the end of

00:55:03.465 --> 00:55:04.771
How did you feel about this film?

00:55:04.771 --> 00:55:07.782
As far as the quality of this film, it's a cheapie.

00:55:07.782 --> 00:55:08.184
Yeah.

00:55:08.485 --> 00:55:10.313
As I said before, it was made in 18 days.

00:55:10.313 --> 00:55:15.016
It had a budget of like $189,000.

00:55:15.016 --> 00:55:16.952
You know it was a cheapie.

00:55:17.244 --> 00:55:18.889
I absolutely loved this film.

00:55:18.889 --> 00:55:20.775
I laughed, it was joyous.

00:55:20.775 --> 00:55:24.088
We had a great time watching it, loved it.

00:55:24.088 --> 00:55:27.992
Listen, I suggest you watch it, but it is not a good film at all.

00:55:27.992 --> 00:55:31.416
It's actually somewhat dull because it's very repetitive.

00:55:32.157 --> 00:55:33.018
It's very repetitive.

00:55:33.018 --> 00:55:34.820
I mean the plot is very repetitive because it's her moving up.

00:55:34.940 --> 00:55:38.726
Yeah, so she moves up, she sleeps with a guy she doesn't sleep with him.

00:55:38.746 --> 00:55:41.114
It's by no means a great artistic achievement.

00:55:41.114 --> 00:55:51.253
It's by no means the best pre-code movie, but it's become the poster child for pre-code because it's so outrageous, and so that's really why I recommend it.

00:55:51.253 --> 00:55:54.414
I don't recommend it because it's a great film.

00:55:54.414 --> 00:56:06.914
I recommend it for people to see how dirty and lascivious and salacious these pre-code movies could be, because people's minds are blown.

00:56:07.744 --> 00:56:13.811
Just have fun with it, and I also don't think it would be as fun if it was an unknown but the fact that it's actually Barbara Stanwyck.

00:56:14.405 --> 00:56:15.467
That it's Barbara Stanwyck.

00:56:15.467 --> 00:56:16.630
Isn't that incredible.

00:56:16.630 --> 00:56:19.786
You know all these pre-code dames Barbara Stanwyck.

00:56:20.407 --> 00:56:23.634
Norma Shearer, who was a huge pre-code actress.

00:56:23.634 --> 00:56:38.813
Loretta Young when the code, jean Harlow, when the code came down in 34, these women who had pretty much been playing women of healthy sexual appetites for the past four years had to change their personas.

00:56:38.813 --> 00:56:50.074
So when we see Norma Shearer today, norma Shearer has a reputation of being like a dull boring, mostly from the women, because the character she plays in the women you know is just is such a simp.

00:56:50.074 --> 00:56:52.291
You know, she's really kind of insufferable.

00:56:52.291 --> 00:56:58.106
But Norma Shearer, some of her movies in pre-code are the most salacious, the most scandalous.

00:56:58.106 --> 00:57:05.952
Loretta Young, another one who had this, who has some of the most lascivious films in the pre-code era.

00:57:05.952 --> 00:57:12.617
We think of her today if we ever think of Loretta Young as this staunch Catholic woman.

00:57:12.617 --> 00:57:15.860
You know she wouldn't even admit that her own child was her own child.

00:57:15.860 --> 00:57:17.442
She called her a walking mortal sin.

00:57:17.442 --> 00:57:31.697
So I mean, these characters, these wonderful, healthy, sexual women, all disappeared after the coat came down and that's a real, real shame as far as women in film goes, I think.

00:57:32.224 --> 00:57:33.952
Let me tell you what I think would have made this film better.

00:57:33.952 --> 00:57:38.295
And this is just me, because this film didn't try to be anything more than what it is.

00:57:38.295 --> 00:57:40.010
It was just to be dirty.

00:57:40.010 --> 00:57:44.771
But it's only 76 minutes long, Very short, not even an hour and a half.

00:57:44.771 --> 00:57:50.626
I think if they extended a little bit longer it would never have been a great film, but it would have been a much better film.

00:57:50.626 --> 00:58:00.896
And what I would like to have seen is not Lily miraculously instantaneously realize she has a heart, kind of like you said, like the Grinch instantaneously comes out of nowhere.

00:58:00.896 --> 00:58:07.838
I would have liked to have seen her realize she's falling for George Brent's character and trying to fight it.

00:58:07.838 --> 00:58:17.260
And I would also have liked George Brent's character being that he was a playboy and knows her game, finding himself falling in love with her and also trying to fight it.

00:58:17.260 --> 00:58:22.757
Then we would have got a little bit of deepness into these characters.

00:58:22.757 --> 00:58:25.393
Because all these characters are pretty cardboard cut, Not pretty.

00:58:25.393 --> 00:58:28.074
They are all cardboard cut out, yeah.

00:58:28.414 --> 00:58:33.643
Yeah, but you're asking a lot of a 78-minute Warner Brothers quickie from 1933.

00:58:33.826 --> 00:58:35.137
That's why I said it could have been longer.

00:58:35.137 --> 00:58:38.873
It would never have been great, because the whole beginning is just absurd funny.

00:58:39.485 --> 00:58:41.768
I mean, maybe we could have skipped a floor in her ascent.

00:58:42.990 --> 00:58:43.831
You know, I don't know which one.

00:58:43.831 --> 00:58:47.197
We'd skip the mortgage department, the accounting department, but here's okay.

00:58:47.197 --> 00:58:49.119
So here's the thing about Babyface that I want to get back to.

00:58:49.119 --> 00:58:56.586
So, even though this is a 1933 film and the code is not being enforced, babyface just pushed the envelope too far.

00:58:56.586 --> 00:59:03.206
With all this, they're like this thing is going to be cut, this thing isn't going to play in Kansas, this thing isn't going to play in Kansas.

00:59:03.206 --> 00:59:03.786
We've got to do something.

00:59:03.806 --> 00:59:07.791
So what happened was there were changes made to Babyface.

00:59:07.791 --> 00:59:12.554
They did listen to the production code suggestions and these are the things that were cut.

00:59:12.554 --> 00:59:18.599
So we had the version that was finished, the pre-release version that we just went through the plot of for you.

00:59:18.599 --> 00:59:20.481
They cut out Obviously.

00:59:20.481 --> 00:59:22.282
They got rid of Nietzsche completely.

00:59:22.282 --> 00:59:26.940
So the release version has no Nietzsche completely.

00:59:26.940 --> 00:59:27.677
So the release version has no Nietzsche whatsoever.

00:59:27.677 --> 00:59:35.748
The cobbler is still her mentor, but he's telling her be strong, be good, but don't be bad, don't be bad, don't be dirty, be clean.

00:59:35.748 --> 00:59:41.387
So what they did was they got him to come in and overdub his lines and just showed the back of him.

00:59:41.387 --> 00:59:43.731
So they took out all Nietzsche.

00:59:43.731 --> 00:59:53.206
Obviously, the scene in the boxcar where she does whatever she does to that train attendant was completely cut out, so she just ends up in New York.

00:59:53.927 --> 00:59:55.028
And that was so important

00:59:57.735 --> 01:00:09.193
There's a scene when she is dating it's a scene right before the shootout when she's dating JP Carter and she's in her penthouse and it's Christmas time and she gets a book from the cobbler.

01:00:09.193 --> 01:00:17.856
That's when Chico says to her old Mr Craig from Erie sent this and in the pre-release version you can see it's Nietzsche.

01:00:17.856 --> 01:00:20.625
They don't show that in the released version.

01:00:20.625 --> 01:00:21.226
She just opens the book.

01:00:21.226 --> 01:00:31.235
She just opens the book and instead of reading Nietzsche, it's a letter inside the book from Craig saying I hear you're not following what I told you.

01:00:31.235 --> 01:00:32.576
I hear you're not being good.

01:00:32.576 --> 01:00:33.777
I hear you're misbehaving.

01:00:33.777 --> 01:00:35.498
So that's how they work that.

01:00:42.485 --> 01:00:44.809
I thought you were going to tell us they inserted a Bible in there?

01:00:44.829 --> 01:00:46.231
No, that probably wouldn't have been.

01:00:46.231 --> 01:00:48.353
That probably wouldn't have flown anywhere.

01:00:48.353 --> 01:01:01.963
So, yeah, no, nietzsche, she's reading a Nietzsche book that's in the pre-released version, is called Thoughts Out of Season and it's Nietzsche, but we don't see that in the release version.

01:01:01.963 --> 01:01:15.911
So then the scene in the ship where she's gazing into the turntable of the record player and it's going around and around and around and all of her past assignations are coming back to her, in the released version it's just George Brent.

01:01:15.911 --> 01:01:18.753
She only sees one face and that's the way.

01:01:18.753 --> 01:01:18.873
This.

01:01:18.873 --> 01:01:20.153
And they added a coda, a short scene at the end.

01:01:20.153 --> 01:01:21.414
Do you want to talk about that?

01:01:21.414 --> 01:01:23.916
A coda, a short scene at the end.

01:01:23.916 --> 01:01:25.835
Do you want to talk about that?

01:01:26.617 --> 01:01:27.476
I do know that.

01:01:27.476 --> 01:01:32.599
I saw that they wind up back in Erie down and out, basically as far as financially goes.

01:01:32.599 --> 01:01:35.181
But I presume they were happily ever after anyway.

01:01:35.960 --> 01:01:39.342
Well, what they did was they tacked on a very short scene at the end.

01:01:39.342 --> 01:01:40.224
That wasn't of them.

01:01:40.224 --> 01:01:52.061
It was of the board of directors talking about the fact that she saved him, he has repaid the bank and they are now living in some industrial town, I think they say Pittsburgh.

01:01:52.061 --> 01:01:58.737
They're now living in Pittsburgh and he's one of those industrial workers and they're living a good, clean life.

01:01:58.737 --> 01:02:04.835
That scene of the board of directors was added in the pre-release version.

01:02:04.835 --> 01:02:06.277
The movie ends in the ambulance.

01:02:06.277 --> 01:02:09.130
Uh yes, but what's the problem there?

01:02:09.130 --> 01:02:11.693
Lily has not atoned for her sins.

01:02:11.693 --> 01:02:15.925
Now, there were plenty of pre-code movies where the evildoer didn't atone for their sins.

01:02:15.925 --> 01:02:27.668
They felt the baby face was so salacious that they had to add this scene at the end that shows that the bank has been made whole and they're now living in.

01:02:27.688 --> 01:02:28.670
Pittsburgh, living a clean life in a steel mill.

01:02:28.670 --> 01:02:31.456
I mean, I don't know about you, but screw that, I would have headed back to Paris.

01:02:32.244 --> 01:02:36.396
I'd like to share how the original version got out, because I find that really fascinating.

01:02:36.396 --> 01:02:40.054
Yeah, the film we're talking about was before it was cut.

01:02:40.054 --> 01:02:55.190
Yeah, the pre-release version and this film, as I understand it, vanished for the most part and in 2004, 71 years later, somebody in the Library of Congress came upon this film and I guess they looked at it and said, oh, look what we have.

01:03:00.266 --> 01:03:02.934
The fact that this film survived and in the Library of Congress.

01:03:02.994 --> 01:03:15.909
Nobody knew about it is mind boggling to begin with, yes, but the fact that this film survived and in the Library of Congress and nobody knew about it is mind-boggling to begin with, but the fact that this film survived because how many films we just talked about A Star Is Born and all the cuts that were made in A Star Is Born, those scenes are gone, they were destroyed.

01:03:15.909 --> 01:03:19.262
And those scenes weren't cut because of any salacious content.

01:03:19.262 --> 01:03:21.048
They were cut because they felt the movie was too long.

01:03:21.048 --> 01:03:22.592
They threw them away.

01:03:22.592 --> 01:03:23.836
They were thrown away.

01:03:23.836 --> 01:03:31.559
So the fact that we found a film, a complete version of this notorious film from 1933, is astounding.

01:03:32.342 --> 01:03:44.347
Well, and that's what I find really fascinating, it'd be one thing if they found the clips in a box and in a closet somewhere, but the fact that the one that was submitted to the Library of Congress was the pre-release version I just find really fascinating.

01:03:44.969 --> 01:03:58.378
It's a small miracle that that film somehow survived all those years and ended up in the Library of Congress of all places in Dayton, ohio, of all places, and intact.

01:03:58.378 --> 01:04:03.574
So now we see because now I mean, the code's been dead now since you know 1965.

01:04:03.574 --> 01:04:12.273
Virginia Woolf took care of that so now we can see what got these censors so up in arms, and it's just astounding, it's astounding.

01:04:13.005 --> 01:04:13.909
Watch this film.

01:04:13.909 --> 01:04:15.893
If you go with with it, you'll just have a lot of fun.

01:04:15.893 --> 01:04:21.077
Even my very Catholic mother-in-law was laughing at this film.

01:04:22.065 --> 01:04:24.327
Because it's so out there, it's so outrageous.

01:04:24.327 --> 01:04:37.597
Yes, you can't believe that you're watching this black and white film and this character, barbara Stanwyck, is doing these things to move ahead, and all the time she's got this smile on her face Like, just stay along for the ride, folks.

01:04:37.597 --> 01:04:38.577
It's hysterical.

01:04:38.577 --> 01:04:47.869
Next time you think, oh, you don't want to watch an old, dusty, black and white movie, I tell you what If it to watch an old, dusty, black and white movie.

01:04:47.869 --> 01:04:51.860
I tell you what if it was made between 1930 and 34, watch it, because your mind is going to be blown.

01:04:51.860 --> 01:04:52.722
I'm glad you watched it, Brad.

01:04:53.505 --> 01:04:54.688
I am very glad we watched it.

01:04:54.688 --> 01:04:57.155
Should we tell them what film I picked for you for next week?

01:04:57.155 --> 01:04:59.572
Oh yeah, please do A little teaser.

01:04:59.572 --> 01:05:01.190
Well, you tell them, you tell them.

01:05:01.885 --> 01:05:04.847
He picked Deadpool for me.

01:05:04.907 --> 01:05:11.652
Tell them he picked Deadpool for me and Tony sent me an email after watching it that said wow, with four exclamation points.

01:05:11.652 --> 01:05:15.074
I reminded him that we do not talk about the films in advance.

01:05:15.074 --> 01:05:19.298
So I am dying to know, because that wow could mean a million things.

01:05:19.298 --> 01:05:21.039
It probably does it could.

01:05:21.039 --> 01:05:23.041
I am dying to know what he meant by wow.

01:05:23.262 --> 01:05:24.242
It could mean I love the movie.

01:05:24.242 --> 01:05:25.831
It could mean I hate the movie.

01:05:25.831 --> 01:05:26.478
It could mean I hate the movie.

01:05:26.478 --> 01:05:26.942
It could mean wow, ryan

01:05:28.106 --> 01:05:29.090
Well, I'm sure that got a.

01:05:29.090 --> 01:05:31.072
Wow, I have no doubt about that one.

01:05:31.072 --> 01:05:35.153
Stay tuned next week because it will be a fun conversation.

01:05:35.153 --> 01:05:36.610
I am absolutely certain of that.

01:05:36.824 --> 01:05:37.990
Thanks for listening everybody.

01:05:37.990 --> 01:05:40.090
Hope you enjoyed Babyface.

01:05:40.090 --> 01:05:41.355
Go watch it.

01:05:43.945 --> 01:05:45.291
Do you enjoy going to Hollywood?

01:05:45.291 --> 01:05:53.398
Well, of course you do, and Tony and I would like you to do something for us and, more important, for other podcast listeners out there.

01:05:53.398 --> 01:06:01.469
Go to Apple Podcasts, itunes, spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts, and rate and review this show.

01:06:01.469 --> 01:06:03.932
A five star would be especially nice.

01:06:03.932 --> 01:06:12.925
That way, when others are looking for a new show, they'll see ours and see those reviews and they will stop and listen and boy, that will make their day.

01:06:12.925 --> 01:06:15.746
It will be much appreciated, thank you,