Let me start by saying that Baby Face has probably one of the best female characters that I have seen in movies. Barbara Stanwyck is 11th in list of top 20 greatest female artists of all time. Some of the actresses above on that lists are there because of their star power but Stanwyck in no doubt was a far better actress than a lot of them. Her sexuality, sensuality and yet the strength makes her alluring to all men (still). In Baby Face they said that you can't take eyes off her.
Coming back to the movie, it comes from the collection of Forbidden Hollywood. Hollywood at the beginning of Talkies in 20s was experimental and by the end of the great depression it had started to experiment with themes which were too outrageous for conservative America. Baby Face is one of those talkies. In the 20s there were also a lot of issues with Stars, Directors and Producers and their private lives. Hence in early 30s a gentleman called Will. H. Hayes was hired to clean up Hollywood and put a moral code around it. In 1934 they adopted what is called the 'Hayes Code'. This was an exact copy of Landis commission to clean up baseball league in 1919. The real issue was, how long can you stretch 'Freedom of Speech' as a fundamental right? The Supreme Court of the US had already that this fundamental right is not applicable to movies but everyone kept pushing the envelope until it burst open in censorship called 'Hayes Code'. 'Hayes Code' survived till almost 1966 though it had started losing its sheen by the late 50s. Baby Face was released at the end of pre code days and it upset a lot of people.
Baby Face is about sexuality and love for self. Your own success and achieving it at all cost is the theme. In this the protagonist is a female and that gives the movie a new set of challenges and a different approach to solve them.
The movie starts with Lily Powers serving as a hostess at a seedy bar that her father runs in Erie, Pennsylvania. With men all around she seems like a small fish with hundreds of fish hooks trying to get her. Her father pimps her but she is strong and stands up for herself too. Here we see Mr. Cragg, the man who wants her to go away, is trying to make her strong and is like a father figure to her. After the death of her father in the accident Lily is motivated by Mr. Cragg to leave the town and go to a big city. He tells her that she has the power and that power comes from being a woman. Big city cannot be bigger than New York City and this is where Lily and the maid land up after seducing the train attendant.
Lily uses her charm and sexuality to climb out of misery, get a job and go up the corporate ladder, though not for herself but the men she charms. Men are not able to keep themselves away from her charm. She reaches right to the top to Mr. Stevens and then to his boss and would be father-in-law Mr. Carter. Both men start vying her and Stevens becomes fatal. Though for Lily there is one more step to go and that is owner of the bank himself. She is transfered to Paris where she works hard to do her job. After marrying him they settle down into a cosy luxurious life until one day she finds that even he is broke. What happens next?
The movie is full of sexual innuendos and no where you find a sex scene or even a full kiss. Yet the theme always revolves around Lily's escapades as she beds men and more pawerful men.
This movie is Nietzsche in practise but does Nietzsche win at the end.
My Favourite Scenes:
When she goes to Mr. Clark after her father's death.
When she is looking for a job.
Camera spanning from floor to floor.
When Lily walks into Stevens room knowing that his fiancé would be around soon.
The board room meeting.
Lily waiting for the cab in Paris.
My favourite quotes / dialogues:
After her father's death, Lily visits Mr. Cragg
Mr. Cragg: "What's going to become of you? Its up to you to decide, If you stay in this town you are lost."
Lily: "Where would I go, Paris, I got four bucks."
Cragg: "That's what makes me mad at you, you are a coward, I mean it, you let life defeat you, you don't fight back."
Lily: "What chance a woman got?"
Cragg: "More chance than man, a woman young, beautiful like you, can get anything she wants in the world because you have power over men, but you must use men not let them use you, you must be a master not a slave, look, here, Nietzsche says (shows her the book), 'All life, no matter how we idealise it, is nothing more or nor less than exploitation."
(closes the book) "Thats what I am telling you, exploit yourself, go to some big city, where you find opportunities, USE MEN, be STRONG, DIFIANT, use men to get the things you want.
Maid and Lily in New York City looking at a restaurant,
Maid: ummmm! Sure I could use some of those pork chops.
Lily: "It's all in your mind, you ate yesterday didn't you.
At the office of clerk Mr. Pratt
Pratt: (with a grin on his face) "Have you had any experience?"
Lily: (with a smug) "Plenty"
Mr. Cragg send Lily a book 'Nietzsche: Thoughts out of season' with a passage marked
Passage: 'Face life as you find it – defiantly and unafraid. Waste no energy yearning for the moon. Crush out all sentiments.'
When Mr. Stevens visits Lily
Lily: "Sorry my butler is off today, (handing him his cap), I like my guests shown out in style."
In Trenhomes car while he is dropping her home in Paris.
Trenholm: "Frankly I am surprised."
Lily: "Why?"
Trenholm: "I didnt expect you to stick to the job."
Lily: "That's why I stuck."
Disappointments:
Not many, just a few glitches here and there.
Rating:
No comments:
Post a Comment