For a girl from the factory town of Erie Pennsylvania, Barbara Stanwyck's Lily certainly knows how to make it on the mean streets of New York City. She has been greatly abused by her father all her life, and after taking enough guff from him, she heads to Manhattan where she decides to utilize the man-hungry look she's been given (even though she secretly hates them) to make it big and go from the wrong side of the tracks to a deluxe penthouse in the sky. Starting from a hiring manager and moving from clerk to clerk, and finally into the executive suite, Stanwyck soon has men committing suicide over her and is eventually paid off into taking a position in the Paris office where she starts it all over again.
There's no stopping this girl, and the episodic nature of the film shows her moving on every time "St. Louis Blues" whales in the background. What Stanwyck's Lily doesn't count on is the one man who can tame her, and that happens in the form of George Brent. She has already gone from "the Duke" (an early appearance by John Wayne in a bit part) to a father who paid her off to leave his son (and take up with him!). Fast moving and raw with sensuality, "Baby Face" is perhaps the greatest example of what pre-code Hollywood was all about and what made it so much fun. Stanwyck eats up every man she comes in contact with (until Brent comes along) and seems to enjoy doing it strictly out of spite. This is Warner Brothers at its seediest, and 80 years later, it still hasn't lost its heat.
There's no stopping this girl, and the episodic nature of the film shows her moving on every time "St. Louis Blues" whales in the background. What Stanwyck's Lily doesn't count on is the one man who can tame her, and that happens in the form of George Brent. She has already gone from "the Duke" (an early appearance by John Wayne in a bit part) to a father who paid her off to leave his son (and take up with him!). Fast moving and raw with sensuality, "Baby Face" is perhaps the greatest example of what pre-code Hollywood was all about and what made it so much fun. Stanwyck eats up every man she comes in contact with (until Brent comes along) and seems to enjoy doing it strictly out of spite. This is Warner Brothers at its seediest, and 80 years later, it still hasn't lost its heat.