Movies at Mechanics' Presents Baby Face (1933)
About this Event
Movies at Mechanics’ has welcomed film enthusiasts for classic cinema screenings and salons on Friday evenings for over 20 years. This November is Starring Miss Stanwyck all month long!
Lily Powers (Barbara Stanwyck) is a young woman with a difficult life. She works in her corrupt father’s saloon, where she is forced to satisfy the customers in any way they ask. When her father dies, she leaves for the big city–using the only power she knows to get ahead in life. But when she develops feelings for a man, she doesn’t know what to do. Will Lily finally allow herself the love she never had?
Baby Face is one of the most daring films of the pre-Code era. Its suggestive dialogue and sexual overtones led directly to a new Motion Picture Production Code, one that gave the censorship office more oversight powers. To comply with the new rules, Warner Bros. had to substantially change Baby Face before its general release. The original cut was considered a lost film until 2004, when a researcher discovered it in an Ohio vault. We will screen the full version at Movies at Mechanics’, in all its seductive glory, as it was always meant to be seen.
Our guest host for this evening is Ashley Swinnerton, a New York-based archivist and historian. Ashley is one of the great experts on Barbara Stanwyck, and she will expand on the background of the film as it relates to Stanwyck’s life, and the pre-Code era in general. It is sure to be a meaningful evening, with Ashley in conversation with Movies at Mechanics’ curator Lara Gabrielle. As always, come early for the pre-show, which includes vintage clips, commercials, and a newsreel!
Join us for fresh popcorn, lively discourse, and cinema classics the first three Fridays of the month. Hosted by Lara Gabrielle, film writer and author of Captain of Her Soul: The Life of Marion Davies.
“Author Gabrielle has given us a gift: an honest biography of a woman whose life and career have long been misunderstood. . . . In short, this is the book Marion Davies has always deserved.”-Leonard Maltin, film critic and historian
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 7.18 to USD 12.51
