Men: [Suicidal after ruining entire life to be with her.]
Barbara Stanwyck: I'm baby.

Hard to separate this grimly funny patriarchal revenge fantasy about Barbara Stanwyck applying Nietzschean philosophy regarding exploitation and pure performative erotic intensity ("Be strong, defiant! Use men to get the things you want!”) to go from abused speakeasy prostitute to millionaire banker mistress during the Great Depression from her real life; she even has her broke orphan character Lily Powers reference her real-life time spent as a burlesque chorus girl. There's so much subtle pain and depth to both the glee and rage she feels in overtly manipulating these men to extract the capital desires from them in increasingly humorous and ridiculous ways, and she's so…

I would very much like to really dig through the Pre-Code era in specific pursuit of films that could be said to have inspired the Code itself by doing everything it didn't want movies to do. Featuring sex (off camera, but lots of it), violence (off camera, but in a shocking manner), and a lot of "adult" moments, it was either someone's last hurrah before the Code went into effect, or it was Will Hays' worst nightmare come true and the straw that broke the camel's back. It even features an African-American character in a prominent if unfortunately nearly silent and completely servile role, which I'm sure caused a little furor as well.

The film is flawed but not unwatchably…

Lady Terminator

Baby Face is a perfect machine of Randian and Nietzschean design set loose in a system that delivers the biggest rewards to the most selfish. One could almost look at this as having a structure similar to a kung fu film: Baby Face, from humble peasant origins, weaponizes her sex and goes on a hero journey ascending through various venal masters until she hits the big boss, and is thoroughly outwitted. Defeated and in exile she rethinks her strategy, and strikes again catching the grand master off guard.

I'm sure I've referenced it before, but I think about this Laura Dern appreciation of Barbara Stanwyck every time I watch one of her movies, particularly the line about how…

Come watch Barbara Stanwyck ruin men’s lives for fun and profit! 

Alfred E. Green’s pre-Code film “Baby Face” is a comedy of errors; all of them… made by men. As the orphaned daughter of a bar hall owner, Stanwyck sets off to sleep her way to the top of a Manhattan bank. It’s so easy to her, she might as well be doing it with her eyes closed. If only she was a pillow princess, and not a queen. 

“Baby Face” has all the tricky and delicious complexity of the best pre-Code films. Before Will H. Hays came to tell America what its morals should be, Hollywood tried to figure them out on its own. The process was an often…