Pre-Code. The forbidden era where anything goes. Wonderfully risqué, daring and freeing, Pre-Code is a goldmine of genres, thoughts and attitudes, all rushing to get their point across before the enforcement of the Hays Code in 1934. Red-Headed Woman (1932) and Baby Face (1933) are two of the era’s most iconic films and they are strikingly similar in many ways.
In Red-Headed Woman (dir. Jack Conway), Jean Harlow plays Lil Andrews, a secretary who will do anything to move up the ladder and make a better life for herself. She seduces her boss Bill Legendre (Chester Morris), breaks up his marriage, then marries him, has affairs, becomes a social pariah in the high society she desperately wanted to a part of, then does it all over again. She uses sex to get what she wants and she doesn’t care what anybody thinks.
In Baby Face (dir. Alfred E. Green), Lily Powers (Barbara Stanwyck) does exactly the same. Brought up in the rough part of town, pimped out by her father (!) to the male customers of his speakeasy, Lily just wants to get away from it all and start a new life. She and her maid and friend Chico (Theresa Harris) – her truest and longest relationship – head for New York City, where Lily begins to use her sex appeal and prowess to get ahead.
What I love about these films – and indeed most films of the Pre-Code era – is how frank and brutal they are. Both Lil and Lily shamelessly use sex to get what they want and what they want is a better life. The life they deserve. The life they were denied. They refuse to spend their ‘whole life on the wrong side of the railroad tracks’, in Lil’s words. So they use men. They use men and they use their own bodies. It’s not commendable and you could argue that it’s morally wrong, but it’s understandable. We are meant to root for them as they go about their journey. We are on their side. Neither of these women ever had a lot, so why shouldn’t they go get it? In Lil’s case, we don’t get to see much of her beginnings like we do with Lily, but we can imagine they couldn’t have been that much different. She made up her mind a ‘long time ago’, she says to her best friend Sally (Una Merkel). Just like Lily. In Baby Face’s opening sequence, we walk into her sleazy, disgusting world: a speakeasy run by her father, where she has been sexually exploited by dirty men since she was 14. She’s angry, she’s bitter, she’s sick of it all and she won’t stand for it anymore. Can you blame her?
In hindsight, both of these characters are a couple of badasses. And they were quite progressive. Sure, it’s not an overwhemingly positive portrayal, but that’s the thing with Pre-Code. It is simultaneously progressive and old-fashioned. Well, it had to be, it was the early 1930s. It is glorious, though. It’s raw, it’s honest, it’s challenging and it’s out in the open. Tastefully, of course.
Great double bill. Enjoyable post!
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Thanks! 😀
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I know Baby Face well, not so much Red-Headed Woman, but it sounds like my kinda film! Barbara Stanwyck was a wonderful femme fatale and I could never resist a femme fatale! 😉 It was a time when they gave woman strong roles, hopefully that time is coming back.
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Yes! I think it’s starting to look that way.
Babs was just fabulous, wasn’t she? 😀
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Two excellent films featuring memorable performances from Jean and Barbara.
I love Red-Headed Woman! Jean is awesome in that, and I like how she is totally badass in how she goes after who and what she wants. She also gets away unpunished with what would be considered immoral actions under the soon to be implemented Code.
Pre Code films are such great fun. 🙂
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Yes! I LOVE her performance. She was so great.
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Thanks Carol for the heads up on these 2 films- I’ve seen neither one. Will try to find them. Can’t go wrong with Jean Harlow and Barbara Stanwyck.
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Hope you get to see them! 😀
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Thanks Carol. Related; http://pre-code.com/my-list-of-essential-pre-code-hollywood-films/
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Thank you! 😀
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I have this same DVD set, and can’t get enough of either film. You’re so right–just badasses. “Frank and brutal” is a perfect way to describe them. One of my favorite Harlow films (how perfect is that ending!), and Stanywck excels at playing a conniving character–and at expressing her outrage at her father’s treatment. I’m also fascinated by that friendship with Chico (Theresa Harris), which was also incredibly progressive for its time.
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Indeed!
Their friendship is one of my favorite things about the film. It’s like a breath of fresh air.
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Got to see both these films Carol. Thank GOd for libraries. Their portrail of women was definitely ahead of their time – very progressive as you mention. Was nice seeing Jean Harlow as haven’t seen many of her films. Also , nice seeing such a young Barbara Stanwyck. Thanks again Carol.
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So glad you got to see them! 😀 You’re more than welcome!
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