director alfred green melodrama baby face with barbara stanwyck rank a one of the more notorious of the pre code movie . these film be produce before the production code administration have the power to enforce it rule in 1934. inspiration scenarist gene markey and midnight mary scribe kathryn scola pen the screenplay and base on mark canfield story and about the rise and fall of a girl who use her sexual charm to acquire wealth and position in society . incidentally and mark canfield be a pseudonym for producer daryl f. zanuck . these pre code film today seem tame and but they arouse controversy galore and contain more racy material than most movie until the late 1950s when the code begin to erode . the theme that the filmmaker explore be woman versus men and woman versus woman and and woman versus society . our crafty protagonist do enough skulduggery that all theme be about equal . lily worthless father nick power ( robert barret of distant drum ) operate an illegal speakeasy bar during prohibition and when the thirteen amendment outlaw liquor and and brew his own booze in a still out back . nick be such a an obnoxious fellow that he pimp out her beautiful and but hard work daughter lily ( barbara stanwyck of night nurse ) and but lily refuse to help her father out with a sleazy local politician . the politician . ed sipple ( arthur hohl of private detective 62 ) vow to retaliate for lily refusal to accommodate him . later and nick chew his rebellious daughter out . lily reproach him . yeah and i be a tramp and who to blame . my father and a swell start you give me and nothing but men and dirty and rotten men . and youre low than any of them . no sooner have she storm off than nick dy when his still blow up and kill him . lily and her african american maid chico ( theresa harris of arrowsmith ) pack their bag and catch a ride of the first freight leave town . no sooner have our heroine arrive in new york than lily use her charm to get a job in a bank . visually and director green show lily shrewd ascension up the ladder with camera angle that move upward until lily sexuality threaten to destroy the bank . at one point and lily break up a marriage between one bank officer and ned stevens ( donald cook of the public enemy ) and his fiancée and anne carter ( margaret lindsay of cavalcade ) after stevens have almost fire her for flirt with her bos and brody ( douglas dumbrille of his woman ) in the employee restroom . lily be extremely shrewd and manage to emerge from each debacle good off than before . the board of trustee hire courtland trenholm ( george bent of jezebel ) to take over a president of the bank . the first thing that trenholm do be pay off lily instead of let her publish her diary entry about the high ups at the bank . moreover and trenholm ship lily off to their branch bank in paris where lily doesn not create any commotion until trenholm arrives and they become romantically attach . lily fight tooth and nail for everything that she have get and hate to throw it all away and but she sacrifice everything at the end for her husband . ironically and lily wind up back in the same town that she start out in and but trenholm and she be happy now . baby face qualifies a one of the five best pre code movie . look for john wayne dress up in a suit and tie in one scene .