Baby Face

Baby Face follows Lily Powers, a young woman with little to her name who discovers that a blend of charm and sexuality can open doors money and family cannot for Lily. She slips into high society by catching the eye of powerful men, including Courtland Trenholm, and often turning favors into a gilded staircase. With each ascent from cramped rooms to glittering salons, Lily gains influence and security while the world watching quietly applauds her savvy and ambition grows. Yet as her status grows, she questions whether this glamorous social ladder will ever bring true happiness, or if the cost of popularity might leave her spiritually empty and alone, while the mood lingers as style and desire collide in cinema.

Directed by Alfred E. Green for Warner Bros, Baby Face features a screenplay by Gene Markey, Darryl F. Zanuck, and Kathryn Scola. The film captures a bold pre-Code moment, probing ambition, sexuality, and social mobility on screen for modern viewers.

With a budget of about 187,000 dollars, it grossed roughly 451,000, delivering a solid return for its era. The numbers reflect a film that connected with audiences in the early talkie period and helped cement Barbara Stanwyck's rising star status.

Baby Face is often cited as a defining pre-Code title that pushed the boundaries of female agency on screen. Its depiction of a woman shaping her own ascent through charm and presence fed into ongoing debates about morality, sexuality, and power in Hollywood's early sound era and influence beyond cinema.

Critics of the time noted its unsentimental look at ambition and its mix of melodrama with social satire. The film interrogates gender power dynamics, the lure of wealth, and the costs of rapid ascent, inviting viewers to consider whether personal happiness can coexist with public success amid society's judgment today.