I just saw 1933's "Baby Face" and so should you.
She gives one of the most incredible, unforgettable female performances in film history, her cold-as-nails climber rivaling anything Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, or Louise Brooks ever did.
It's amazing the censors let many scenes through in fact, I don't think I've seen such verisimilitude in any modern films, either. Just what does a beautiful, very young girl do when she is orphaned? A far older admirer, a professor, shows her some Nietzche (imagine a modern film doing THAT!), pointing out his most cynical passages advocating a dog-eat-dog attitude if one wishes for success.
She takes these lessons very much to heart and almost immediately begins to treat men as rungs on a ladder.
This film is similar to Lulu's far more infamous "Pandora's Box" but it's superior. The supporting cast is excellent and there is little of the exaggerated acting or melodrama this period is famous for.
Look for a small John Wayne cameo, too.
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Topic - Okay, let's put Barbara Stanwyck up with the greatest actresses AND vamps. - tinear 11:32:57 08/08/08 (3)
- RE: Okay, let's put Barbara Stanwyck up with the greatest actresses AND vamps. - Rod H. 11:38:50 08/10/08 (1)
- Yeah, "Big Valley" made me sure she was butch, kind of like the aged - tinear 14:41:44 08/10/08 (0)
- Oh, c'mon! NO one else appreciated the blonde vixen in "Double Indemnity?" - tinear 20:12:06 08/09/08 (0)