4 Shots From 4 Films: Tween Two Loves, The Poor Little Rich Girl, Through the Back Door, Secrets


Happy 125th birthday to America’s first movie star, Mary Pickford!

4 Shots From 4 Films

Tween Two Loves (1911, directed by Thomas Ince)

The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917, dir by Maurice Tourneur)

Through the Back Door (1921, dir by Alfred Green and Jack Pickford)

Secrets (1933, dir by Frank Borzage)

Pre Code Confidential #8: Barbara Stanwyck in BABY FACE (Warner Brothers 1933)


gary loggins's avatarcracked rear viewer

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Barbara Stanwyck uses sex as a weapon and screws her way to the top in BABY FACE, an outrageously blatant Pre-Coder that had the censors heads spinning back in 1933. Miss Stanwyck plays Lily Powers, a young woman who works in her Pop’s speakeasy in smog-filled Erie, PA, where Pop’s been pimping her out since she was 14. Lily has a black female friend named Chico who seems to be more than just a friend (though it’s never stated, the implication’s definitely there). All the men paw over her like dogs with a piece of raw meat except the elderly Mr. Cragg, who gives her a book by Fredrich Nietzche along with some advice: “You have power… you don’t realize your potentialities… you must use men, not let them use you… exploit yourself, use men! Be strong, defiant!”.

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When Pop’s still blows to smithereens, taking Pop with it, Lily and…

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