Baby Face

In 1922, with the Roaring Twenties in full swing, a young and beautiful woman named Alexandra "Alex" Stewart, played by Barbara Stanwyck, is determined to climb the social ladder. Born into a working-class family, she is determined to leave her poverty-stricken past behind and rise to the top of society. However, to achieve this status, Alex is willing to do whatever it takes, even if it means sacrificing her morals and values. After being raped by her boss, Jeff Cunningham, played by Ralph Ince, Alex becomes pregnant. She decides to get married but realizes that she is still young and that this marriage will not provide her with the status she so desperately wants. She leaves Jeff, and her husband soon passes away, leaving her with a child and a financial burden to bear. As she navigates her young adulthood, Alex sets her sights on the wealthy and influential men of the city. She quickly learns that her youth, beauty, and charm hold great power and that men are willing to give her the financial security she desires. She starts an affair with a wealthy businessman named Wallace Beal, played by Phillip Reed, who showers her with gifts and eventually takes her out of poverty. However, Alex's relationships with these men are all short-lived, as she soon becomes bored and realizes that they hold on to their values and wealth at her expense. She believes that once she enters their world, she will earn respect and an equal position in their society, yet time and time again, she proves to be wrong. She begins an affair with a man named James Gustine, played by John Boles, who takes her to the country as his live-in mistress. In a turn of events, Gustine proposes marriage and makes it clear that it would be for her and her child's benefit. Reluctantly, Alex marries James. However, with her newfound status comes her deepest unhappiness. To be taken seriously as a partner, Jim tells her to adopt more of a feminine persona, stripping away the ambitions and goal-oriented approach she once harbored. She soon realizes that he is more interested in maintaining the social status he has acquired with her help than helping her to fully integrate into society. In her darkest moment, Alex decides that she can no longer cope with her lack of autonomy and independence. She plots an affair with a doctor they both know and who is clearly smitten with her charisma, though to what extent is left open to interpretation, it reveals how far Alex is now, not less than before, after rising in the social rankings. Alex begins an affair with a man named Euben, and decides to play a gamble – while at first struggling with societal status being so high, the emotional baggage now weighs heavier as the cost of maintaining that status finally becomes clear. After realizing her newfound feelings, her plans result in a newfound awareness, understanding the hard-won place for Alex in a rising middle-class social status after her initial goals. In conclusion, 'Baby Face' is a scathing commentary on the social class, in which the aspiring women struggle to navigate through societal norms and societal values in exchange for wealth, success, and, more precisely, independence.