Why Is Baby Face So Controversial?

The reasons that Baby Face was so controversial is that it involved several topics that were either an issue or looked down upon during that time period. In the original version of the film, Ed Sipple, a politician whom Lily’s father pays off to keep his speakeasy open comes to visit and a quick scene of her father counting money was cut in order to eliminate any evidence that Lily was prostituted. Another piece of evidence that was cut is a scene in Lily’s bedroom when Sipple calls her “sweetheart of the night”, again referring to her prostitution. Furthermore, another part of the film that was censored was a really intense scene between Lily and Sipple. In this scene, Lily leaves the bedroom and pours herself a beer, as she begins to drink,

During this time period, it was looked down by society when an African-American individual and a white individual had any kind of friendship, much less a romantic relationship. In both versions of the film, when Lily and Chico were departing Pennsylvania in a boxcar, they were caught by a railroad cop. However, in the original version, the rail man follows her to the back of the boxcar where it is seen that Chico’s gloves come off and the lamp go out which implies that Lily is sleeping with him. From this point, the two versions of the film follow almost completely different plots. In the censored version, Lily flirts her way to the top of Gotham Trust, while on the original version she sleeps her way to the

Darryl F. Zanuck, a talented filmmaker and writer who had been highly involved in Baby Face, resigned his position as production head at Warner Bros Studios (Wilson 352). This was due to the fact that when it came to censoring Baby Face to please Will Hays and the censors, Zanuck protested because he believed that the film must remain impact to reflect the original theme. Jack and Harry Warner therefore accepted Zanuck’s resignation after assuring Hays the film would undergo the necessary cuts to make it acceptable (Wilson 353). It is amusing how Baby Face is known to give a real effect to the production code. In 1934, it was pulled from theaters by the production Code disregarding the censorship cuts that had been made. It was said that no amount of cuts or clean-ups could make the film appropriate enough to be released to the public(Leff and Simmons 58-62) . The Production code was continued to be enforced in Hollywood until 1966 when it was replaced. In 1968 the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) instituted the first iteration of the voluntary ratings system, still used today (Jefferson Center). This system had the support of the MPPDA and theater owners. In fact, the ratings system enforced then and now is not government mandated but actually another adaptation of self-censorship in order to prevent the government from intervening in production or censorship. Hollywood’s liking for self-censorship and filmmakers’ continual