FAVORITE FILMS: THE 39 STEPS

SCREENING: BABY FACE

BABY FACE, the 1933 pre-Code classic, is sexually-charged and fueled by the miraculous star power of Barbara Stanwyck.  The film follows Lily Powers ascent from a Pennslyvania speakeasy to the top of a New York company using the words of Friedrich Nietzsche for inspiration.  Pimped out by her father at a young age, Lily understands the power of her sexuality and uses it to manipulate men into giving her what she wants.  But as Lily climbs the coporate ladder, she experiences the consequences of hubris and is eventually faced with a difficult decision:  love or money.  Remember this sultry performance because we will be watching Stanwyck in a Code-era melodrama, STELLA DALLAS (1937), next week.

Suggested Supplemental Screenings:  RED DUST (Flemming, 1932), SCARFACE (Hawks, 1932) RED-HEADED WOMAN (Conway, 1932), TROUBLE IN PARADISE (Lubitsch, 1932), and anything with Barbara Stanwyck.

SCREENING: LA MATERNELLE

Supplemental Suggested Screenings:  L'ATALANTE (1934), TONI (Renoir, 1935), PÉPÉ LE MOKO (Duvivier, 1937), GRAND ILLUSION (Renoir, 1937), and THE RULES OF THE GAME (Renoir, 1939).

FAVORITE FILMS: BLACKMAIL

Alfred Hitchcock's BLACMAIL made in 1929 is a pivotal film for the tansistion from silent to sound cinema.  In fact, the film was originally shot in silent and sound added later.  The film also shows the difficulties many actors and actresses had transitioning to sound.  The lead actress, ___________, had a thick accent and was deemed unsuitable for a speaking role.  Instead of recasting, her dialogue was dubbed by another actress, this process, common at the time, is parodied in SINGING IN THE RAIN.

SCREENING: M