Baby Face (1933). A dramatic film directed by Alfred E. Green. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent. Based on a story by Darryl F. Zanuck. This Pre-Code Hollywood film is about an young woman who uses sex to advance herself socially and her career. People knew that... "She had it and made it pay", the film's open discussion of sex made it one of the most notorious films of the Pre-Code Hollywood era.
The story begins when Lily Powers, the daughter of Nick Powers, a speakeasy owner, tries to keep her distance from men, who her father forces on her. It does not take long before Lily, decides to use men to get what she wants. She leaves town with her maid Chico and takes a job in a bank, in a near by town. There she seduces Jimmy McCoy, his boss Brody and Ned Stevens, Brody's supervisor. Stevens sets Lily up in an apartment, even though he is engaged to Ann Carter, the daughter of one of the bank's high power executives, who also falls under Lily's charm and sets her up with an even more elegant apartment.
Out of jealousy, Stevens kills Carter, then himself, creating a scandal at the bank. Lily feels that she is a victim, then the bank decides to send her Paris to stop the scandle.
When Courtland Trenholm, is transferred to Paris, he too falls in love with Lily and marries her. Trenholm signs over all his money to Lily and when the bank falls into bankruptcy, Lily refuses to help him. Feeling helpless Trenholm decides to shoot himself, will Lily arrives in time to save his life ?
BABY FACE is a perfect example of pre-Code naughtiness and Barbara Stanwyck is wonderful as the bad girl. She knows how to work the men unlucky enough to find themselves in her way.
John Wayne, appears as an unsuccessful suitor for Stanwyck's. This would be the only time these two performers appeared together on screen.
Lindsay was selected for a small role as Edith Harris, a doomed English bride whose honeymoon voyage takes place on the Titanic. Her performance in, Cavalcade earned her a contract at Warner Bros. where she became a supporting player, working with Paul Muni, Errol Flynn, Henry Fonda, Warren William, Leslie Howard, George Arliss, Humphrey Bogart, Boris Karloff and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Lindsay was cast four times as the love interest of James Cagney in Warner films from 1933-1935. She performed with Cagney in four films: Frisco Kid, Devil Dogs of the Air, G-Men and Lady Killer.
Lindsay co-starred with Bette Davis in four films: 1934's Fog Over Frisco; in 1935's Dangerous, Bordertown, Jezebel(1938), The Law in Her Hands (1936), in which she played a mob lawyer. Author Roger Dooley identified the film as "being the only film of the 1930s to have a pair of female legal partners".
Made after the Motion Picture Production Code came into effect. Lindsay's favorite film role may have been, The House of the Seven Gables in 1940, with George Sanders and Vincent Price. Directed by Joe May from a screenplay by Lester Cole, the film's musical score by Frank Skinner was nominated for an Academy Award.
Her 1940s film series included Columbia's first entry in its Crime Doctor series, as well as her continuing role as Nikki Porter in, Columbia's Ellery Queen series from 1940-1942. Lindsay performed in a supporting role in the 1942 film, The Spoilers, starring John Wayne, and in Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street in 1945.
While her work in the late 1940s would occasionally involve a supporting role in MGM films, Cass Timberlane with Spencer Tracy, after which her film career began to fade. Her last film was, Tammy and the Doctor (1963).
Early in her career, Lindsay lived with her sister Helen in Hollywood. Later in life, she lived with her youngest sister Mickie. Margaret Lindsay's sister, Jane Kies (1909–1985), was also an actress named, Jane Gilbert. In 1940, Jane married the son of Hedda Hopper, actor William Hopper, best known for his role as Paul Drake in the Perry Mason television series. Lindsay's niece Peggy Kenline and great-nephew Brad Yates were also actors.
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