WOMEN BEFORE THE CODE: Red-Headed Woman (1932) + Baby Face (1933)

In 1934, amid mounting public pressure over the perceived moral influence of motion pictures, Hollywood began rigorously enforcing the Motion Picture Production Code, commonly known as the Hays Code. A sweeping system of censorship, the Code sought to ensure that films adhered to what it termed the “correct standards of life.” Among its many prohibitions were profanity, explicit sexuality, drug use, so-called “sexual perversion,” interracial relationships, criticism of religious institutions, and depictions of “white slavery.” For more than three decades, the Code profoundly shaped the subjects, themes, and images that could appear on American screens.

Before strict enforcement of the Code, however, Hollywood briefly embraced a remarkable degree of freedom. Between 1930 and 1934, films openly engaged with sexuality, vice, social mobility, and female independence in ways that would soon become impossible under censorship. This program highlights three of the era’s defining stars (Jean Harlow, Barbara Stanwyck, and Marlene Dietrich) whose screen personas embodied the wit, sophistication, and transgressive energy that made pre-Code Hollywood one of the most fascinating periods in American film history.

RED-HEADED WOMAN (dir. Jack Conway, 1932)

Already a rising star following her breakthrough performances in Hell’s Angels and Platinum Blonde, Jean Harlow further cemented her screen persona with Red-Headed Woman, one of the most gleefully scandalous films of the pre-Code era. Harlow stars as Lil Andrews, an ambitious working-class stenographer who seduces her married boss and relentlessly schemes her way into high society. Adapted in part by Anita Loos after an abandoned draft by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the film delighted audiences and outraged moral watchdogs with its frank sexuality and refusal to punish its heroine for her transgressions. Frequently cited as one of the films that helped provoke the strict enforcement of the Hays Code, Red-Headed Woman remains a wickedly funny showcase for Harlow’s comic gifts and star-making charisma.

BABY FACE (dir. Alfred E. Green, 1933)

One of the defining films of Hollywood’s pre-Code era, Baby Face stars Barbara Stanwyck in one of her most daring and iconic performances. As Lily Powers, a young woman who escapes a life of exploitation and methodically ascends New York’s corporate ladder, Stanwyck embodies the toughness, intelligence, and independence that made her one of the era’s most distinctive stars. So provocative was the film’s frank treatment of sex, ambition, and social mobility that censors demanded extensive revisions before its release, making it a flashpoint in the censorship battles that preceded the rigorous enforcement of the Hays Code. Selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry, Baby Face remains both a landmark of Pre-Code cinema and a startlingly modern portrait of survival, self-invention, and the ruthless pursuit of the American Dream.