Collars...Baby Face is a story about collars. The Great Depression left most of America in a state of financial ruin with only a person's collar as an effective mark of your station in life. Barbara Stanwyck's role as Lily Powers (aptly interpreted by Lydia in words I won't use here) shows the rise and triumph of a woman who claws her way out of a collarless (think so poor that they can't afford a collar, let alone a choice of blue) factory town to the mink-lined big city life.
Or it's about Nietzsche.
The uberfrau in question learns the hard way that to get ahead means to give...up any sense of moral compass and move beyond good and evil. "Exploit men," becomes Lily's rallying cry as she moves up the corporate ladder through the corporate bedrooms and sleeps her way to the top of the Trenholm banking empire (represented by the long pan up the side of a NYC skyscraper showing the various offices where Lily does her duty). With every new floor comes a new man, new apartment and new collar, which suggests that all in all her actions aren't without benefit. I mean, look at this collar. I'm pretty sure it's platinum.But let us not forget a cameo by John Wayne, Chico the "fantastic colored girl," and all of the crassness that makes this film disgustingly enjoyable. Every soft focus close-up of Stanwyck with her 'come-hither-into-this-lady's-room' look and every raunchy jazz riff reminds us that the generation of our grandparents was nothing if not obsessed with sex. After all, Lily sleeps with SEVEN (count them in the final montage) men to get what she wants. And what is it that she wants?
The dressless collar...
