The three titles in "TCM Archives: Forbidden Hollywood Collection Vol. 1," available today, are the kind of movies that inspire that vintage declaration, "Yowza!"

"Waterloo Bridge" (1931), "Red-Headed Woman" (1932) and especially "Baby Face" (1933) are prime examples of hard-boiled Hollywood innuendo that ran afoul of the 1930 Hays Code — which forbade frank depictions of sexuality or immoral conduct.

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Lily Powers (Barbara Stanwyck with Douglas Dumbrille as Brody) flirted with the Hays Code in 'Baby Face' (1933).

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Hidden Hollywood Collection Vol. 1

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Sexy Stanwyck

When "Baby Face" hit theaters, it had been substantially censored — some 1,000 feet, or five minutes worth. Only recently was the pre-release version discovered and restored by the Library of Congress. And it's an eyeful.

The first disc of the two-disc "Forbidden Hollywood" set contains both versions. "Baby Face" stars Barbara Stanwyck as Lily Powers, a speakeasy owner's daughter who's been — as we learn in the unedited version — prostituted by Papa since the age of 14. No wonder the help-thyself writings of Friedrich Nietzsche appeal to her.

Heading to New York, Lily finds low-level work at a bank and connives a way to literally sleep her way to the penthouse, starting with a chubby male receptionist from Tallapoosa. Playing for keeps, Stanwyck is a revelation, whether batting her eyes like an innocent girl or listening without emotion as she hears a lover in the next room shoot his rival, then himself.

Amazingly, Stanwyck somehow makes Lily weirdly sympathetic — so much so that it's almost a letdown when she softens up for a semi-feel-good finale.

Hottie Harlow

"Red-Headed Woman" takes virtually the same plotline but puts a more comic spin on it. Jean Harlow plays Lil, a secretary who decides to seduce her boss, Bill (Chester Morris), and wreck his marriage, and that's just for starters. The movie focuses on Bill's eventual attempt to reunite with his wronged ex-wife. But he and she are virtuous bores compared with the shameless exuberance of Harlow, whether she's buying a dress because you can see through it or squealing for "Bee-yull" in a grating form of baby talk.

Being Bette

Finally, "Waterloo Bridge," directed by James Whale ("Frankenstein"), is sometimes the stagier of the three movies (based on a Robert E. Sherwood play). The tale of an American chorus line member forced into prostitution in London when World War I shuts down her theater, it's most notable for star Mae Clarke, who gives a beautifully nuanced, touching performance. (Keep an eye out for the emotionally complex scene when she applies makeup in front of a mirror and sizes herself up as she prepares to hit the streets.)

As good as she is, she can't help but be slightly upstaged later in the film by a newcomer named Bette Davis, who plays the sister of a soldier who falls in love with Clarke.

"Forbidden Hollywood" (list price: $39.98) is the fifth DVD release in Atlanta-based Turner Classic Movies' partnership with Warner Home Video, which owns the films. The companies also have released Lon Chaney, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy, and Garbo silent movie collections.