Douglas Sirk was a director who loved melodramas. He was one of the best men around to add gloss to those larger than life stories the movie going public loved to see, as demonstrated by the movies he left behind. By today's standards, "Imitation of Life", looks like an exercise in high camp judging by all the elements that went into the making of a soap opera that doesn't deal with reality well.
Fannie Hurst wrote many of these romantic stories in which her heroines were always larger than life. Which is the point of this movie, Lora Meredith, a struggling actress, of a certain age, will conquer all the obstacles that will come her way by sheer determination and resolve. Along the way, she will get a free live-in maid who becomes her best friend, raise a daughter, find love, lose a hunk of a guy, then at the end, reclaim him and live happily ever after. They certainly don't make movies like that anymore! What's basically wrong with the story is that few things turn out this well in real life.
The 1959 version of the Fannie Hurst book had already made it to the movies in an early picture starring Claudette Colbert. This new take on the novel was a vehicle clearly tailor-made for Lana Turner, who was at the height of her beauty in a mature kind of way. She was a natural that the camera loved. Ms. Turner was lovingly dressed by Jean Louis. Everything is impeccable in the way the star carries herself as a struggling mother who has not been employed in a while to the days in which she is the toast of Broadway.
Juanita Moore, among the cast members, had the best moments. Her Annie Johnson was perhaps the best character she played. Susan Kohner, a young actress who showed promise, is also good as the mean Sarah Jane, the ungrateful daughter who is a freak of nature by appearing white when she is really black. John Gavin plays Lora's love interest. Robert Alda is good as the man responsible for giving Lora a start in the business. Sandra Dee is seen as Susie, the teenager who also has her eyes set on the man that loves her mother. Among the supporting players we get a glimpse of Troy Donahue and Jack Weston.
"Imitation of Life" is Douglas Sirk's contribution to the soap opera with a superior visual style.
Fannie Hurst wrote many of these romantic stories in which her heroines were always larger than life. Which is the point of this movie, Lora Meredith, a struggling actress, of a certain age, will conquer all the obstacles that will come her way by sheer determination and resolve. Along the way, she will get a free live-in maid who becomes her best friend, raise a daughter, find love, lose a hunk of a guy, then at the end, reclaim him and live happily ever after. They certainly don't make movies like that anymore! What's basically wrong with the story is that few things turn out this well in real life.
The 1959 version of the Fannie Hurst book had already made it to the movies in an early picture starring Claudette Colbert. This new take on the novel was a vehicle clearly tailor-made for Lana Turner, who was at the height of her beauty in a mature kind of way. She was a natural that the camera loved. Ms. Turner was lovingly dressed by Jean Louis. Everything is impeccable in the way the star carries herself as a struggling mother who has not been employed in a while to the days in which she is the toast of Broadway.
Juanita Moore, among the cast members, had the best moments. Her Annie Johnson was perhaps the best character she played. Susan Kohner, a young actress who showed promise, is also good as the mean Sarah Jane, the ungrateful daughter who is a freak of nature by appearing white when she is really black. John Gavin plays Lora's love interest. Robert Alda is good as the man responsible for giving Lora a start in the business. Sandra Dee is seen as Susie, the teenager who also has her eyes set on the man that loves her mother. Among the supporting players we get a glimpse of Troy Donahue and Jack Weston.
"Imitation of Life" is Douglas Sirk's contribution to the soap opera with a superior visual style.