Films/DVD Asylum

"Imitation of Life" (both 1934 and 1959)

24.91.201.174

rico

IOL is a Fannie Hurst sudser/weeper novel about two mothers, one white and one black, who team up to raise their fatherless daughters. The black woman's daughter is extremely light skinned so she "passes" until her mother stops in all through her life to let her friends, boyfriends, and professional associates know the truth, finally leading her to disown her mother. Meanwhile the girls grow up and the mothers become rich (a successful pancake flour business on the first, a stage/screen success in the remake). The white daughter falls in love with her mother's boyfriend, an attraction telegraphed to us in each film in advance. An elaborate funeral at the end goes on far too long and destroys the rhythm of each movie. Claudette colbert is the star of the first, Lana Turner of the second. Douglas Sirk directed the remake (of course). Fun, if you like this sort of thing ( a guilty pleasure for me).

Follow Ups:

Soap operas but expertly done - danj 08:05:41 08/12/07 (0)
with excellent casts in both.

But the '34 version sure looks rascist in comparison to the newer version. The ending on both, though, is one of the all-time tear-jerkers.

Claudette Colbert could play anything and transform the character into something special. Lana Turner was, well, Lana Turner. Not that that's a bad thing.

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