Imitation of Life (1959)

Karen and I rented Imitation of Life for a friend years ago who was a Lumbee Indian.  Lumbee Indians are primarily a group of Native Americans in North Carolina, descended from either the Cheraw or the Tuscarora.  Some erroneously don't treat them as true Native Americans, and their skin coloring and hair often mistake them as light skinned African-Americans.  I made that mistake with Karen's friend.

None of this has anything to do with Imitation of Life, except that Karen's friend was keenly interested in this film, and I never knew why.  After finally watching it, I have an inkling.  While it can be a fluff movie in parts, it's obvious that director Douglas Sirk set forth to make an entertaining rags to riches movie that also had a social conscience.  To sum up without giving away too much plot, the Lana Turner character is an aspiring actress who provides shelter and gives employment to an African American woman, played glowingly by Juanita Moore.  Both women no longer have husbands, and both have daughters.  Moore's daughter is unable to reconcile the fact that while her skin is white, her mother is black, and she is racially mixed.  Movie messages included being true to oneself and one's heritage, which I'm sure Karen's friend sought out. 

The movie is vividly colorful and fashionable, and while hokie at times, it's understandable for the late '50's.  Sirk is to be commended for trying to create a subtle social document, while keeping it entertaining.  However, I must admit, while I do realize it was the '50's, Moore's daughter, played by Susan Kohner, looked completely white to me.  While I understood the casting, it cut into the believability for me.  So, bottom line, a good movie to watch, a glorified soap opera, not too unpredictable, but nice to see a movie from this time frame that at least tried to be socially relevant.

Country: USA
Year:  1959
Director:  Douglas Sirk
Time:  124 minutes
Rotten Tomatoes:  Tomatometer 83%, http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1010417-imitation_of_life/
IMDB:  Rating 7.7,  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052918/


Buffalo Wings:




Trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaanE7v6uJI