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Imitation of Life

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Imitation of Life

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Summary

Classic melodrama from director Douglas Sirk, starring Lana Turner. Aspiring actress Lora Meredith and her black housekeeper Annie Johnson both struggle to cope with the growing pains and problems of their daughters.

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Review

A star rating of 5 out of 5.

David Oppedisano

Danish-born German émigré Douglas Sirk carved his Hollywood niche directing socially aware depictions of 1950s American bourgeois gentility, many now with camp appeal. This swansong gem is a vehicle for an unconsciously self-parodying Lana Turner, who plays an ambitious actress oblivious to various domestic troubles, including her Black maid's trauma at being tragically rejected by her lighter-skinned daughter on racial grounds. This was Sirk's and producer Ross Hunter's biggest box-office collaboration, helped by the tabloid speculation regarding Turner's possible role in the 1958 fatal stabbing of her boyfriend Johnny Stompanato. A masterfully formalised and sumptuously decorated ten-hanky weepie, it also benefits from Turner's delirious, melodramatic mood swings and a gut-wrenching funeral song performed by international gospel star Mahalia Jackson. One of cinema's defining melodramas.

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7.8/10

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Credits

Cast

rolenameLora MeredithLana TurnerSteve ArcherJohn GavinSusie, age 16Sandra DeeDavid EdwardsDan O'HerlihySarah Jane, age 18Susan KohnerAllen LoomisRobert AldaAnnie JohnsonJuanita MooreMahalia JacksonMahalia Jackson

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Crew

rolenameDirectorDouglas Sirk

Details

Theatrical distributor

Rank Film Dists Ltd

Released on

1959-05-10

Languages

English

Guidance

sexual references

Available on

DVD

Formats

Colour

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