John M. Stahl's 1934 melodrama "Imitation of Life" stars Claudette Colbert as Bea Pullman, a young widow with a young daughter, Jessie who struggles to carry on her husband's syrup sales business after her husband dies. One morning, as she is trying to get her two year old ready for day care before setting off for work, her doorbell rings and she finds Delilah Johnson (Louise Beavers) and her young daughter Peola at the door. Delilah has mistaken Bea's household as the one advertising for house help, but when she sees Bea struggling, she offers to help her out for no wages, only room and board for she and her daughter. The two women strike up a friendship, and eventually begin a pancake house business, with Delilah making her famous pancakes and Bea selling them and her syrup. Throughout the next fifteen years, their business becomes a small conglomerate, with Delilah continuing to care for Bea and her daughter simply because she wants to, despite her now great wealth. Complicating matters is the fact that Peola is very light-skinned, and often passes for white, which develops hatred within her for her race which manifests itself as contempt and disdain for her mother. Additionally, Bea's boyfriend Steve (Warren William) finds himself the object of the now 18 year old Jessie's affection, which causes strife among the three of them.
"Imitation of Life" is simply a great, rich story that we so rarely see in cinema today. Certainly an unusual topic in the 1930's, the subject of race relations is very prominent throughout the film, without being remotely preachy. The acting was good, though I did feel like Delilah's role was more of a caricature than a character at times. I also didn't really see the appeal of Steve's character, who also has probably one of the most unusual occupations that I've seen in a classic film (fish scientist). I of course couldn't help comparing this version to its Douglas Sirk remake from 1959 that starred Lana Turner and Juanita Moore. I think that the high melodrama of the story is much better served in the highly colorful Technicolor and Lana Turner's histrionics. I also felt a little uneasy with the treatment of African-Americans in this version because it was continuously teetering on a racist line; just a little more caricature and certain moments would have fully gone over the edge. The film was not disrespectful, but it got close to being eyebrow-raising. Granted, it was a different time, but I was expecting a little more from a film that would address the subject in the first place.
Having said all that, I really did enjoy the film as a whole I just enjoyed the remake a little bit more. I did find, even without Mahalia Jackson singing at the end of the remake, that I bawled like a baby at the end of this version almost as much as I do at the end of Sirk's version, which is no small amount. I'm not sure what it is about this story, or these movies, but when I was in film school, specifically in my Films of the Fifties class where I first saw "Imitation of Life" (1959) I remember sitting in the classroom just sobbing (and wasn't the only one). It takes a good story, regardless of its presentation, to have that kind of impact regardless of how many times it is viewed. This version gets a solid 6/10 from me.
--Shelly
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