'Imitation of Life' Alert

I'm going to hold out for the Netflix remake with Viola Davis and Julianne Moore (seriously).

I really like both - but I like the original because it is UNcampy, while I like the remake because it IS campy.

So the original is more satisfying in a way. But why is that Warren William guy in EVERY early 30's movie?? Yuck.

I'm still waiting for them to name Lora Meredith as their star of the month.

the 1959 version is one of those films you need to be watching while high on acid.

It seems like the 1959 version is played on TCM every month.

I've seen the Lana Turner version several times and I love it - Lana really lays the drama on thick. Is the Colbert version as good?

I think they should remake but it should be white/Asian instead of white/black. Too many landmines, to do black/white correctly.

'Imitation of Life' Alert alert! Today (9/7) at 5:45 Eastern. Who knows if it will be on demand later?

PS Juanita Moore has an uncredited part in 'Cabin in the Sky' which is On Demand on TCM until October 6.

R7 which is why it works. Being Eurasian was/is not as confining as being part black.

Oh, God! Idk if three boxes of tissues will be enough. 😭

Can someone please explain what THIS is all about?

Fun fact: In the Hitchcock movie "Saboteur," there's a scene in a warehouse that houses a number of boxes of Aunt Delilah's Pancake Mix.

'Imitation o' Life' (1959) is on TCM again (shocking, I know) Saturday, December 2 @ 8:00PM with hosted introduction. The 1934 version is on Wednesday, November 1 @ 8:00PM with hosted introduction.

As mentioned above, the 1934 is not campy. The chapters are less broad. It's moving. The director John M. Stahl was a 1st generation Russian Jew. He also shot Magnificent Obsession. Both movies so strong that Sirk remade them. Stahl later made a technicolor hybrid noir (noir/thriller/melodrama), Leave Her to Heaven, a magnificent film with a malignant tone, and highly recommended.

Ah don' fixed y'all a mess o' crawdaddies, Miss Lora, fo' you and yo' friends!!

You bought an imitation life alert? Good luck getting first responders to your house.

This was my Mum’s favourite film. I miss her.

Terry Burnham is one of my favorite child actors. We were born 3 weeks apart but she' s been dead for10 years. I try not to miss her shows when they are on TV.

Douglas Sirk was a cinematic genius, seriously.

[quote]Can someone please explain what THIS is all about?

r11, I believe that's called...wishful thinking.

I'm sorry, Mama...

Life Alert is what keeps me out of assisted living

-Old lady

As campy as the Lana version is, the ending still gets me every time

I love the scene where Sarah Jane embarrasses Miss Lora by entering the room with a serving dish on her head and announcing she'd just cooked up "a whole mess of crawdads" like her mammy taught her. When Miss Lora confronts Sarah Jane you know it takes every biological cell of restraint and rigorous dramatic training to keep from calling her a "whorish, ungrateful n-word."

[quote] As campy as the Lana version is, the ending still gets me every time

I was always very neutral at the end. Once Annie dies, Sarah Jane is taken into the funeral carriage of Annie's white "family." By killing her mother with worry, Sarah Jane breaks her last tie to being Black and she spends the rest of her years passing. The woman that gave her life has to die so she can live the imitation of life she desires. Sarah Jane is a villain.

I prefer this one...

R24 see r15.

[Quote] [R24] see [R15].

Aahhh...

I missed r15. That's my favorite scene.

I wonder if they could remake this for today’s audiences…

Why hasn't this been made into a musical?

I love Sandra Dee in this movie - "Oh mother, stop acting!" is a great line, a terrific scene.

Too bad Dee didn't continue to grow into an actual actress... she was really good in her roles as a teen, young adult.

We got an imitation Life Alert. Our father ended up almost dying.

The 1959 version has an epic feel to it. The production values were great, and you do get involved in the characters' lives.

"Fellucci has agreed to my TERMS!!"

R34- That's so GAY of you to quote that particular line

and

I approve.

Robert Alda and Dan O’Herlihy were incredibly handsome.

“Why, give them to Amy!”

And a star is born…

Sandra Dee was marvelous. I always liked her, especially so because she’s Jersey Girl.

"Marjorie, oh Marjorie...!???"

"Now, there's Kissin'...and then there's...KISSIN'....!!

Our wedding day…and the day we die…de great ceremonies of life…

It seems that the film's reputation has grown over time.

Fifty-six years after it opened, Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life remains the apotheosis of Hollywood melodrama — as Sirk’s final film, it could hardly be anything else — and the toughest-minded, most irresolvable movie ever made about race in this country.-VILLAGE VOICE

*Miss Turner's Jewels by Laykin et Cie*

Dee was awful. She always was.

r44 = Zombie Connie Ford

Nice original 1959 trailer.

Dee was definitely the weak link in this film

Susan Kohner quit acting and lived the good life in Manhattan with a wealthy husband. Too bad because she was a pretty good actress. I enjoyed Sandra Dee's movies but I won't delude myself into believing she is an actress. She was never any good. My favorite Sandra Dee movie was always The Reluctant Debutante. Damn John Saxon was hot.

Among my black grandmother’s favorite films. My sister and I watched it every summer with her. We’re both 80s millenials but somehow captivated us even with being such an old film with a tragic storyline. Great acting.

[quote]We’re both 80s millenials

Oh, dear.

Kohner was excellent

I saw this film at a neighborhood movie house (now sadly, long gone - RIP, Granada!!) along with my mom and my younger sister. I was 10 and my poor little sister was about 8. It was a packed house - 100% women, of course - and from Mahalia Jackson's number on, you could hear loud audible SOBBING all over the theater!! I had never seen anyone cry at a movie before, and certainly not as loudly as this!! My poor little sister was pretty freaked out.

And in the car, driving home, my mother uttered the immortal line that neither of us have ever forgotten: "See what happens when you're mean to your mother?"

My late grandmother used to weep at the end of the movie when Mahalia sang that song, r52.

THis movie and Terms of Endearment. Damn. we called them "crying movies" when they were on.

There is an essay somewhere (in Danny Peary's Cult Movies, maybe) about how the set decoration in the 1959 version is so meticulous and reflective of the characters in each set. The example I remember the most is that all of the books in Turner's book case are all matching sets. There aren't any single, uncoordinated volumes. Lora (the character) values things looking copacetic and tidy more than actually getting any value from the books themselves.

Sirk was amazing.

Todd Hayne's was inspired by the melodramas of Douglas Sirk when he made Far From Heaven

R56 yes, and he even used the theme music from A Place in the Sun. I love Far From Heaven. I always try to watch it when it's on. Dennis Quaid did a good job as the husband with a secret.

[quote]Todd Hayne's was inspired by the melodramas of Douglas Sirk when he made Far From Heaven

Oh, dear.

R56, what I also loved about FFH was the use of such vivid colors. And Julianne Moore. Seriously.

I love the titles of Lora Meredith's series of Broadway hits: "Happiness," "Always Laughter," and "Born to Laugh." But then her breakthrough serious role for the great Fellucci is in a film called "No More Laughter."

Both versions were on TCM TODAY: the original was on this morning, but the Lana Turner 1959 remake is currently On Demand (by mistake?). Pretty sure you need a cable service provider to access.

Fun Fact: Both Sarah Jane actors (Susan Kohner, Karin Dicker) are still alive while both Susies (Sandra Dee, Terry Burnham) are long dead.

I saw this in a revival house about 10 years ago with (duh) a mostly gay audience. Lots of laughs for Lana's theatrics but very quiet and a little teary for the Kohner/Moore scenes which are pretty powerful. Kohner was an excellent actress and quite stunning.

Life Alert is a lifesaver!

Plans for next Sunday evening? Well, cancel them: 'Imitation of Life' (1959) is on TCM at 5:45PM Eastern. If you're up for a double feature, 'Mildred Pierce' precedes it at 3:45.

My mum loves the Lana Turner version

I prefer the 1934 version

Claudette Colbert was a better actress than Lana

Sorry, but I can't stand Susan Kohner. Just watched her in another Lana Turner movie, and I still can't stand her.

And I've always loved the orginal. For the times, it was very progressive. Delilah doesn't work for her as a maid, she's her business partner. (Though she does act more like a maid (but a rich one!) And the great Fredi Washington plays her daughter, an actual real light skined AA.

r66 In case you hadn't figured it out -- those are part of their Mother's Day programming.

Had Annie not socked all her money away for a funeral that rivaled the one for Diana, Princess of Wales, she probably could have had better medical care. Or a better life.

“I’m white! WHITE!!!!”

Life Alert is a life saver!

R57 Elmer Bernstein wrote the score for FFH. He delayed taking the job, and Todd used existing music in the first cut and in the trailer: he chose Bernstein’s score from To Kill a Mockingbird.

TCM usually shows IMITATION OF LIFE and STELLA DALLAS back to back. Their programming has been kind of dicey lately, and I hope they do not drop this classic weeper, with one of Stanwyck's greatest performances ever.

I just watched it for the first time and I was surprised at how pertinent the racial relations are to today 70 years later. This was even before the Civil Rights act to boot.

I wonder if Lana Turner ever got grief from racists for portraying a character to treated everyone with love and affection no matter their race.

R68. My cat is a better actor than Lana!

[quote]My cat is a better actor than Lana!

And yet, r77, *not* a movie star.

I love watching Lana playing an ingenue at age 38 while being wooed by 28-year-old John Gavin.

I’ve only seen the Sirk version. I liked it well enough but thought Dee was not cute at all and the funeral at the end was a bit too over the top, even for 50s Hollywood.

But I am game for some John Gavin. Oh how I envied Constance Towers.