Imitation of Life **** (1959, Lana Turner, John Gavin, Juanita Moore, Sandra Dee, Susan Kohner, Dan O’Herlihy, Robert Alda, Mahalia Jackson, Troy Donahue, Jack Weston) – Classic Movie Review 3,249

Douglas Sirk’s 1959 American melodrama film Imitation of Life stars Lana Turner and John Gavin, with Sandra Dee, Dan O’Herlihy, Susan Kohner, Robert Alda and Juanita Moore.

Lana Turner stars in one of her most famous roles as struggling young white actress Lora Meredith and Juanita Moore plays her black maid Annie Johnson. Director Douglas Sirk’s classic 1959 tearjerker melodrama Imitation of Life is a beautiful and delicious colour remake of the 1934 Claudette Colbert weepie based on Fannie Hurst’s novel about two mothers, both struggling to raise their daughters.

Lora and Annie meet at Coney Island and soon they share a tiny apartment. Lora has a six-year-old daughter Susie (Terry Burnham) and sets up house with the homeless black widow Annie and her disturbed eight-year-old daughter Sarah Jane (Karin Dicker). Ten years later, Susie is played by Sandra Dee and Sarah Jane by Susan Kohner.

This is a wonderfully glamorous, tear-jerking soap opera, with an outstandingly plush and glitzy production by Ross Hunter, with gorgeous cinematography by Russell Metty and production designs by Alexander Golitzen and ­­­­Richard H Riedel. And there are ritzy performances too. Turner scores a personal triumph in one of best performances, while Moore and Susan Kohner as Sarah Jane, her light-skinned daughter who rejects her mother by pretending to be white, were nominated for Oscars.

Imitation of Life also stars John Gavin as Steve Archer, Dan O’Herlihy, Robert Alda, Mahalia Jackson, Troy Donahue and Jack Weston.

It is written by Eleanore Griffin and Allan Scott, who make changes to modernise the story and reflect the society of 1959, so the plot differs from the 1933 novel and the 1934 film Imitation of Life. The score is by Frank Skinner and Henry Mancini.

Also in the cast are John Vivyan, Lee Goodman, Ann Robinson, Sandra Gould, David Tomack, Joel Fluellen, Maida Severn, Than Wyenn, Peg Shirley, Bess Flowers, Leota Lorraine, Forbes Murray, Eddie Parker, Napoleon Whiting, George Barrows, Chuckie Bradley, Paul Bradley, Cicely Evans and Myrna Fahey.

This proved to be the Danish cult director’s last Hollywood movie.

It premiered in Chicago on 17 March 1959, was released in Angeles on March 20 and New York City on April 17, followed by its US general release by Universal on April 30.

It was sensationally successful, earning $6.4 million at the US and Canada box office against a budget of $1.2 million.

A new print of Imitation of Life was screened at the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival in Los Angeles on April 23, 2010, attended by Moore and Kohner.

On 16 December 2015, it was announced that Imitation of Life was among the 2015 list of films added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Others include Hal Ashby‘s Being There, John Frankenheimer‘s Seconds, The Shawshank Redemption, Ghostbusters, Top Gun and LA Confidential.

Juanita Moore (October 19, 1914 – January 1, 2014)

Juanita Moore, the Oscar and Golden Globe nominated star of Imitation of Life, died at the age of 99 on January 1 2014. She also acted in The Girl Can’t Help It (1956) as Hilda, Tammy Tell Me True (1961) as Della, Walk on the Wild Side (1962) as Mama, and Papa’s Delicate Condition (1963) as Ellie, and voiced Kenny’s Grandmother in The Kid (2000).

The cast

The cast are Lana Turner as Lora Meredith, John Gavin as Steve Archer, Sandra Dee as Susie Meredith (age 16), Susan Kohner as Sarah Jane Johnson (age 18), Robert Alda as Allen Loomis, Dan O’Herlihy as David Edwards, Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson, Karin Dicker as Sarah Jane Johnson (age 8), Terry Burnham as Susie Meredith (age 6), John Vivyan as young man, Lee Goodman as photographer, Ann Robinson as show girl, Troy Donahue as Frankie, Sandra Gould as receptionist, Mahalia Jackson as choir soloist, David Tomack as burly man, Joel Fluellen as minister, Jack Weston as stage manager, Billy House as fat man, Maida Severn as teacher, Than Wyenn as Romano, Peg Shirley as Fay.

Imitation of Life is directed by Douglas Sirk, runs 125 minutes, is made by Universal-International, is released by Universal Pictures, is written by Eleanore Griffin and Allan Scott, based on the 1933 novel by Fannie Hurst, is shot by Russell Metty, is produced by Ross Hunter, is scored by Frank Skinner and Henry Mancini, and is deigned by Alexander Golitzen and Richard H Riedel.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 3,249

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

It also stars Troy Donahue, who made his début in Man Afraid (1957) and in became a Warner Bros contract player with stardom in A Summer Place (1959).