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Imitation of Life
Directed by
Douglas Sirk
Not Rated
1959
2h 5m
Drama
,
Romance
7.8
82%
91%
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An aspiring white actress takes in an African American widow whose mixed-race daughter is desperate to be seen as white.
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Where to Watch Imitation of Life
Amazon Video
Rent $3.99
Buy $14.99
Apple TV
Rent $3.99
Buy $4.99
Fandango At Home
Rent $3.99
Buy $14.99
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Cast of Imitation of Life
Lana Turner
Lora Meredith
John Gavin
Steve Archer
Juanita Moore
Annie Johnson
Sandra Dee
Susie (16)
Susan Kohner
Sarah Jane (18)
Robert Alda
Allen Loomis
Dan O'Herlihy
David Edwards
Karin Dicker
Sarah Jane (8)
Terry Burnham
Susie (6)
John Vivyan
Young man
Lee Goodman
Photographer
Ann Robinson
Showgirl
Troy Donahue
Frankie
Sandra Gould
Receptionist
David Tomack
Mr. McKenney
Joel Fluellen
Minister
Jack Weston
Stage manager
Billy House
Fat Man on Beach
Maida Severn
Teacher
Than Wyenn
Romano
Peg Shirley
Fay
Mahalia Jackson
Choir Soloist
Bess Flowers
Geraldine Moore (uncredited)
Frank Baker
Party Guest
Alex Ball
Audience Member
George Barrows
Furniture Mover
Chet Brandenburg
Man at Coney Island
Teddy Buckner
Marching Band Member
George Calliga
Security
Steve Carruthers
Actor at Audition
Richard Collier
McKinney
Paul Cristo
Show Spectator
Joe Darensbourg
Marching Band Member
Robert Darin
Waiter
Mike De Lay
Marching Band Member
Elinor Donahue
Lora's Friend
Adolf Eichmann
Himself (Archive Footage)
Cicely Evans
Louis Morton
Myrna Fahey
Iris Dawn
George Ford
Show Spectator (uncredited)
Tedd Hadfield
Cop
Lynne Hunter
Teacher
Nelson Leigh
Doctor
Paul Levitt
Waiter
John McNamara
Doctor
Joseph Mell
Watchman
Eddie Parker
Cop at Funeral
Waclaw Rekwart
Restaurant Patron
Cosmo Sardo
Audience Member
Jeffrey Sayre
Audience Member
Cap Somers
Truck Driver
Ted Thorpe
Dog Owner
Napoleon Whiting
Kenneth, Lora's Butler
Imitation of Life Ratings & Reviews
ColeSmithey.com
Cole Smithey
[VIDEO] Set in postwar New York, "Imitation of Life" is a wonderfully deceptive film.
New York Times
Bosley Crowther
This modernized remake of Miss Hurst's frankly lachrymose tale is much the same as its soggy predecessor. It is the most shameless tear-jerker in a couple of years.
Slant Magazine
Ed Gonzalez
Sirk immediately and deliberately acknowledges the film's metaphoric, almost pathological obsession with surfaces.
Video-Reviewmaster.com
Steve Crum
Glossy soaper ahead of its racially themed time.
Miami Herald
George Bourke
This edition of Imitation of Life should do as much for Miss Kohner as did the original movie for Miss Colbert in 1934.
The New Yorker
Richard Brody
Sirk unleashed a melodramatic torrent of rage at the corrupt core of American life-the unholy trinity of racism, commercialism, and puritanism.
Village Voice
Charles Taylor
The toughest-minded, most irresolvable movie ever made about race in this country.
Variety
Variety Staff
While this device lends more scope, it also results in the overdone busy actress/neglected daughter conflict.
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
The film is a biting critique of American race relations in the Fifties and a complex study in contrasts and paradoxes.
Chicago Reader
Dave Kehr
Douglas Sirk's 1959 film was the biggest grosser in Universal's history until the release of Airport, yet it's also one of the most intellectually demanding films ever made in Hollywood.
California Eagle
Chazz Crawford
This type of film fare may have been entertaining a quarter of a century ago. but the re-hash in fancy dress is just a lot of tripe.
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Rob Nelson
What [the characters] need most from their maker is something he couldn't have given them at the time: the 1960s.
Filmspotting
Adam Kempenaar
Lana Turner is great at embodying all of these conflicting parts of [Lora]... It helps when Sirk and his DP Russell Metty know how to light her and use lighting and composition to accentuate her performance.
LarsenOnFilm
Josh Larsen
Melodrama with lasting, emotional heft...
Spectrum Culture
Jake Cole
Maximizes Old Hollywood glamor to reveal the gangrenous rot just below the surface of America's postwar prosperity, a reminder that the nation's newfound self-image was erected on hate and denial that threatens to swallow everything in a sinkhole.
TV Guide
You'll be horrified at how this hokum manipulates you, but the best strategy is to just surrender and enjoy it.
TIME Magazine
Imitation of Life is still a potent onion. When passed before the moviegoer's eyes, it may force theater owners to install aisle scuppers to drain off the tears.
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