Product Description

Imitation of Life (1934)
In this Academy Award-nominated Best Picture, Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers are superb as two women with young daughters who build a fortune together. But success doesn't save them from sorrow with the passing years.

Delilah's light-skinned teenager rejects her mother and her race, while Bea must choose between the man she loves and the daughter who loves him, too. Now all of them will pay the price of love in this spellbinding classic.

Imitation of Life (1959)
Lana Turner heads the outstanding cast with Juanita Moore in the second screen version of this emotionally-charged story about two widows and their troubled daughters.

Lora's search for success causes her to neglect her daughter, while Annie's daughter rejects her culture by trying to pass for white. As the years pass, each of the four women realizes that she has been living out an emotionally fruitless existence.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10458 in DVD
• Brand: Universal Studios
• Released on: 2004-02-10
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 236 minutes

Amazon.com
Imitation of Life (1959)
The last film in Hollywood of director Douglas Sirk (Written on the Wind), the 1959 Imitation of Life--an adaptation of Fannie Hurst's novel--is an endlessly fascinating film that speaks volumes about the American journey toward materialism and the racial tensions that are inseparable from it. Lana Turner plays a white single mother and aspiring actress who takes in a black housekeeper (Juanita Moore) and her daughter (played by an adolescent Susan Kohner), the latter so light-skinned she passes for white. As the years pass and success mounts for Turner, Moore also becomes more comfortable but her status as a domestic never changes. Meanwhile, Kohner's character, chafing against social constraints, rebels at every opportunity and throws a wrench into the perfect order Sirk chillingly captures through the precise, architectural design of his images. On one hand a '50s weepie and on the other a daring allegory, Imitation of Life is an unusual masterpiece. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

The original is better then the remake
Finally both of these movies are released together. Most people do not even know the 1934 version exists. In my opinion the 34 version is the better of the two. Even though both are really over the top, at least the first version portrays the black and the white woman more as equals. The remake actually is more racist and condesending. The black woman in the original whose name is Delilah is a business woman not a maid. She is treated like a real person. Claudette Colbert who portrays the the white woman treats Delilah as a partner, her friends treat her equally. They actually try to talk to Delilah about her daughter and try to help her as a friend would not as a person who is pitied as in the remake. "Poor Annie" as Sandra Dee's character mentions. PLUS I find it insulting that in 1959 Hollywood could not find one black actress to play the part of the daughter, but way back in 1934 they did. Ferdi Washington. Delilah's job was not to take care of the white woman and her daughter. But in the 1959 version that was Annie's job. Also I like the story of the independent woman that the first version told. It is very strange how Hollywood has regressed. Because most movies would never be about a black and white middle aged single working women with almost grown daughters. The movie today would be more about the daughters then the mothers. Don't get me wrong the remake I enjoyed but more as a camp over the top melodrama and I do like the actress's in the roles. But the 1934 version was a better movie. The fact the the daughter tried to pass as white back in the 30's is more understandable then someone who would try to pass in the later version. I feel that is more out of self hatred and some bad parenting. But in 1934 even though it was not a right thing to do it might have been understandable given the times. In any case in both versions the daughters confusion was never dealt with. In the original it was mentioned that the father was high toned..a light skinned black person. I think in the remake I had the impression the father was white or "almost white". Maybe I should read the book. I took one star from these 2 movies bcause of the 1959 version. One last thing I love the fact that in the original version at the funeral in Harlem the film makers had the insight to include Marcus Garvey followers in the scene. They were a very big group in Harlem during the 30's and 40's. Marcus Garvey for people who do not know was a Jamaican who believed in black people being self sufficient and he had a back to Africa movement. I think the film makers of the original should be commended for putting in that little slice of Harlem's history in the movie.

Great To Have Both Versions
Both versions of the Fannie Hurst book were filmed before the
Civil Rights and Black Power Movements so must be viewed with
that in mind.must have been controversial. The 1934 version is
quite dated now but was probably controversial at the time. Louise Beavers is magnificent as
the mother whose heart is broken by her light-skinned daughter who
wants to pass in the white world. Had times been different, she
might have beaten Halle to the Oscar by 70 years instead of being
relegated to 5th billing. Fredi Washington as her daughter is also escellent.
The 1959 version features a magnificent performance by Juanita Moore who received
an Oscar nomination for her work. This is more than a glitzy
Lana Turner weeper. Douglas Sirk use of color is fantastic and
even if the movie is hokey you can't stop watching. This double
bill is great for collectors who wish to have both versions.

Great Double Feature. Great Value. Disappointing Transfers
I was very excited to hear about the release of the two versions of Imitation Of Life together on the same DVD. I had never seen the 1934 version and found it to be an equally enjoyable film as the 1959 one, although quite different (the main character is an entrepreneur versus an actress in the '59 version). The transfer for the 1934 version is decent considering it's age. I was more disappointed with the 1959 one. Granted, it was filmed in Eastman Color so one could not expect Technicolor brilliance, but the transfer is grainy and faded. To make matters worse, the layer change occurs at the worst possible place, as someone is running down the stairs (as with all DVD's, there is a slight pause at that time). This is very jarring; what was the engineer thinking? Layer changes ideally should be placed between a fade-out and a fade-in of scenes. Considering the price and the content, I would reccomend this DVD if you can ignore it's flaws.