Imitation of Life - The Criterion Collection

Melodrama master JOHN M. STAHL (Magnificent Obsession) brings his exquisite restraint and almost spiritually pure visual style to this devastating, enduringly relevant story of mothers and daughters. Imitation of Life explores the friendship between two struggling single mothers: one (It Happened One Night's CLAUDETTE COLBERT) a workingclass white woman who ascends to the top of the business world, the other (Beulah's LOUISE BEAVERS) her Black housekeeper, whose life is shattered by the rejection of her rebellious, white-passing daughter (One Mile from Heaven's FREDI WASHINGTON). It is this latter relationship - attuned to America's bitter racial realities and heartbreakingly enacted by trailblazing Black performers Beavers and Washington - that lends the film its transcendent emotional power. This first adaptation of Fannie Hurst's best-selling novel boldly confronts the complexities and contradictions of racial identity, economic exploitation, and the limits of the American dream

Special Features

Bonus Footage, Interviews: Miiam J. Petty (author); Imogen Sara Smith; (author), Essay by Miriam J. Petty, Trailers

Actors: Alan Hale, Wyndham Standing, Baby Jane, Ned Sparks, Louise Beavers, Claudette Colbert, Henry Armetta, Warren William, Fredi Washington, Juanita Quigley, Rochelle Hudson

Audio Languages: English

Duration: 110 minutes

Number of Discs: 1

Subtitle Languages: English

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