Rating: 
Summary: FIVE HANKY TEARJERKER....
Review: Based upon the best selling, Fannie Hurst novel of the same name, this 1959 remake of the 1934 film starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Deavers is a terrific, well acted, sentimental melodrama that should be viewed with a caveat. While not so politically incorrect as to be nearly astounding, as was the 1934 version, it still presents a stereotypic view of blacks reflective of the time in which this movie was filmed. It is certainly is a view that is jarring in these more enlightened times, as it reflects the nature of the racism that was inherent in our society at that time. Remember, this film was made before the civil rights movement took root. Notwithstanding this, it is still a remarkable film that will hold the viewer in its thrall.Lana Turner plays the role of Lora Meredith, a struggling widow and aspiring actress with a young daughter named Susie. Juanita Moore plays the part of Annie Johnson, also a struggling widow. Together they join forces, enabling Lora to pursue her dreams and Annie to provide a home for her own young daughter, Sarah Jane. Lora follows her dreams of fame and fortune, with Annie, as Lora's housekeeper, providing the stability of a regular home life for Susie and Sarah Jane. Before you know it, Lora becomes a star on Broadway. Along the way, she is romanced by Steve (John Gavin), who met Lora when she was still living in a cold water flat and he was a promising artist with dreams of his own. While climbing the rungs of the ladder of success, Lora is propositioned by her agent, Allen Loomis (Robert Alda), who, charmed by her basic decency and refusal to go the casting couch route, takes her on as a client, anyway. She also is romanced by a playwright, David Edwards (Dan O'Herlihy), with whom she forges a successful professional collaboration. Meanwhile, Annie still keeps the hearth fire burning at home, always the perennial "mammy", as Susie (Sandra Dee) and Sarah Jane (Susan Koehner) grow up to be two very attractive young ladies. Moreover, while Lora treats Annie with affection, love, and care, there is not a level playing field between them. Lora and Susie always address Annie by her first name. Yet, Annie always addresses them as Miz Lora and Miz Susie. Moreover, while Annie knows everything about Lora's personal life, Lora knows nothing about Annie's, as she has never even asked about it, something Annie points out to Lora. The racial divide is there for all to see. Meanwhile, the years have passed and Annie's light skinned daughter, clearly knows the score. Sarah Jane certainly has no intention of being anyone's "mammy" and wants to pass for white, as she does not wish to be relegated to second class citizenry. She does not try to do this because she wants to be white, but rather, she wants the advantages associated with being white in that time. Hers is not a decision based upon race self-hate, but upon a realistic assessment of how she could be all she could be. Still, she breaks Annie's heart by doing this, and when Annie dies, a part of Sarah Jane dies with her. Annie's funeral is also a focal cinematic moment due to the spiritual sung by the magnificent Mahalia Jackson. The film updates the original in a number of ways in order to give the film a more contemporary look. The part of Annie (Delilah in the 1934 version) now calls for less of a stereotypic "mammy" look. Annie is more of an black Betty Crocker, finer featured, trim, and a bit stylish. Yet, the very nature of the role is still stereotypic in that Annie is still portrayed as the long suffering, self-sacrificing, religious, black servant who wants nothing more than to make life easier for her white mistress. Annie may have shed the "mammy" look, but she is still portrayed as a "mammy" at heart. Moreover, Lora's relationship with Annie in this 1959 remake is stuck in time, as it is still the same as Bea's relationship with Delilah in the 1934 version. Interestingly enough, in this remake Susan Koehner, a white actress, was cast in the role of the light skinned Sarah Jane (Peola in the 1934 version), while bi-racial Fredi Washington played the role of the light skinned Peola in the 1934 version. Although the casting of a white woman for the role of a light skinned black woman may be puzzling to those of us in the twenty first century, I presume that this was done in order to be on the safe side. In the 1934 original, Peola did not have a white boyfriend, while in this remake Sarah Jane has an on screen white boyfriend (Troy Donahue). Although she does not have any love scenes with him, there is still the underlying concept of a black woman having a white boyfriend, and they do have a scene together, though it can hardly be called a love scene. I surmise that the studio chose to play it safe for this reason, casting a white actress in the part rather than a light skinned black one, so as to avoid actual controversy in certain parts of the country. This is, however, pure conjecture on my part. All in all, this is a mesmerizing film, both cinematically and historically, as it is a reflection of another time in which racial conflict was viewed in such a paternalistic way. Lana Turner, Juanita Moore, and Susan Koehner all give moving, compelling performances, notwithstanding the political incorrectness of the script. Sandra Dee sweetly handles the role of Susie with wide-eyed innocence. John Gavin, Robert Alda, and Dan O'Herlihy all give deft supporting performances as the men in Lora's life. Juanita Moore and Susan Koehner each deservedly won an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. This anachronistic, well directed, sentimental tearjerker is a definite must see by those who enjoy first rate melodramas.
Rating: 
Summary: ...Hers is a very REAL problem!
Review: Douglas Sirk's 1959 remake of "Imitation of Life" has become one of the screen's legendary tear-jerkers. The story, from Fannie Hurst's novel, was previously filmed in 1934, starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers. In the 1934 version, the two women (one white, one black) were business partners. In the 1959 version, the black woman is the white woman's maid. So much for racial advancement! However, the 1959 version is one of my guilty pleasures. The film is so OBVIOUSLY "Hollywood" and "Plastic" that I would have to agree with John Epperson, aka "Lypsinka", the hilariously performance artist, that Douglas Sirk was putting his own spin on "The Hollywood Movie". Lana Turner's hair is platinum blonde. Her wardrobe is predominantly white and beige. Her house is decorated in white-on-white. Her daughter, played by the very white Sandra Dee, is dressed in fluffy pastels. No wonder poor Sara Jane Johnson was nearly driven mad, to be surrounded by all this in-your-face whiteness. To me, as I'm sure as to many others, that the relationship between Sara Jane and her mother, the grin-and-bear-it Annie, is the core of this film. Yes, African-Americans did NOT have an easy time in a caucasian-dominated society. Inter-relations between whites and blacks was taboo, not to mention marriage. Upward mobility was not impossible, but difficult. I always felt that Lana Turner's character, Lora Meredith, didn't have too many "problems". I always felt that her biggest problem was deciding what Jean Louis gown to wear. However, the scenes between Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner are, to me, very heart-wrenching. They are an excellent contrast to all of Lana Turner's scenes, which always make me howl. The lady was a stunner. Her acting, if you want to call it that, left something to be desired. But she was a "movie star" in every sense of the word. Even her rather messed-up, scandalous personal life added a deranged tinge of glamour to her, a sort of wayward Barbie doll. So, get out a big box of Kleenex, make some cocktails, put on your chiffon dress, and enjoy "Imitation of Life"-accept no imitations!
Rating:
Summary: Douglas Sirk's Magical Unrealism: The Lost Art of Melodrama
Review: On the surface, John Stahl's 1934 version of IMITATION OF LIFE and Douglas Sirk's later adaptation in 1959 appear quite similar. Based on the novel by Fannie Hurst (originally published in 1933), each of the two renditions renders the story of a young woman divided between two worlds and her desperate search for her true identity. While Stahl's rather understated approach accomplishes the translation of Hurst's penetrating tale onto the screen with commendable proficiency, it is Sirk who improves upon it, amplifying the story into a masterful and illuminating social drama by exercising the devices of the melodrama to underscore and mine the significant issues of racial prejudice, fumbled motherhood, and materialism in American society in the 1950s. Putting the "direct" in director, Sirk triumphs with his unabashedly frank portrayal of racial hatred in his adaptation. He also uses color to great and conspicuous advantage to identify the immense social divide between blacks and white in the film. In deep contrast to the white hearse carrying Annie's body, the very white-appearing "family" of Lora, Susie, Steve, and Sarah Jane are relegated to follow from behind in a black limousine. The black versus white theme displays the opposing magnetic forces between which the biracial Sarah Jane finds herself caught. She is attracted to the white side of life but is naturally pulled toward the black side despite constant resistance. Ironically, only when she finally gives in to the latter's natural gravitational force is she positioned by default and virtually blended into the white domain, fundamentally due to the loss of her only perceptible black affiliation: her birth mother. (A fascinating point: This daughter's appearance at her mother's funeral is inspired by a similar scene in Stahl's version, but in fact the daughter in Hurst's novel doesn't return for the funeral; she has moved to Bolivia with a white man who has no clue about her black heritage). Sirk also succeeds at accentuating the momentous tug-of-war between a woman's desire to have a successful career and her domestic accountability in the context of the 1950s. Sarah Jane possesses an ambition to get more out of life than what her hereditary role has assigned her, which makes her a lot like the career-ambitious Lora. Likewise, Susie is just as submissive to the cards life has dealt her as Annie is. Lora becomes an unwitting role model for Sarah Jane, and Annie an equally unwitting surrogate mother for Susie. Like Lora's emotionally empty acting career, Sarah Jane's sham of a white existence fails to provide her with the love she so desperately needs, something she eventually recognizes as something she cannot truly "live" without. For Annie, life in this fleshly world is a mere imitation of the real life that awaits her in Heaven. The exorbitance of Annie's funeral testifies to the emotional price paid with the loss of such a benevolent human being. Because Sirk's production style is so excessively augmented, the messages concerning social issues that 1950s viewers would rather not face directly are discreetly concealed in a fashion that makes such propositions easier for them to swallow. Sirk's interiors are extremely over the top, and his exteriors are so fake one cannot help but know they are not real, providing the film with a sense of "magical unrealism." Only in this artificial sense of reality can viewers accept the contrived closure given to the social problems that embody the film's plot. By riveting viewers' attention to the glamorous lifestyle Lora attains through career ambition, Sirk zeroes in on the genuine desires of women of the 1950s, many of which are housewives or women who retreated from the workforce after WWII ended and their men returned home to resume their roles as the primary breadwinners. Having tasted the rewards of working outside the home, 1950s women dreamed of more than their contemporary home-based existence. Ultimately, Sirk points out that people in life are forced to make choices based on the situations in which they find themselves. All people are, in some way, like Sarah Jane, stuck in a position wanting or needing more out of life than what has been provided freely. To obtain what they yearn for means sacrificing part of their own needs or wants. No one, he asserts, can realistically have it all, no matter how much they try to overcome the partitions that found the structure of society. Humans make choices in life based on what is most important to them. Annie believes life wasn't much without the giving of love to the people around her. Like the message behind the theme song of Sirk's adaptation, Annie trusted in the notion that "every day would be gray and incomplete without the one you love." Lora seems to learn this truth about life near the end of the film, when she puts her career on hold so she can be with Steve and Susie on a full-time basis. (Interestingly, Hurst's novel ends with the white daughter falling in love with her mother's beau.) Sarah Jane, however, learns this lesson too late, never to recover the time she could have spent bonding with her now-deceased mother. Altogether, through his lavishly synthetic and ornate scenery, Sirk yields a high-pitched melody upon the dramatic canvas of life in his implosive acculturation of Hurst's tale of women struggling to find themselves in a complex world. In the end, he holds up his version of IMITATION OF LIFE as a mirror to his audience, showing them who they are, and perhaps more importantly, who they are not.
Rating:
Summary: SUPERB!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: I have seen this movie at least 7 times, trying not to cry at the ending. All 7 times I have failed and needed a box of tissues. The acting is superb!! It's a talent that's almost lost today..everything centered on sex and drugs...this movie is phenomenal WITHOUT using those 2 vices. It's a classic, and I strongly recommend this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Imitation of Life ( Germ241F @ SUNY Binghamton
Review: Douglas Sirk's 1959 remake of John Stahl's 1934 film, Imitation of Life, is a parody of the original. In a comical rendition, Imitation of Life, addresses intersections of race, social and economic class, and gender in the film, as well as existing stereotypes, through the use of Neo-Brechtian gestik acting which means over-the-top, melodramatic and campy acting that is quoting a character and his/her emotions and exaggerates the role of a character in a situation. Sirk deliberately wanted to use gestik acting and avoided method acting (acting out what your emotions would really be, if you were in a certain situation) because he didn't want audiences to think that this film was real and to be taken seriously.
Two single-parenting mothers, Annie and Lora meet on the beach of Coney Island, in search of Lora's daughter Suzie. When Lora and Suzie find out that Annie and her daughter Sara Jane are homeless, Lora decides to let them live in her apartment as long as Annie agrees to contribute some help around the house, and do the dirty work for Lora. Annie is depicted as a parody for blackness, just because she has typical attributes of any nanny. A loving, nurturing, understanding, and caring mother is the stereotypical mother that society adores which is played out by Annie. On the other hand Lora is a neglecting figure in the eyes of Suzie. Annie is more like the mother for Suzie, but not Sara Jane. Sara Jane refuses to admit that she a daughter to a black woman and passes as a white girl while in school. Sara Jane fires up the racial tension in this film because of her denial and mistreatment towards her mother.
Lora meets a man named Steve, who almost right away, proposes to her. She denies the proposal in an effort to pursue her dream of becoming a Hollywood actress. Steve tries to make her stay, by telling her that she doesn't have to work, and that he will bring home to money. This shows us how Steve along with the majority of society view women and their roles of life. A women's life should be to stay home, clean, take care of the kids, and put dinner on the table, which is the old fashion way that much of male Americans viewed women to perform in. Opposite roles of gender for the male figure in this film was shown through Steve, who has found a detective out of now where, who has found Sara Jane and her place of refuge from her mother. This situation renders Steve as if he were Superman, the one being able to fix any problem.
This campy imitation of life is viewed throughout most of the film, except for the scene of Annie's funeral, where Mahalia Jackson sings a gospel song. Eulogy of Annie is brought to her through the singing voice of Mahalia. This scene is supposed to be a serious one among the other witty scenes, because the character of Mahalia is the only realistic one in this film and is not to be criticized. Mahalia does not exemplify the overly dramatic acting.
Rating:
Summary: ...Hers is a very REAL problem!
Review: Douglas Sirk's 1959 remake of "Imitation of Life" has become one of the screen's legendary tear-jerkers. The story, from Fannie Hurst's novel, was previously filmed in 1934, starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers. In the 1934 version, the two women (one white, one black) were business partners. In the 1959 version, the black woman is the white woman's maid. So much for racial advancement! However, the 1959 version is one of my guilty pleasures. The film is so OBVIOUSLY "Hollywood" and "Plastic" that I would have to agree with John Epperson, aka "Lypsinka", the hilariously performance artist, that Douglas Sirk was putting his own spin on "The Hollywood Movie". Lana Turner's hair is platinum blonde. Her wardrobe is predominantly white and beige. Her house is decorated in white-on-white. Her daughter, played by the very white Sandra Dee, is dressed in fluffy pastels. No wonder poor Sara Jane Johnson was nearly driven mad, to be surrounded by all this in-your-face whiteness. To me, as I'm sure as to many others, that the relationship between Sara Jane and her mother, the grin-and-bear-it Annie, is the core of this film. Yes, African-Americans did NOT have an easy time in a caucasian-dominated society. Inter-relations between whites and blacks was taboo, not to mention marriage. Upward mobility was not impossible, but difficult. I always felt that Lana Turner's character, Lora Meredith, didn't have too many "problems". I always felt that her biggest problem was deciding what Jean Louis gown to wear. However, the scenes between Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner are, to me, very heart-wrenching. They are an excellent contrast to all of Lana Turner's scenes, which always make me howl. The lady was a stunner. Her acting, if you want to call it that, left something to be desired. But she was a "movie star" in every sense of the word. Even her rather messed-up, scandalous personal life added a deranged tinge of glamour to her, a sort of wayward Barbie doll. So, get out a big box of Kleenex, make some cocktails, put on your chiffon dress, and enjoy "Imitation of Life"-accept no imitations!
Rating:
Summary: Lana Turner and Juanita Moore
Review: The struggles of two mothers with very different problems are detailed in this glossy but overly sentimental film. Lora Meredith and Annie Johnson establish a friendship purely by accident but they forge a bond that brings them together for life. Lora eventually finds stardom on the stage after many setbacks and disappointments but Annie has the impossible task of trying to make her mulatto daughter accept her racial heritage. Sarah Jane's shame at having a black mother is the main theme of the film while Lora's ups and downs on Broadway and eventual career success provide a counterpoint to the troubling themes of self-loathing and racial intolerance. Sarah Jane's relationship with Lora's daughter Susie is by turns sisterly and contentious because of Sarah Jane's jealousy and resentment towards Susie because she is white. Another sub-plot is Lora's relationship with Steve Archer, which also spans many years. Their romance always takes a back seat to Lora's stage career ambitions, which frustrates her handsome suitor immensely. Steve eventually becomes the object of Susie's affections as she grows into womanhood and her obsession with Steve causes problems later on. The film's famous last reel is touching and has the added effect of having Mahalia Jackson sing spirituals for the beloved Annie. Lana Turner is very beautiful and glamorous in this film and was never lovelier, but Juanita Moore's tortured Annie and Susan Kohner's ungrateful, mean-spirited Sarah Jane are the reasons for which this film is remembered.
Rating:
Summary: Cultural Contribution of Immitation of Life
Review: Imitation of Life, a 1959 Film by director Douglas Sirk, is a commentary on the relationship between African Americans and Caucasians, as well as the role of women in society.
Lana Turner is a single white mother of Susie who is attempting to establish herself as an actress and agrees to house Annie, a single black mother, and her daughter Sarah Jane.
The intersection of race, class and gender are deceptively obvious in the film. Lana, white and Annie, black serve as focal characters in Sirk's social commentary. The white female Lana betrays her role as mother by acquiring a career, and although this outwardly seems progressive, her career is as an actress. This commodifies Lana, making her the object of vision for consumption. Thus Lana remains in a role acceptable to the patriarchal society. Annie, the black female, is created to be the stereotypical motherly homemaker. Not only does she accede to the racism that keeps her in an "appropriate" role (subversive to Lana as her maid), she encourages her daughter Sarah Jane, who is able to "pass" for white, to embrace her African heritage and all of the racism she will experience for it. This encourages the audience to sympathize with Annie, who has to deal with a rebellious daughter, and further conforms to the demands of white patriarchy by portraying the person attempting to break free from the chains that limit her as the villian. Annie, like Lana is acceptable to the patriarchy because she stays at home and cares for the house and children. Lana eventually becomes a rich, successful actress and while her daughter Susie is applying to colleges, Annie's daughter Sarah Jane is a dancer in a burlesque show. This has the apparent underlying message that only whites can overcome low-class situations and blacks are doomed to lower-class stature and were it not popularly known that Sirk's film is a parody, one might come to the conclusion that Sirk was aiding and abetting the racist undertones of American culture. However, over-the-top acting aides in shocking a critical analysis out of the viewer. Steve, the white male courting Lana, is the voice of "reason" in the movie and thus the patriarchy's representative. Whenever a problem arises, Steve is there to solve it, whether or not the means are plausible or realistic. Although Lana is out of the home and making a living, she needs Steve for support, as do the other females in the film. In the end of the film, after the reunion of Sarah Jane with Lana and Susie, Steve is there to look upon the scene and approve of it.
These features of the film are meant to allow the viewer to realize and expose the underlying messages that they consume on film and television daily.
Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: This movie starts off with a woman named Lora Meredith (Lana Turner), a struggling
widow and aspiring actress with a young daughter named Susie. Buy chance she meets
Annie Johnson (Juanita Moore), also a struggling widow and her daughter Sarah Jane.
Lora employs Annie as a 'housekeeper" which provides Lora enough time to pursue her
dreams and this gives Annie and Sarah Jane a more permeant home. . Lora goes out and
follows her dreams while Annie, takes care of the home and provides a regular home
life for Susie and Sarah Jane. After some time, Lora becomes a star on Broadway. Along the way, she acquires a love
interest in a man named Steve (John Gavin), who met Lora earlier in the movie and he
was an aspirering artist with dreams of his own. Once Lora has enough money coming
in, Annie, Susie, and Sarah Jane all move to a large house in the country. Annie still continues to take care of Susie (Sandra Dee) and Sarah Jane (Susan
Koehner) as they grow up into young women. Throughout the movie, you begin to see
the different relationships that develop between the two mother and two daughters.
Sarah Jane dislikes her mother and constantly tries to act like she is white (due to
the fact that she is very light skinned). However, she looks up to Lora because she
is a successful white woman, which is what Sarah Jane wants to be. Susie on the
other hand, drifts further and further from her mother, because Lora is always away
shooting a movie or on tour with a play. She looks up to Annie because Annie was
around the house more than Susie's mother was. This was an excellent film which
showed some of the hardships that were encountered by African-American, mothers and
daughters, and people who were chasing a dream. This film somewhat critiques existing stereotypes. Earlier in the movie, Steve
proposed to Lora. She refused, breaking the stereotype that woman are dependent on
men. However, at the end, when the three women are in the funeral car, even though
the women are fine, a shot-reverse-shot is used to show Steve legitimizes the fact
that the women are ok. The film also represents intersections of race, social &
economic class, and gender. For example, in the household there were two lower class
African-American women and two lower-middle class Caucasian women, but they were all
viewed as equals by each other, with the exception of Sarah-Jane (she viewed her
mother as subservient to Lora). Steve (a Caucasian, middle-class male) was also
sometimes a member of the house, and he also saw everyone as equals.
Rating:
Summary: A very unique movie
Review: Douglas Sirk's 1959 remake of John Stahl's 1934 "Imitation of Life" uses a parody-type format to show the intersections of race, social & economic class, and gender in thoughtful way. What I liked about this movie was the fact that "over the top" acting was used. This basically made the film seem more "corny" and "fake" which allows us as viewers to truly sit back and analyze the main themes in this movie. This is known as a "Verfremdunseffekt". It is a tool used in movies to help make certain parts more distinct, which helps us view a film in a different way then we are generally used to viewing a film. This difference in viewing makes us think more about what is actually is going on and less on what is being done throughout the movie.
Lora, the main character in the movie is a beautiful, blond woman who is starving to be famous on the stage. At the beginning of the film we learn that Lara hasn't worked in quite sometime and is having trouble supporting her daughter, Susie, and herself. What I found ironic was the fact that although she doesn't have much money she was dressed as though she did. The opening scene shows her wearing a beautiful summer dress on the beach. The next scene shows Lora at her house wearing yet another beautiful dress. How can she afford to look like a million dollars if she has no money? I believe this shows that she feels as though she is always being watched and it is very important for her to look good at all times even if she seemingly can't afford it. This presents the bases with 20th century philosopher, Foucault's notion of the Panopticon. Pan meaning "all" and opticon meaning "seeing." She feels as though she has to look "ideal" because people are watching. In the beach scene however, a man named Steve is taking pictures of her while she doesn't realize it. Steve then tells Lora how beautiful she is and that his camera "could have a love affair with her." Yes, it does sound corny, but it does show the irony that Lora was being watched when she didn't know it much like the panopticon theory states. This is obviously mocking many things during the 1930's-1950's. Lora is dressed in a beautiful gown even when she's at home. Like this actually happens in real life? It reminded me of the 1950's show "Leave it to Beaver." In "Leave it to Beaver" the mother, June, is a stay at home mother who does all the housework and grocery shopping. The funny thing is she's always dressed in high heals, a nice dress, and an expensive pearl necklace while she's doing such things as vacuuming the floor. This looks just plain ridicules. She looks likes she's about to go to the ball with prince-charming but in reality she's just doing house work. The idea that even when no one can see you, you should still look as though someone does see you is touched upon in "Imitation of Life".
"Imitation of Life" plays off of many intersections of race class and gender. As I had stated Lora the stereotypical beautiful woman, becomes the successful one in the story. While her maid whom she met on the beach, Annie, represents all the stereotypical 1950's things about a maid. She is black, southern, willing to do anything for Lora, and nice. The wonderful thing about the movie is, by using over acting they are mocking these stupid stereotypes. When Annie and her daughter Sarah Jane move in they are ironically given the backroom, barley big enough to fit two people. But Annie being the "obedient" one thinks it is marvelous. She seems as though she is happy to have anything. This intersection of races shows the effect that the Jim Crow laws of the time had on the way people thought of blacks and whites. Laws that legally made it so blacks had to sit in the back of the bus and drink from different fountains. The movie mocks these laws and shows how stupid they are.
Another interesting thing the movie did was show the intersection of genders. When Lora first meets Steve she is trying to start a career in the theater. When the two of them go out the next day Steve comes to pick Lora up and Lora has to break the date because she has just received a call asking her to come try out for a new play. Knowing that Steve is the "man" and that he refuses to have "his" girl outside the home, he says "no you can't go." Lora tells Steve how this is her big chance and she must go. Steve then uses the ale type and tries to take charge by saying "I'm not asking, I'm telling." This demonstrates that Steve is the "man" and that he needs to be the one to support Lora and her family, not the other way around. This scene in particular was one of my favorites for two reasons. The first one being the major use of over acting to make fun of the situation made it even more humorous. The second reason being the fact that Steve had only know Lora for a day and he was already trying to tell her what to do.
This movie did an excellent job of using over-acting to try to pick on certain 1940's aspects of race, gender, and stereotypes. This movie was very humorous and yet still made you think about what was going on. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who needs a good laugh and enjoys seeing a movie which allows us to critique such things and gender differences, racial differences, social differences, and the Jim Crow Law's of the time. Such a unique movie for the time!
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