Rating: 
Summary: one of the greatest tear jerkers of all time
Review: Imitation of Life was actually quite bold for its time. In a quiet way it made some stinging observations about race and class in America. Lana Turner's character, Julie, calls her black room mate her best friend in private but in public, Annie is clearly the maid. Miss Julie has a child but that child is really being raised by Annie. Annie has a child but that child hates her blackness so much that she abandons her own mother for being too dark skinned to pass for anything else.
Everything that happens in this movie leads up to one powerful scene that still makes me cry to this day. It's Annie's furneral. Unlike Miss Julie, Annie REALLY saved her money and it's a funeral fit for a queen. Mahalia Jackson is singing Troubles of the World and every black person from what looks like the whole of New York is in attendence along with Lana Turner and Sandra Dee who ride in the family(!) car behind the hearse. Suddenly Sarah Jane, Annie's daughter appears crying for her mama--in public. She's admited before all of NYC that she's black and she loves her black mother but it's too late. Forget the sub plot of the love triangle with Turner and Dee. This movie is all about Annie and Sarah Jane and it's all about race.
Rating:
Summary: Sirk at his Best
Review: Douglas Sirk, has been building up renewed interest from critics, hollywood, and audiences alike. The new movie "Far From Heaven" is based on Sirk's 1950s melodrama "All That Heaven Allows." This 1959 remake is a melodrama about the melodrama genre from the outside.
The cinematography in this film is spectacular to say the least. The movie has so many layers in each frame that I almost swore I was watching this film in 3-D. Sirk directs this film in such a way that we question everything that happens in the film that's supposed to be good for the characters. It has a deep look into the relationships between mother/daughter, black/white, & woman and her role in a male dominated society. You can love this film for its surface, which is aesthetically pleasing as it is intense in its underlying discourse on American Society. The happy endings aren't so happy, the sad endings aren't quite that sad. This movie will grab you on so many levels that its hard to separate the deeply embedded social critiques with the incredible surface appearance of the film. Technicolor at its best.If want to see what all the renewed buzz is about, then check out Sirk at his finest.
Rating:
Summary: Ultra-Sentimental 2nd Treatment of "Aunt Jemima Story"
Review: "Imitation of Life" is the bitter sweet story of a black maid struggling with her light skin daughter who wanted to pass as white. The story begins in post WWII NYC when Lana Turner (in the role of a struggling actress) hires the maid to work for and live with Turner and her then 7 year old daughter (same age as the maid's little girl). Times are tough at first, but the 4-some gets on fine. Only little Sarah Jane (the maid's daughter) has constant trouble accepting her color. The story spans about 15 years and shows various instances where the loving black maid is humiliated by her daughter who in the end disowns her mother. The ending is the ultimate heartbreaker; the film deserves 5 stars for that alone! This is the 2nd Hollywood treatment of "The Aunt Jemima Story". The first version (1934) with Claudette Colbert has better acting, but is not quite as sentimental as the Technicolor Lana Turner film. The latter also has a memorable title song by Earl Grant (who usually plays the organ in his recordings, but here he sings). I could watch this movie anytime, for no reason at all...it's the best in its class! This film is the ultimate in Hollywood tear-jerkers, and one of my favorite movies ever. Lana Turner was not exactly "Oscar-material", but neither was Marilyn Monroe--still they both captured an audience with their presence like few other actresses ever did. Nothing but pure "Hollywood Candy" here! ...
Rating: 
Summary: watch it for the funeral
Review: Essentially the film is a perfect instance of an interesting, even compelling, plotline about racial tensions that I find very hard to stayed focused on and moved by. The embarrassingly clunky dialogue and some grotesquely over-the-top performances (especially Lana Turner's) prove too distracting for me to get past. But the film has one authenic, overpoweringly beautiful element: Mahalia Jackson, in the funeral scene very near the end of the movie, singing "Troubles of the World." Jackson is in magnificent voice and means every word of "Troubles." Finally someone makes something believeable of the material she's been given. Unfortunately, it comes too late to redeem what's come before it. But watch the film anyway--for the story and for Jackson's glory. Like me, you can always fast forward through the cheesy bits and get to the funeral where, ironically, via a few minutes of supreme vocalism about the pain and consolations of death, the imitation of life this picture is suddenly gets real.
Rating:
Summary: Tacky Remake
Review: This film annoys me: The original is about 2 women who work together as a team to try to better themselves, but they are thrown into various "roles" by society. In the remake, Lana Turner is supposed to be this struggling mother, but from the very first scene you see her as the glamorous movie star that she was - and when she befriends Annie, the black women who is also struggling - she immidiately puts her in the back room off the kitchen and keeps her there for the rest of the movie. While the original had much to say about race relations, this one is basically a vehicle for Lana Turner and Sandra Dee to strut around in designer gowns. There is even a totally stupid sub-plot where Lana Turner (mother) and Sandra Dee (daugher) are in love with the same man !! It gets worse, near the end Sandra Dee is getting ready to graduate from her all-white private school. But where is Sara Jane, Annies light skinned daughter? Presumably at the public school, but this is never even mentioned, and no one sees anything wrong here. The whole movie is about Lana Turner becoming a famous broadway actress and having glamorous parties while Annie waits on her hand and foot, even giving her foot massages. When the movie does finally try to get serious and make a point, it falls flat on it's face because they've spent so little time developing any real story or character developement. It is too bad, because the performance by EVERYONE (with the exception of Lana Turner, who gives overacting a whole new meaning) are deep and good, and could have been so much better if only the writers had bothered to give them a REAL story. It is worth watching I suppose, but if you're like me, it'll just make you mad because you'll realize how good this film COULD have been with a bit more effort and nerve.
Rating:
Summary: Imitation Of Life
Review: Great Drama movie! This movie is my favorite. I have both versions(BW/Color)on VHS and have watched both so many times that I've lost count. I would love to see a current re-make of this movie, either on film or even a stage play. I can't wait for when this movie is available on DVD!
Rating:
Summary: Stylish soaper
Review: This movie is so much fun to watch; add popcorn and a warm fire on a winter afternoon and you've got it made. Lana Turner plays a poor, single mother who struggles to put food on the table. (Her daughter is the ever-spunky Sandra Dee.) Juanita Moore plays Lana's housekeeper and friend who lives with her. As the years pass, Lana becomes the toast of Broadway, and falls in love with John Gavin. Juanita's daughter is ashamed of being black and especially embarrased about her mother, which causes a lot of pain for both of them. And Sandra Dee has eyes only for Mom's boyfriend. This is high drama or high camp; it doesn't matter which. It's just fun to watch and root for both mothers and wish you looked as good as Lana Turner!
Rating:
Summary: It's a real tear-jerker!!
Review: Lana Turner and Juanita Moore give powerful performances in the roles they played. Two single mothers, one an starving actress turn successful. And another a housekeeper with a heart of gold who are best friends. And the daughters played by Sandra Dee and Susan Kohner. One who wants love and attention. And the other who tries to 'pass'for white. Susan (Sarah Jane)who played role so good, I just want to slap her for disrespecting her mother,Juanita(Annie). and hiding her heritage.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful and Appreciative on How To Love
Review: I was only around 8 when I watched this movie and it bought tears to my eyes then. It makes me think about all the times I disrespected my mom and how it made her feel. And everytime i watch it I end up apologizing to her for what I've done and thanking her cause i dont want her to die and not know that i truly did love and care for her. I think everyone should watch this movie and gain understanding from it, cause it is more than a suspense or drama, it is a lesson that everyone can learn from. I pick this movie as my all times favorite and I haven't seen a movie yet to compare with the compassion that the actors and director has put into it. And I'll like to thank the person that wrote the book and made the movie cause they have helped me with my relationship with my mom several times.
Rating:
Summary: Truly sad but very enlightening
Review: I seen this movie years ago as a child. I was basically forced to watch it because it was my sisters time for the TV and they would not give it up for me to watch cartoons. But I'm glad I sat there and watched. It's the only movie that made me cry (and I don't mean getting teary eyed). As I often think of it in these modern days and times, to have someone view it now, who has never seen it before, would really test their level of compassion and sensitivity on a spiritual and humane sense of being. On a personal note of how we sometimes take for granted or disregard the people who loves us the most, and unconditionally at that, from that point on after the first viewing I I learned to accept who I am and blame no one for my shortcomings in life, especially the people I hold near and dear to my heart. This movie made me aware at an early age of how sometimes societal standards can influence and pervert your feelings of personal self and family values. I'm surprised that it was not released on DVD sooner.
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