Rotten
While this device lends more scope, it also results in the overdone busy actress/neglected daughter conflict.
Variety Staff, Variety
Imitation of Life
Fannie Hurst's best selling novel of today's tormented generation!
1959 · 2h 5m · NOT RATED
Drama, Romance
Directed by
Douglas Sirk
Overview
In 1940s New York, a white widow who dreams of being on Broadway has a chance encounter with a black single mother, who becomes her maid.
Director and cast
- Douglas Sirk Director
- Lana Turner as Lora Meredith
- Juanita Moore as Annie Johnson
- John Gavin as Steve Archer
- Sandra Dee as Susie
- Susan Kohner as Sarah Jane, age 18
- Robert Alda as Allen Loomis
- Dan O'Herlihy as David Edwards
- Karin Dicker as Sarah Jane, age 8
- Terry Burnham as Susie, age 6
- John Vivyan as Young man
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
84%
Tomatometer
Rotten
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.
Bosley Crowther, New York Times
Fresh
Forget those who decry the '50s Hollywood melodrama; it is through the conventions of that hyper-emotional genre that Sirk is able to make such a devastatingly embittered and pessimistic movie.
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Fresh
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.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Fresh
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.
TIME Magazine
More films
The Good Shepherd (2006)
Drama · History · Thriller · R
Edward Wilson, the only witness to his father's suicide and member of the Skull and Bones Society while a student at Yale, is a morally upright young man who values honor and discretion, qualities that help him to be recruited for a career in the newly founded OSS. His dedication to his work does not come without a price though, leadin...
- Runtime
- 2h 47m
- Director
- Robert De Niro
- Cast
- Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin
IMDb
6.7
Rotten Tomatoes
56%
Metacritic
61
The Host (2006)
Drama · Horror · Science Fiction · R
A teenage girl is captured by a giant mutated squid-like creature that appears from Seoul's Han River after toxic waste was dumped in it, prompting her family into a frantic search for her.
- Runtime
- 2h
- Director
- Bong Joon Ho
- Cast
- Song Kang-ho, Byeon Hie-bong, Byun Hee-bong
IMDb
7.1
Rotten Tomatoes
93%
Metacritic
85
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Drama · Western · R
Outlaw Jesse James is rumored to be the 'fastest gun in the West'. An eager recruit into James' notorious gang, Robert Ford eventually grows jealous of the famed outlaw and, when Robert and his brother sense an opportunity to kill James, their murderous action elevates their target to near mythical status.
- Runtime
- 2h 40m
- Director
- Andrew Dominik
- Cast
- Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Mary-Louise Parker
IMDb
7.5
Rotten Tomatoes
76%
Metacritic
68
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Crime · Drama · Mystery · R
When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reason...
- Runtime
- 1h 53m
- Director
- Ben Affleck
- Cast
- Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman
IMDb
7.6
Rotten Tomatoes
94%
Metacritic
72
American Gangster (2007)
Crime · Drama · R
Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by Newark Detective Richie Roberts.
- Runtime
- 2h 37m
- Director
- Ridley Scott
- Cast
- Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Josh Brolin
IMDb
7.8
Rotten Tomatoes
81%
Metacritic
76
Comments
Talk about the film with other members