Imitation of Life

Rutgers Films in Print

by Lucy Fischer

Douglas Sirk (Claus Detler Sierck) was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1900. He made nine films before fleeing Nazi Germany, eventually coming to America. His best-known films, made during the 1950s—all of them melodramas—were Magnificent Obsession , All That Heaven Allows , The Tarnished Angels , Written on the Wind , and Imitation of Life (made in 1958, released in 1959). Because of the special stamp he put on his melodramas, Sirk's best works transcend the constraints of their genre. In them, he both exemplified and critiqued postwar, conservative, materialistic life and its false value systems. There is much in Sirk, particularly in Imitation of Life , that is of interest to us today. The time seems to be right for a new look at the film, its reception amidst scandal over the affairs of its star—Lana Turner—the relationships between its mothers and daughters, the tensions between its men and its women, the friendships between its black and white women, and the ambiguous, controversial approach of Sirk to his material. This volume includes the complete continuity script of the film, critical commentary and published reviews, interviews with the director, and a filmography and bibliography. It also includes an excellent introduction by Lucy Fischer.

Genres: Film

360 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1991

About the author

Lucy Fischer is a Distinguished Professor of English and Film Studies and directed the Film Studies Program at Pitt for three decades. Beyond teaching she has also had film curatorial experience at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City and The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. Her interests in film studies are wide ranging and include international cinema of both the silent and sound era as well as narrative and experimental film.

Her particular fields include cultural and feminist studies, film theory, film aesthetics, women and film, film and literature, and the relationships between film, consciousness and desire. Aside from publishing 9 books, her articles have appeared in many journals, including: Screen, Film History, Sight and Sound, Camera Obscura, Wide Angle, Cinema Journal, Journal of Film and Video, Film Criticism, Women and Performance, Frauen und Film, and Film Quarterly.

Her essays have been anthologized 30 times in volumes of film history, criticism, and theory. She has lectured internationally in Israel, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, Scotland, Great Britain, Portugal, and Australia and has taught abroad in Germany, Sweden, and on the Semester at Sea program of the University of Pittsburgh (which traveled around the world). She recently completed editing an issue of the Portuguese journal, Anglo-Saxonia, and her latest book, Cinema by Design: Art Nouveau, Modernism, and Film History.

Reviews

[Anthony McGill · Rating 5 out of 5]

--- WHAT IS LOVE WITHOUT THE GIVING? ...... WITHOUT LOVE YOU'RE ONLY LIVING ...... AN IMITATION, AN IMITATION OF LIFE ...... *

Douglas Sirk: "'Imitation of Life' is more than just a good title, it is a wonderful title. I would have made the picture just for the title, because it is all there."
"The mirror is the imitation of life. What is interesting about a mirror is that it does not show yourself as you are, it shows you your own opposite." (DS)

Douglas Sirk's final masterpiece is probably his most florid melodrama and maybe the best in
his glorious career at Universal during the 1950s.

An adaptation of Fannie Hurst's 1933 tearjerker novel and remake of John M. Stahl's 1934 film, this is Sirk at his incomparable best.
From the fantastic opening credits with Earl Grant's rendition of the theme song* to the lush Eastman Color photography by the brilliant Russell Metty to a story that is as old as the hills but will tug at the heart strings and leave an indelible impression as we are enraptured by the genius of Sirk and a superb cast headed by Lana Turner and Juanita Moore. And the ending with Mahalia Jackson ..... what more can be said?

This is one of Rutgers Films in Print bumper editions with a packed 346 pages including the complete continuity script with more than a score of interspersed stills from the film.
With extensive reviews and commentaries; interviews with the director; production notes; a 30-page 'Four Films of Lana Turner' article and a first rate introduction by Lucy Fischer, there maybe more about 'Imitation' than you may wish for but admirers of the film won't be complaining about this overload.

And for those modern day film buffs who may scoff at this movie and its outdated storyline, remember this was the 1950s, so just sit back and marvel at the brilliance of a master cinematic storyteller at his peak.

After this film, Sirk returned to Germany, teaching at the Munich Academy of Film and Television, supervising the making of three dramatic shorts and later served as an advocate for the New German Cinema. And as we know, his films were a major influence on the career of Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

On leaving Hollywood Sirk recalled: "I had outgrown this kind of picture-making ... which was typical of Hollywood in the fifties and of American society, too, which tolerated only the play that pleases, not the thing that disturbs the mind."
In an interview with Jon Halliday (complete in book), he referred to his life as "A long day's journey ... the end of a circle ... Don't take this as resignation. There's still a lot that heaven allows."

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Follows the movie closely. Dated.