​Groundbreaking race dramas on Blu-ray double-feature

Racial inequality and intolerance continue to be in the news, as well as discussion of people passing themselves off as someone of a different race. Hollywood has tackled the subject numerous times, perhaps most memorably in two Oscar-nominated screen versions of Fannie Hurst’s novel “Imitation of Life,” both of which are on a Blu-ray from Universal released this past spring.

The two films were produced 25 years apart, each daringly groundbreaking in its handling of controversial issues of its time. Each has its fair share of sometimes tear-jerking 1930s and 1950s melodrama, but they remain powerful for modern audiences. Both are valuable documents reflective of their eras, and they contain moving explorations of parent-child relationships (mother-daughter in this case), including complex issues involving race, economic realities, social standing, career ambitions and romance, as well as interracial friendships. Both films also contrast the innocence of childhood with the stress of facing the realities of adult life.

The basic plot revolves around the lives of two widowed mothers and their young daughters. One mother is white and the other is black with a biracial, very light-skinned daughter who identifies herself as white. In the first part of the movie the daughters are about eight and nine years old (a few years younger in the 1934 version), and in the second part they’re 18 and 19. The family’s socio-economic standing changes drastically over the decade depicted, but underlying racial issues remain, and new conflicts develop, involving romance and parenting choices. Within this framework, the two films focus on slightly different areas, with the remake altering a few aspects and very effectively updating the story from the 1920s-30s to the 1940s-50s.

John M. Stahl’s 1934 version of “Imitation of Life” stars Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers as the two mothers, Bea and Delilah. They become close friends and eventually earn a fortune marketing Delilah’s special pancake flour. Meanwhile, daughters Jessie and Peola grow to young adulthood and for different reasons become estranged from their mothers, whose self-sacrificing love and well-meaning advice they consider overprotective and meddling. Of course it takes a tragedy to resolve the troubled personal feelings all around.

Louise Beavers, typically relegated to bit parts as maids, gives the performance of her career in a role that provides her the chance to give her character a depth beyond the genial façade audiences were used to. Fredi Washington is heartbreakingly effective in a role very much the opposite of her actual personality. Washington’s own refusal to pass as a white actress or be typecast as a mixed-race stereotype essentially killed her Hollywood career. Instead she devoted her time to the New York stage and to civil rights activism.

The 1934 version earned three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. It handles its touchy issues in a way that could fit in with 1930s racial stereotypes on its surface, while simultaneously undercutting them for viewers able to pay closer attention to the actors’ performances and the subtext, which is implied, but either quickly passed over or never dramatized on screen. The film is as much a story about the generation gap and gradually shifting attitudes as it is about racial prejudice itself. The second film version would explore this aspect even further.

Picture quality on Universal’s Blu-ray is extremely good with a natural, film-like image. Audio is not bad (one of the film’s Oscar nominations was for its sound), but it doesn’t have the range that movie sound would obtain just a few years later. Bonus features include an audio commentary and a trailer (in standard-definition), both ported over from the old DVD release.

“IMITATION OF LIFE” (1934) on Blu-ray – Movie: A- / Video: A / Audio: A- / Extras: C+

Douglas Sirk directed the highly-polished 1959 version of “Imitation of Life,” with Lana Turner and Juanita Moore taking the lead roles, now called Lora and Annie, and Sandra Dee and Susan Kohner playing the daughters as teenagers, now named Susie and Sarah Jane. Besides their names, their life backgrounds have changed in this interpretation of the story, Lora being a struggling model hoping to make it on the New York stage. Steve Archer this time is an aspiring photographer they meet early on. The plot focuses largely on Lora’s more self-centered rise to fame and fortune and then her glittering career while Susie’s off at boarding school, before returning to the Annie/Sarah Jane relationship or the more thoroughly-developed romantic triangle with Lora, Steve and Susie. More time is also spent on Susie and Sarah Jane’s friendship.

This film is substantially more rough-edged, violent and obvious in its portrayal of both Lora’s climb to success and Sarah Jane’s attempts to live as a white woman free of her mother’s smothering influence, which always spoils her chances. Nevertheless, Sarah Jane has a painful appreciation of her mother’s love, even as she actively rejects any personal contact that might expose her own race. This is vividly contrasted with Susie’s explicit rejection of her own mother, due as much to parental neglect as to her rivalry for the love of Steve. All four actresses give strong, emotional performances. Moore and Kohner both earned Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress.

Universal’s Blu-ray has vivid colors and generally outstanding picture sharpness, though the opening beach sequence and optical effects shots look a bit softer and grainier than the rest. The image is transferred in the relatively unusual 2:1 widescreen aspect ratio that Universal was using in the 1950s, and it appears carefully composed to fit that format. Audio quality is also good, presented in its original mono. Bonus features again include a commentary and a trailer, as well as a good half-hour documentary from 2008 that discusses both film versions of the story.

“IMITATION OF LIFE” (1959) on Blu-ray – Movie: A- / Video: A / Audio: A / Extras: B