Slick Soaper or Subversive Swipe?

Imitation of Life tonight at the Paramount!! Is it a slick soaper? Is it a subversive swipe at the hollywood machine from which it came? Is a Mexican-Czech woman passing as a black woman passing as a white woman ironic enough for you?

The critics were underwhelmed when this 1959 film was released, but it has since become considered Douglas Sirk's masterpiece and went on to become Universal's most successful film for over a decade- until Airport in 1970. 

Douglas Sirk was mentioned quite a bit a few years ago when Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven was released, but until then I hadn't given him much thought. Although I was impressed with Imitation of Life when I first saw it with my mom over a decade ago, despite it's exploration of race and identity it still felt like an old-fashioned melodrama to me. And on some levels it is- Lana Turner's lavish costumes and jewelry (which cost over a million dollars) signify the old Hollywood excess as much as she herself does. But Sirk was not unaware of what his leading lady symbolized, and seemed to use it to alienate the audience from her. The rich white lady's problems seem so inconsequential in comparison to those of the poor black characters, which move to the center even as Lana Turner and
the class and system she represents are marginalized.

Of course, Sarah Jane is not played by a black woman, but rather by Susan Kohner, an actress of Mexican and Czech descent. Interestingly, this 1959 film is based on an earlier 1934 version starring Claudette Colbert in which Sarah Jane is in fact played by an African American, Fredi Washington. The light-skinned actress had trouble getting other roles- she was too white to play a black servant, and she refused to pass for white on screen in order to be allowed to play opposite a white love interest.


And now for some Trivia! Susan Kohner is the mother of Chris  and Paul Weitz, who brought us the classic American Pie.  Chris directed About a Boy, which was pretty great, but also kind of messed up The Golden Compass and really tortured the hell out of New Moon, so I don't know about that guy.


And finally for a little 50 year old gossip- that's right folks, you heard it here first, but keep it on the QT...It is probable that Lana Turner was also cast to capitalize on the tabloid frenzy that had erupted when her 14-year old daughter Cheryl fatally stabbed Lana's violent mafioso boyfriend Johnny Stompanato in 1957,  "a life-imitating-art episode worthy of a James Cain/Raymond Chandler Southern California potboiler."
 For more on Sirk's possible motives and some Brechtian analysis, read this great article. 

Imitation of Life, 8:55pm, on a tearful double bill with All That Heaven Allows.

Stupid Predators premiere has bumped the second showing on Wednesday, so better get to the Paramount tonight!!