"Imitation of Life" (1959) African American Movie Review

"Imitation of Life" was directed in 1959 by Douglas Sirk. The main characters are Lana Turner as Lora Meredith, Sandra Dee played Susie at age 16, Susan Kohner played Sarah Jane at age 18, John Gavin played Steve Archer, Juanita Moore played Annie Johnson, and Robert Alda played Allen Loomis.

Imitation of Life starts off at a beach, and Lora was looking for Susie, Lora enlists the help of a police officer in the search for little Susie. Susie ends up playing in the sand with her newfound friend, Sarah Jane, daughter of Annie, an unemployed homeless housekeeper. Annie and Lora talk, and find out that Annie is recently unemployed and homeless. Lora offers Annie and Sarah Jane to spend the night at her house, and one night turned into a housekeeping job at Lora's house. Susie finds a new best friend in Sarah Jane. Lora loves the job that Annie does, and offers her a job as a housekeeper and babysitter. Annie and Lora become friends, just as Susie and Sarah Jane become best friends. Sarah Jane is whitewash, meaning she is light skinned black, almost looking as if she is white, and Sarah Jane plays as if she is white, and that creates nothing but trouble for her and her mother, Annie. They face discrimination and prejudice during their journey through life.

I enjoyed this film because it was well written and the actors performed very well in the film. Lora takes Annie and Sarah Jane under her wing since she found out her and her daughter were homeless. I would recommend this film to anyone who would enjoy a great film. Imitation of Life will continue to be a classic film for years to come.

In my three rating categories, starting with the overall rating, I would give the film a 9.0. in the second category, which is the rating I give the plot, I would rate the plot at a 9.0. In the third and final category, which is character roles, which is how I score how well the actors playing the roles, I would give the actors a 9.5. Imitation of Life will continue to be a great film for many years down the road.