Imitation of Life (1958)

Starring: Lana Turner

Directed by: Douglas Sirk

RS: 3of 4 Stars

1958 All Movies

If you liked Far From Heaven, Todd Haynes' hommage to the chick flicks Douglas Sirk directed in the 1950s, here's the real thing.

Lana Turner stars as an actress with a black maid (Juanita Moore) whose daughter (Susan Kohner) passes for white. Tackling racism and hypocrisy in the guise of a tear-jerker was a Sirk specialty. And this 1959 film, his last in Hollywood, shows him in full subversive glory.

PETER TRAVERS
(February 20, 2003)