Imitation of Life (1959) - Sirk's last film, an oppulent race melodrama

♥♥♥

 

Fabulously crafted and deliciously colored poster for Douglas Sirk's
Imitation of Life

Lora, a struggling widow and single mother actress in New York, out of compassion takes a black maid and her rebellious daughter into her home. Soon success arrives, but at home revolt brews.

 

Imitation of Life is written by Eleanore Griffin (Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955)) and Allan Scott (The Four Poster (1952)), adapting the same-titled 1933 novel by Fannie Hurst (Anitra's Dance (1934)), and directed by Douglas Sirk (April, April! (1935)).

Emotionally driven drama meant to induce sobbing with excessive pathos. The poshness often encountered in soap operas beleaguer every scene in Sirk's version of the popular story that had already been adapted by John M. Stahl in 1933 with Claudette Colbert. The film is very much a matter of personal taste but for me it is simply too much.

Lana Turner (The Big Cube (1968)) is rock solid in a part that is deliberately over-shadowed by the issues of the dark-skinned characters. Audiences outside of the American context of Imitation of Life could possible view it as propaganda for a 1950s American utopia in which race was treated just. But the truth of Imitation of Life is, of course, that the problem and the very progressive way the film deals with it was bold for its time.

 

Related post:

 

Douglas Sirk: All That Heaven Allows (1955) or, Not The Widow and Her Gardener!

 

 Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 1.2 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 6.4 mil. $ (North American rentals alone)

= Uncertain but certainly a huge hit (returned 5.33 times its cost in North America alone)

[Imitation of Life premiered 17 March (Chicago) and runs 125 minutes. Turner was reportedly paid 50 % of the film's profits but the final amount is regrettably unmentioned. She reportedly wore jewelry worth 1 mil. $ in the film, besides 34 costumes worth 78k $. Shooting took place from August - October 1958 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film collected 6.4 mil. $ in North-American rentals according to Variety in 1960. If met with a less interested public abroad, - not unlikely due to its highly American race theme, - an 8 mil. $ total gross may be projected, which would still make the film a huge hit. It was twice Oscar nominated - in the same category, Best Supporting Actress: Juanita Moore (Paternity (1981)) and Susan Kohner (The Gene Krupa Story (1959)) both lost to Shelley Winters for The Diary of Anne Frank. It also won 1/2 Golden Globe nominations, among other honors. Sirk retired to Switzerland after the film's release and only directed three more short films nearly two decades later. Turner returned in Portrait in Black (1960); John Gavin (Keep It in the Family (1973)) in A Breath of Scandal (1960). Imitation of Life is fresh at 82 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Imitation of Life?

Humoresque (1946) - Everything works in Negulesco's music melodrama classic

♥♥♥♥♥♥

 

Passionate romance - and a violin - is promised on this poster for Jean Negulesco's Humoresque

A stubborn male violinist with big dreams and talent to back it up gets discovered by Mrs. Wright, an alcoholic woman of wealth, whose marriage is platonic. But can he have her as his patron and mistress for the long run?

Humoresque is written by Zachary Gold (Top Man (1943)) and Clifford Odets (Winter Journey (1962, TV movie)), adapting the same-titled 1919 short story by Fanny Hurst (Back Street (1931)), and directed by Romanian-born American master filmmaker Jean Negulesco (Singapore Woman (1941)), whose 6th feature it was.

It is a formidable film, which mixes the juicily erotic and the keenly humorist with strongly melodramatic lines and wonderful music, - and a great venerable air around it. You'll hear pieces of Dvorák, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Grieg, Bach, Prokofiev, as well as Gershwin and Cole Porter, in the luxurious musical side to the romantic drama, making it an absolute treat for music lovers. The photography (by Ernest Haller (The Boy and the Pirates (1960))) is outstanding; the technical expertise surrounding the film is likewise.

Joan Crawford (When Ladies Meet (1941)) is legendary, intense and awe-inspiring, and John Garfield (The Fallen Sparrow (1943)) is just as intense and tough here. Oscar Levant (The Cobweb (1955)) is incredibly funny and eminently believable in his piano scenes. J. Carrol Naish (The Texan (1958, TV-series)) and Ruth Nelson (Shock (1946)) as the young musician's parents are flawless. 

Humoresque is one of the undying melodramas, and a truly refined film to boot. SPOILER Something to ponder over: Is Mrs. Wright's suicide in the end propped up too much in the cinematography? Or does it simply point towards her larger-than-life quality?

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 2.1 mil. $

Box office: Reportedly somewhere between 3.3-3.7 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.61-1.76 times its cost)

[Humoresque premiered 25 December (New York) and runs 125 minutes. Hurst's story was first adapted by Frank Borzage with the same title in 1920. Crawford was paid 167k $ for her performance, though IMDb also lists 500k $ as her salary, which looks like it must be a mistake. Shooting took place from December 1945 - April 1946 in New York and California. The William Shaefer Warner Bros. ledger recorded a 2.2 mil. $ North-American gross for the film, but Variety reported a 2.6 mil. $ North-American rental in 1947. The two numbers account for the uncertainty in the figures above listed. The international gross was listed as 1.1 mil. $. Despite the small gross compared to the considerable cost, the film is curiously described as a theatrical success. It was nominated for 1 Oscar: For Best Music - Drama/Comedy (Franz Waxman (Elephant Walk (1954))), lost to Hugo Friedhofer for The Best Years of Our Lives. Negulesco returned with Deep Valley (1947). Crawford returned in Possessed (1947); Garfield in The Postman Always Rings Twice: The Radio Play (1947, voice) and theatrically in Body and Soul (1947). 4.4k+ IMDb users have given Humoresque a 7.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Humoresque?