Talk:Imitation of Life (1959 film)

Airplane Reference
fixed comment about this being highest grossing film for Universal until "Airplane!" In 1980. Airplane! was a Paramount film, so the original quote must refer to "Airport" which was a top grossing film for Universal in 1970.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 22:58, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Mother and daughter's issues
Though removing the Oscar Wilde quote was an improvement, I still think the statement, "Ironically, a central subplot of Imitation of Life involves a mother and daughter's issues involving the mother's boyfriend," is not encyclopedic but rather a POV observation. I was watching the movie last night, and it's not a "central subplot," it is only addressed in about 20 minutes of a 125 minute film. The daughter gets a teenage crush on her mother's boyfriend (who is completely unaware of her feelings) and ends up going off to college when he proposes to her mother. It's not even particularly dramatic. This is a far cry from Lana Turner's daughter stabbing her mother's abusive boyfriend in her defense. The only similarities are a single woman who has a boyfriend and a teenage daughter, which is not particularly ironic -- there are a whole lot of those situations in the world and in film and they don't end up in murder trials. You could make the same statement for Peyton Place. I think the statement is misleading for those readers who are not familiar with the details of the movie and the scandal and should therefore be removed.OwenSaunders (talk) 15:41, 12 October 2008 (UTC)


 * You could be right, it's been a while since I saw the film, but if you're going to remove the reference to the subplot, I think you need to also remove the reference to the incident with Turner's daughter & boyfriend. Without the ironic connection, there's no reason for it to be there. Ed Fitzgerald t / c 17:21, 12 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Actually, I was just thinking the same thing. I just looked at the NY Times review of the film, and   the trial seems to have triggered no contemporary reference to the plot of the film. That section of the article itself needs citations in general as it referers to actions and decisions of the filmmakers  but doesn't cite where the author got the info from.  I'm going to remove the murder bit for the time

being.OwenSaunders (talk) 17:40, 12 October 2008 (UTC)


 * just saw this again and the real life stabbing story was repeated right after the movie on TCM network. Also the subplot was a pretty big deal in this 1959 version. The daughter was in love with Steve the mother's boyfriend. Annie revealed this to the mom and at that point in the story both mothers talked about how they thought that they had failed as mothers.24.0.133.234 (talk) 00:59, 2 December 2013 (UTC)


 * The love triangle was a bigger deal in the novel. In the movie (which I'm watching now on YouTube ) Lora's daughter merely has a temporary crush on Steve. The movie has much more to do with tension between the maid and her light-skinned daughter (see The real triangle below). --Uncle Ed (talk) 02:31, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Potential addition to Trivia Section
My Grandmother used to say that this film provided inspiration for the Grease (musical) song 'Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee. This is supported by Sandra Dee's very sugary 'good girl' performance in the movie and the role of Troy Donahue, however, my Grandmother is not a published source. Has anyone heard this claim before or have any information regarding its' legitimacy? Trinkella (talk) 18:07, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

The real triangle
The real triangle in this movie, which is so frank in its gritty portrayal, is between the kind but ultimately self-centered liberality of the aspiring white actress; the racial pride and dogged maternalism of the black maid; and the inconsolable pain of the maid's biracial daughter who keeps trying to "pass" for white. Perhaps only someone who has grown up as a child and an adolescent with that kind of soul-jarring discrimination, prejudice and sheer rejection could understand the depths of that pain. --Uncle Ed (talk) 02:36, 23 June 2011 (UTC)


 * movies are business ventures, so this one was marketed to a black audience primarily by the subject matter of segregation, to a non-black audience as a melodrama, given anyone the angle they desire — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.115.49.81 (talk) 20:49, 24 November 2013 (UTC)