Of all the great Hollywood directors, Douglas Sirk has taken the most rehabilitation. His films in their own time were massively popular melodramas that the critics hated. And, to be sure, they're still not for every critical viewer. If you find the works of Nicholas Ray (Johnny Guitar, Rebel Without A Cause) overwrought, Sirk's films are sure to send you running for the bathroom.
Actually, Ray is a good comparison to Sirk. Both were quintessentially 50s directors that thumbed their noses at naturalism and revel in their artificiality. But where Ray's melodrama was mythic, Sirk's was fairly dripping with irony.
And this film is certainly no exception to this. At the time, much was made of the 'social criticism' in the story. I don't doubt that there was a certain degree of earnest politics here, but the situation of Susan Kohner, a white actress playing a black girl pretending to be white, is more an exercise in absurdity than anything. And the irony is everywhere. The performances are plastic personified, with Lana Turner's limitations turned into an actual style. And in the scenes where she is palying an actress, the irony threatens to jump off of the screen.
I've never seen a sentimental film taking such a harsh view of love, but all of the lovers here feel not only the need, but the right to control those that they love. It's hard to miss the parallels between the sleazy agent and the supposedly virtuous boyfriend.
The photography, as in all of Sirk's films, is simply amazing, with stunning movement and play of color. But among these beautifully shot scenes has Kohner suffering a male on female beating that is pretty brutal by 1950s standards. It's perverse, to be sure, not the least because it is followed immediately by a non sequiter scene that opens with Lana Turner saying "well, that felt good."
The people who made this film the largest moneymaker of its year certainly missed all of this, and saw a standard tearjerker. As the film rises to an excruciating emotional pitch, with an astonishing funeral scene that defines 'over the top', its viewers were expected to be pulling at their hankies. But I have to think that Sirk was laughing.
Does this mean that Sirk thought little of his target audience (which would have been, certainly, largely female? Possibly. The point has been made before that Sirk's films were parodies of 1950's American society. I'm willing to accept that, but I also have to realize that they were also made as big budget blockbusters that were supposed to make money off of these very people. This makes them just a little distasteful even as it makes them fascinating to watch. But Imitation of Life is certainly a tour de force that any fan of classic Hollywood would be advised to watch.
Actually, Ray is a good comparison to Sirk. Both were quintessentially 50s directors that thumbed their noses at naturalism and revel in their artificiality. But where Ray's melodrama was mythic, Sirk's was fairly dripping with irony.
And this film is certainly no exception to this. At the time, much was made of the 'social criticism' in the story. I don't doubt that there was a certain degree of earnest politics here, but the situation of Susan Kohner, a white actress playing a black girl pretending to be white, is more an exercise in absurdity than anything. And the irony is everywhere. The performances are plastic personified, with Lana Turner's limitations turned into an actual style. And in the scenes where she is palying an actress, the irony threatens to jump off of the screen.
I've never seen a sentimental film taking such a harsh view of love, but all of the lovers here feel not only the need, but the right to control those that they love. It's hard to miss the parallels between the sleazy agent and the supposedly virtuous boyfriend.
The photography, as in all of Sirk's films, is simply amazing, with stunning movement and play of color. But among these beautifully shot scenes has Kohner suffering a male on female beating that is pretty brutal by 1950s standards. It's perverse, to be sure, not the least because it is followed immediately by a non sequiter scene that opens with Lana Turner saying "well, that felt good."
The people who made this film the largest moneymaker of its year certainly missed all of this, and saw a standard tearjerker. As the film rises to an excruciating emotional pitch, with an astonishing funeral scene that defines 'over the top', its viewers were expected to be pulling at their hankies. But I have to think that Sirk was laughing.
Does this mean that Sirk thought little of his target audience (which would have been, certainly, largely female? Possibly. The point has been made before that Sirk's films were parodies of 1950's American society. I'm willing to accept that, but I also have to realize that they were also made as big budget blockbusters that were supposed to make money off of these very people. This makes them just a little distasteful even as it makes them fascinating to watch. But Imitation of Life is certainly a tour de force that any fan of classic Hollywood would be advised to watch.