Imitation of Life

John M. Stahl's Imitation of Life (1934) exists as testament to the fact that Hollywood films could tackle problematic and risque material by focusing on the interracial friendship between Beatrice Pullman (Claudette Colbert) and Delilah Johnson (Louise Beavers), both widowed women caring for their young daughters. However, the fact that the film tackles these issues does not release it from the burden that Stahl's film does not handle them articulately or sophisticatedly.

Given that the film is a product of its time, one should not be offended that Beatrice and Delilah strike it rich by appropriating the mammy cook image for a pancake and syrup business. However, the film seldom highlights Delilah as a figure of strength and intelligence, instead, as in one scene when Beatrice and the artist for the business have Delilah pose for the slogan, Delilah remains a figure lacking agency or privilege. Instead, she is confined to the simplistic portrait of a well-meaning but vacuous caretaker for Beatrice, Beatrice's daughter, and her own daughter Peola.

The scenes with the adult Peola (Fredi Washington) belong in a better film, for Washington imbues her character with an intelligence and spark that the film paradoxically deprives her. She does not want to attend a "black college" because her skin is light enough for her to pass, and so she often adheres to implicit ideas of equality vis-a-vis her ability to pass. Unfortunately, these scenes lack sophistication, largely because the film never feels comfortable tackling these weightier issues. Instead, we get overburdening coverage of Beatrice, a budding romance with Steve Archer, and a daughter who has also become smitten with Mr. Archer.

The film returns to the weightier issues of race relations in a final tableaux during Delilah's funereal, where Peola renounces her earlier desire to pass. And so, apparently, this leads to an ending where audiences are reassured that no blacks are going to try to pass in their midst. The film scores nominal points because the ending, despite its annoying manipulation, is effective in eliciting emotion. Not always the desired emotion, but it does garner emotion, regardless.

Imitation of Life: 6/10