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Full Product DetailsSide #1 --
1. Main Titles [2:15]
2. Two Mothers [12:14]
3. Steve Archer [5:32]
4. The Agent [7:49]
5. Everything's Wrong [4:16]
6. Sarah Jane's Shame [4:07]
7. Big News [7:23]
8. The Audition [2:32]
9. A Star Is Born [8:07]
10. The New Home [3:54]
11. An Old and Dear Friend [6:26]
12. Sarah Jane's Secret [3:53]
13. To Be Different [3:59]
14. The Boyfriend [4:36]
15. A "Respectable" Job [3:29]
16. Looking for Sarah Jane [6:30]
17. In Love With Steve [6:11]
18. Annie's Last Wishes [9:56]
19. The Funeral [9:18]
20. End Titles [5:19]
The great director Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life, a spectacular, sprawling melodrama, follows a widowed aspiring actress (Lana Turner) and a homeless single mother (Juanita Moore) who raise their daughters together. While the actress's rise to Broadway stardom at the cost of true love gives the first half of the film a romantic arc, the relationship between the two mothers -- one white, one black -- gradually takes center stage. Sirk never compromises the integrity of the genre, steadfastly crafting archetypes instead of stereotypes while avoiding overt allegory or satire. This earnest sophistication gives Imitation of Life a weight that transcends social commentary. Turner's performance is pivotal, a grandiose portrayal of ambition and desire that fuels the story while contrasting brilliantly with Moore's austerity. Based on a bestselling novel by Fannie Hurst, Sirk's film was the second adaptation of the book, and it strays much farther from the source material than the more straightforward 1934 screen version. They truly don't make movies like this anymore; Imitation of Life stands as Sirk's masterpiece and perhaps the greatest Hollywood melodrama ever made. Gregory Baird, Barnes & Noble
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