IMITATION OF LIFE
1933
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Maturation, Infatuation, Friendship, Photographers, Housekeepers, Adolescence, Seduction, Theater, Theatrical agents, New York City-Coney Island
Cast: Lana Turner, John Gavin, Sandra Dee [ More ]
Director: Douglas Sirk
Writers: Eleanore Griffin, Allan Scott
Producer: Ross Hunter
Cinematographer: Russell Metty
Editor: Milton Carruth
Production Designers: Alexander Golitzen, Richard H. Riedel
Production Company: Universal-International Pictures Co., Inc.
Based on the 1933 Fannie Hurst novel and its first film adaptation in 1934, IMITATION OF LIFE represents director Douglas Sirk’s mastery as the “King of Hollywood melodrama.” Robert Osborne describes the film as Juanita Moore’s best role, playing a single mother with a light-skinned daughter who wishes to pass as white. Her onscreen friend, Lana Turner, also suffers troubled times with her daughter…
AFI AWARDS was created in 2000 to recognize the films and television programs which contribute to our collective cultural legacy. When placed in an historical context, these stories provide a complex, rich, visual record of our modern world. Since then, AFI AWARDS has honored 10 outstanding films and 10 outstanding TV programs deemed culturally and artistically representative of the year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image.
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