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Melodrama master John M. Stahl brings his exquisite restraint and almost spiritually pure visual style to this devastating, enduringly relevant story of mothers and daughters. Imitation of Life explores the friendship between two struggling single mothers: one (Claudette Colbert) a working-class white woman who ascends to the top of the business world, the other (Louise Beavers) her Black housekeeper, whose life is shattered by the rejection of her rebellious, white-passing daughter (Fredi Washington). It is this latter relationship—attuned to America’s bitter racial realities and heartbreakingly enacted by trailblazing Black performers Beavers and Washington—that lends the film its transcendent emotional power. This first adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s best-selling novel boldly confronts the complexities and contradictions of racial identity, economic exploitation, and the limits of the American dream. BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack New interview with Miriam J. Petty, author of Stealing the Show: African American Performers and Audiences in 1930s Hollywood, about the resonance of Louise Beavers’s and Fredi Washington’s performances New interview with Imogen Sara Smith, contributor to The Call of the Heart: John M. Stahl and Hollywood Melodrama, about director John M. Stahl and his work with actor Claudette Colbert and others Trailer English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: An essay by Petty

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James Stewart (It's a Wonderful Life) plays Lawrence "Rip" Smith in this Capraesque tale in which an ambitious pollster finds a small town whose citizens' opinions accurately reflect those of America at large. On discovering this oddity in the darling town of Grandview, Smith plots to exploit this "mathematical miracle." Posing as an insurance salesman along with his two sidekicks, Ike Sloan (Ned Sparks) and Mr. Twiddle (Donald Meek), he romances the local newspaper editor while trying to keep her from discovering his true intentions. The young editor, Mary Peterman (Jane Wyman, Magnificent Obsession), has hopes for improving the town with a new civics center. Mary soon proves to be smarter than "Rip" ever anticipated. When she exposes the truth, the resulting publicity threatens to destroy the town and everything it stood for. Robert Riskin is remembered today as the man who wrote some of Frank Capra's best films, including Mr. Deed Goes to Town and It Happened One Night. Here he made his independent producing debut with this film directed by the great William A. Wellman (The Ox-Bow Incident).