Imitation of life
(DVD) 

Title from title frames.

Originally released as a motion picture in 1934.

Based on the novel by Fannie Hurst.

Full screen (1.33:1).

Accompanied by folded insert containing an essay by Miriam J. Petty.

Special features: 4K digital restoration; video introduction (by Imogen Sara Smith, contributor to The call of the heart: John M. Stahl and Hollywood melodrama); 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) ; trailer cut for segregated Black theaters at the time of the film's release; Plus, An essay by Petty.

Cinematography, Merritt Gerstad; editors, Philip Cahn, Maurice Wright; musical director, Heinz Roemheld.

Claudette Colbert, Louise Beavers, Fredi Washington, Warren William, Rochelle Hudson, Ned Sparks, Alan Hale.

Explores the friendship between two struggling single mothers: one a working-class white woman who ascends to the top of the business world, and the other her Black housekeeper, whose life is shattered by the rejection of her rebellious, white-passing daughter. 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.

Optional English subtitles for the hearing-impaired (SDH).

DVD; NTSC, region 1 ; full screen (aspect ratio 1.33:1); Dolby digital 1.0.

English dialogue.