BLU-RAY REVIEW:
Criterion;
Drama;
$29.95 DVD, $39.95 Blu-ray;
Not rated.
Stars Claudette Colbert, Louise Beavers, Fredi Washington, Warren William, Ned Sparks, Alan Hale Sr., Rochelle Hudson, Clarence Wilson, Henry Armetta.
Contemporary audiences watching 1934’s Imitation of Life through the rearview mirror of time will undoubtedly find much to look down their snoots at, and rightfully so. But when viewed from a historical perspective, the rampant stereotyping of yesterday inherent in John Stahl’s adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s novel was once considered groundbreaking. Before passing for white was introduced as the film’s main melodrama motivator, the story gained much of its audience appeal by fancying two fiercely devoted mothers pitched at opposite ends of life’s rainbow. Bea (Claudette Colbert) is a single mom looking to restart the pancake syrup business begun by her late husband. Delilah’s (Louise Beavers) no account man ran off leaving her to look after their conflicted daughter, Peola. Delilah shows up on Bea’s back porch, looking for room and board. The moment she walks through the screen door, it becomes apparent that these two went together like pancakes and syrup.
Both women would go to great lengths to ensure their daughter’s safety, but sometimes even the best of mother’s err. The same rubber duck that opened the picture almost resulted in Baby Jessie (Juanita Quigly, credited as Baby Jane) drowning when left unattended at bathtime. In the time it took Bea to nurse her daughter, Delilah took it upon herself to prepare breakfast. Delilah’s maternal shortcoming cut an even deeper gash in her relationship with her daughter. First off, she prefers “mammy” over “mother.” No sooner did the two mothers meet and Delilah was already drawing Bea’s attention to Peola’s light skin. It was an essential plot point, but in the days when the Hays Office dictated content, miscegenation was impermissible in Hollywood films. It was a law the almighty Production Code stood firm on. When the subject of Delilah’s husband comes up, instead of marrying a white man, she claims that her ex was a light-skinned negro. Peola hates being the product of a mixed marriage and grows to blame her mother for making her black. The only solution was to make Peola’s father black, with just enough white ancestry in him to lighten the load and mollify the censors.
Delilah is able to put a roof over her baby’s head, and for her part of the bargain, Bea gets rich by flipping flapjacks. Her mother’s secret pancake recipe is so good, Delilah becomes the face of a pancake empire. (Aunt Delilah wasn’t a far stretch from Aunt Jemimah, upon whom the character was based.) Bea opens a pancake house on the Boardwalk (in Atlantic City) where her hotcakes sell like hotcakes. She rents the storefront from Clarence Wilson — the meanest skinflint in Tinsel Town this side of Charles Lane. Henry Armetta was hired to paint the ramshackle space with Alan Hale Sr. brought on board to provide the furnishings. Ned Sparks was the cigar chomping down-and-out entrepreneur, with a voice modeled after an air raid siren and the two words needed to turn a corner diner into a flannel cake phenomena: “Bottle it!”
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It’s been written that this was the first Hollywood film to feature a single woman who made it to the top of the corporate ladder without the help of a man. Other than flirting with her debtors, we’re never quite sure how she built her empire. Once it appeared that the diner was poised to take off, a jump-cut whisks us five years into the future, putting to rest any thoughts of an explanation. One guesses that Bea’s feminine wiles had more to do with her success than any innate sense of business acumen. And for those who thought this was the way Ms. Beavers spoke in real life, guess again. It was her Massuhs at Universal who asked that she “coon it up” to help put the white masses at ease. (The studio was also insistent that Beavers kept her weight up.) Beavers spent a career basically playing one role, but from her point-of-view, it was better to make $5,000 a day acting as a maid on television than earning $5 a day playing one in real life.
The passage of time couldn’t erase Peola’s struggle to accept her blackness. An unexpected downpour brings Delilah to Peola’s school with rubbers and umbrella in hand. She’s framed outside the classroom door as though it were visitor’s day at Sing-Sing. Jim Crow laws saw to it that in 1934 a black child would be barred from attending an all-white classroom. (It would be 20 years before Brown vs. The Board of Education mandated racial desegregation.) The humiliation weighed so heavily on Peola she could barely raise her head as she marched to the door amid a gust of gossiping student’s whispers. As much as she loved her mother, that’s how much she resented her. This would mark the first of two instances where Peola was outed by her mother. Years later, Delilah tracks her runaway daughter (played as an adult by Fredi Washington) to the register of a restaurant where she once again outs her baby. It’s the only time in the film where Peola appears relaxed enough to set loose a smile. Washington played a 19-year-old, when in reality she was less than a year younger than the 31-year-old Beavers.
Some groaned over Delilah’s 20% cut of the action and her initial refusal to accept money from Bea. (She asked that her earnings be put towards an extravagant funeral.) After all, it was her secret pancake batter they were getting fat off of. In her defense, Bea provided the syrup and secured the down payments needed to lease and renovate the storefront. Even when Missis Bea awarded Delilah her freedom, she still refused to leave the pancake plantation. Delilah would be content to spend the rest of her days in servitude to Bea. This is best summed up in a shot taken from the first-floor landing, with Bea walking up one flight to the mistress’ boudoir and Delilah hoofing it downstairs to her basement accommodations. To no one’s surprise, the woman who came up with the pancake mix isn’t allowed to come to the victory dinner. And wouldn’t it have been nice if for once Delilah took a load off while Bea rubbed her feet.
The inimitable Warren William co-stars as Stephen Archer, an ichthyologist whose profession exists as a means to draw cheap laughs. (Earlier that year, William played Caesar opposite Colbert’s Cleopatra.) There is one particularly cruel moment when Bea laughs at Delilah fumbling over the word. No one makes a joke when Jessie (played as an adult by Rochelle Hudson), a white college student, sneaks into the other room to consult a dictionary. As written, Delilah is simple to the point of being childlike making it difficult to take her character seriously.
Allow me a moment of self-congratulation. I wrote the entire review without once mentioning Douglas Sirk’s both deeply sardonic and remarkably reverent 1959 remake, which happens to be an all-time personal favorite. If you haven’t seen it, I cannot urge you enough to watch them as a double feature. Criterion’s special Blu-ray Edition includes interviews with Miriam J. Petty on the careers of Louise Beavers and Fredi Washington, as well as insights into the career of John Stahl from Imogen Sara Smith. There’s also a trailer pitched to black audiences that showcases Beavers and Washington over Colbert. Those looking for a commentary track had best consult Universal’s Imitation of Life two-Movie Collection and enjoy the second audio commentary featuring African-American cultural scholar Avery Clayton.
The Academy Award-winning film The Power of the Dog arrives on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Nov. 8 from the Criterion Collection. The Western psychological drama adapted from Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel of the same name takes place in the desolate plains of 1920s Montana. After a sensitive widow (Kirsten Dunst) and her enigmatic, fiercely loving son (Kodi Smit-Mcphee) move in with her gentle new husband (Jesse Plemons), a tense battle of wills plays out between them and his brutish brother (Benedict Cumberbatch), whose frightening volatility conceals a secret torment, and whose capacity for tenderness, once reawakened, may offer him redemption or destruction. Following a limited international theatrical run, the film was released on Netflix in December 2021 and went on to earn 12 Oscar nominations, winning Best Director for veteran filmmaker Jane Campion. The disc release includes a 4K digital master of the film approved by Campion. The Blu-ray and 4K versions offer a Dolby Atmos soundtrack.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Nov. 8 releases the new direct-to-video movie based on “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm, on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and for digital purchase. This is the second film adaptation of the 2000-15 series from Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, following 2007’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters that earned $5.5 million at the box office. The film finds the Aqua Teens — the brainy Frylock, the mouthy Master Shake, the lovable Meatwad, and perverted neighbor Carl — splitting up but then getting back together to fight the corporate overlord Amazin, led by tech mogul, Neil (voiced by Peter Serafinowicz) and his trusty scientist sidekick, Elmer (Paul Walter Hauser). Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm stars Carey Means as Frylock, Dana Snyder as Master Shake, and Willis as Meatwad. The film also stars Natasha Rothwell and Tim Robinson. The movie was written and directed by Willis and Maiellaro, and produced by Williams Street Productions. Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm will be available for streaming on HBO Max and will air on Adult Swim in 2023.
Lionsgate releases the psychological thriller Devil’s Workshop on Blu-ray Disc and DVD Nov. 8. Emile Hirsch stars as a struggling actor who is desperate for a role as a demonologist. He contacts an expert in devil lore (Radha Mitchell) who forces him to confront his troubling past and perform dark rituals.
Lionsgate releases the psychological thriller Dig on Blu-ray Disc and DVD Nov. 8. Dig stars Thomas Jane as a man trying to piece together a life shattered by a road rage incident that killed his wife and left his teen daughter (played by Harlow Jane, Thomas Jane’s real-life daughter), deaf and resentful of him. Still hoping to mend things with her a year later, he accepts a contract for a high-paying demolition job in the desolate New Mexico sprawl outside Las Cruces. But when they arrive on site, they are taken hostage by a dangerous couple (Emile Hirsch and Liana Liberato) who will stop at nothing to retrieve what lies beneath the property, forcing the father and daughter to work together to outsmart their captors and survive the grueling night.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Nov. 8 releases Casablanca with a new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray combo pack and a 4K digital release for its 80th anniversary. Starring Academy Award winners Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, the 1942 film has been called “the best Hollywood movie of all time” by famed film critic Leonard Maltin. The winner of three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, Casablanca was directed by Michael Curtiz from a screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch. The screenplay is based on “Everybody Comes to Rick’s,” an unproduced stage play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison. The film was produced by Hal B. Wallis. Casablanca was voted the screen’s greatest love story and the No. 3 film of all time by the American Film Institute (AFI). The classic wartime romance also took Oscars for Michael Curtiz (Directing); Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch (Writing – Screenplay) and the studio (Outstanding Motion Picture). In 1989, the United States Library of Congress selected the film as one of the first for preservation in the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” For its 4K Ultra HD debut, the film was restored and remastered from a 2022 4K 16bit film scan of the best-surviving nitrate film elements. The 4K-scanned digital images went through an extensive digital restoration process to clean and repair the picture for an unprecedented and pristine ultra-high-resolution presentation. The restored images were then graded in high dynamic range, providing the highest fidelity in image contrast and detail retention, by Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging. The original theatrical mono audio has also been newly restored, providing a richer and broader frequency response than previously possible.
Lionsgate Nov. 8 releases the 1988 comedy Earth Girls Are Easy on Blu-ray through its Vestron Video Collector’s Series specialty label. The film stars Geena Davis as a dimwitted valley-girl manicurist whose sunbathing session is interrupted when a spaceship crashes into her pool. She soon befriends the occupants of the vessel — three furry aliens played by Jeff Goldblum, Damon Wayans and Jim Carrey — and gives them a makeover to appear human. With their new disguises, the extraterrestrial trio embarks on a wild weekend filled with partying, police pursuits and interplanetary love. Davis and Goldblum, who were married at the time, had previously starred together in The Fly. The film also represents early roles for Carrey and Wayans, who later appear together on the sketch comedy series “In Living Color” starting in 1990.
The 1979 Clint Eastwood classic Escape From Alcatraz arrives on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc from Kino Lorber. The film finds Eastwood and director Don Siegel reteaming for their fifth and final joint venture. Escape From Alcatraz tells the fascinating story of the only three men ever to escape from the notorious maximum-security prison at Alcatraz, an island in the middle of San Francisco Bay. In 29 years, the seemingly impenetrable federal penitentiary, which housed Al Capone and “Birdman” Robert Stroud, was only broken once — by three men never heard of again. Eastwood portrays Frank Morris, the cunning bank robber who masterminded the elaborately detailed and, as far as anyone knows, ultimately successful, escape. Patrick McGoohan portrays the suspicious warden. Filmed on location in Alcatraz, this reenactment of a true story also co-stars Fred Ward, Roberts Blossom, Jack Thibeau, Paul Benjamin and Larry Hankin. The screenplay is by Richard Tuggle, based on a book by J. Campbell Bruce. The two-disc set features a new HDR/Dolby Vision Master by Paramount Pictures from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, as well as a standard Blu-ray Disc edition of the film.
The Korean horror fantasy sequel The Witch 2: The Other One will be released on digital, DVD and Blu-ray Disc Nov. 8 from Well Go USA Entertainment. In this sequel to the popular Korean sci-fi action thriller The Witch: Part 1 — Subversion, the story moves away from a confined secret lab and out into the real world. After a mysterious girl emerges as the sole survivor of a bloody raid on the research facility behind the top-secret Witch Program, she is rescued by a pair of civilians who soon realize the girl is both very powerful and in very grave danger. However, as the assassins tasked with locating and silencing the girl move ever closer, the lives of everyone around her fall under increasingly great peril.
NCircle Entertainment and Distribution Solutions will release Atomic Cartoons’ The Last Kids on Earth — Book One on digital and DVD Nov. 8. Based on the No. 1 New York Times best-selling children’s book line, the animated series launches on DVD with a 66-minute special episode that won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program. The release includes the bonus episode “Happy Apocalypse to You.” The hugely popular tween series features the voices of Nick Wolfhard (“Smiling Friends,” “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic”), Montse Hernandez (“Jane the Virgin,” “Elena of Avalor’), Garland Whitt (Training Day, Save the Last Dance), as well as a celebrity cast that includes Mark Hamill, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Campbell and Catherine O’Hara. In the series, ever since the monster apocalypse hit town, 13-year-old Jack Sullivan has been living in his tree house. He’s armed it to the teeth with catapults, crossbows and a moat, not to mention video games and an endless supply of snacks scavenged from abandoned stores. But Jack alone is no match for the hordes of Zombies and Winged Wretches and Vine-Thingies, and especially not for the eerily intelligent monster known only as Blarg. So he builds a team: his genius best friend Quint; the reformed middle school bully Dirk; lone wolf survivor June Del Toro; and Jack’s loyal pet monster Rover. With their help, Jack plans to slay Blarg and achieve the ultimate feat of apocalyptic success. A 10-episode Book Two DVD and a 10-episode Book Three DVD will be released in the first quarter of 2023.
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