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''Imitation of Life'' is a 1934 American drama film directed by John M. Stahl. The screenplay by William Hurlbut, based on Fannie Hurst's 1933 novel of the same name, was augmented by eight additional uncredited writers, including Preston Sturges and Finley Peter Dunne. The film stars Claudette Colbert, Warren William and Rochelle Hudson and features Louise Beavers and Fredi Washington. The film was originally released by Universal Pictures on November 26, 1934, and later re-issued in 1936. A 1959 remake with the same title stars Lana Turner. In 2005, ''Imitation of Life'' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. It was named by ''Time'' in 2007 as one of "The 25 Most Important Films on Race".〔(''Imitation of Life'' in ''Time'' )〕 ==Plot== White widow Bea Pullman (Claudette Colbert) and her toddler daughter Jessie (Juanita Quigley, take in black housekeeper Delilah Johnson (Louise Beavers) and her daughter Peola (Sebie Hendricks), whose fair complexion reveals her mixed-race ancestry. Bea exchanges room and board for work, although struggling to make ends meet. Delilah and Peola quickly become like family to Jessie and Bea. They particularly enjoy Delilah's pancakes, made from a special family recipe. Five years later, Jessie (Marilyn Knowlden) and Peola prove to be challenging children to raise: Jessie is demanding, not particularly studious, relying instead on her charm. She is the first person to call Peola "black" in a hurtful way, making it clear that their childhood idyll is doomed. Peola does not tell her classmates at school that she is "colored" and is humiliated when her mother shows up one day, revealing her secret. Selling pancake syrup, Bea finds it difficult to make a living as her husband had done. Using her wiles to get a storefront on the busy Atlantic City boardwalk refurbished for practically nothing, she opens a pancake restaurant, where Delilah cooks in the front window. Later, at the suggestion of a passerby, Elmer Smith (Ned Sparks), she sets up an even more successful pancake flour corporation, marketing Delilah as an Aunt Jemima-like product mascot. She gives Delilah a 20% interest in the business, but Delilah continues to act as Bea's housekeeper and factotum. Bea becomes wealthy from her business, but ten years later, the two older women are confronted with problems. Eighteen-year-old Jessie (Rochelle Hudson), home on college vacation, falls in love with her mother's boyfriend, Stephen Archer (Warren William), who is unaware at first of her affections. Meanwhile, Peola (Fredi Washington), seeking more opportunities in the segregated society, passes as white, identifying with her European ancestry and breaking Delilah's heart. Leaving her Negro college, Peola takes a job as a cashier in a store catering to a white demographic. When her mother and Bea track her down, she is humiliated to be identified as black. She finally tells her mother that she is going away, never to return, so she can pass as a white woman without the fear that Delilah will show up. Her mother is heartbroken and takes to her bed, murmuring Peola's name and forgiving her before eventually succumbing to heartbreak. The black servants sing a spiritual as she dies, with Bea holding her hand at the end. Delilah's last wish had been for a large, grand funeral, complete with a marching band and a horse-drawn hearse. Bea sees to it that Delilah is given the funeral she wished for, and, just before the processional begins, a remorseful, crying Peola appears, begging her dead mother to forgive her. Peola returns to her Negro college and presumably embraces her African descent. Bea breaks her engagement with Stephen, not wanting to hurt her daughter's feelings by being with him, but promises to find him after Jessie is over her infatuation with him. Ultimately, Bea embraces Jessie, remembering the girl's insistent demands for her toy duck (her "quack quack") when she was a toddler. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Imitation of Life (1934 film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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