# Need yet another movie ID'd

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-yet-another-movie-idd/310002>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 27, 2005, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-yet-another-movie-idd/310002 "2005-06-27T05:13:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lost\_in\_cyberspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6a8cbe/32.png) [@lost\_in\_cyberspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost_in_cyberspace)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-yet-another-movie-idd/310002/1 "2005-06-27T05:13:47Z")

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I watched this movie as a kid on TV but still remember it vividly, I’m pretty sure it was in black & white. The story was basically … a black women (I think she was a maid) who was single & had a child who looked pure caucasion. The kid grew up hating her mother cause she was black, the child was extremely cruel to her and would not admit that this women was her mother, despite the fact that she was a wonderful mother to her. The little bitch grew up and moved away, never contacting her mother and I believe became a movie star, the whole time hiding her heritage and nobody had a clue. Her mother died at the end of the movie and then the cruel daughter broke down, realized what she had done and how she had treated her and showed up at her funeral in hysterics. It was a great movie, or so I thought back then and have always wanted to see it again. I would guess it would be a 50’s or 60’s movie. Anybody have a clue??? TIA

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**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-yet-another-movie-idd/310002/2 "2005-06-27T05:28:25Z")

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Imitation of Life (1959)

> **[Imitation of Life (1959) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052918/)**
>
> Imitation of Life: Directed by Douglas Sirk. With Lana Turner, John Gavin, Sandra Dee, Susan Kohner. An aspiring white actress takes in an African-American widow whose mixed-race daughter is desperate to be seen as white.

> [@](#):
>
> The greatness in this movie essentially lies in the two black characters.The scene at school when the young daughter is ashamed of her mother is unforgettable.As for Juanita Moore’s funeral,it might be the most moving final a movie can have: a cast of thousands ,Mahalia Jackson,and the prodigal daughter who cries over her mother’s coffin screaming “forgive me mama”.Douglas Sirk gets away with the honors:such a tear-jerker screenplay could have been disastrous with any lesser talent.The Lana Turner/John Gavin affair is much more conventional and the story of the woman who prefers movie stardom (imitation of life?) to the warm love of a good man

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**Author:** ![lost\_in\_cyberspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6a8cbe/32.png) [@lost\_in\_cyberspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost_in_cyberspace)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-yet-another-movie-idd/310002/3 "2005-06-27T13:23:57Z")

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GIGO, thanks soooo much, this is it for sure … I’m going to try and order this, can’t wait to watch it again!! Hope its as good as I thought it was back then. Unlike Night Gallery, man-o-man is that a lame show as an adult, but scared the sh\*t out of me when I was a kid