Maidgethma Wonderfully offbeat film!

Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

dbdumonteil Anderson's movie is derivative.It looks like lite Douglas Sirk: the spoiled kid sister (played by Susan Kohner who worked with Sirk) is not unlike Marylee (Dorothy Malone) in "Written on the wind" ;besides ,Ruby's funeral will fatally make you think of that of Annie in "Imitation of life" ,a black choir singing "Free at last" replacing Mahalia Jackson.The screenwriters also borrow from Kazan's "splendor in the grass" as far as the two leads' fate is concerned.And the baby trick was used a hundred times or more in the thirties and forties melodramas (notably Bette Davis' "the big lie" and "the old maid" ;Olivia De Havilland' s "to each his own").Having said this,one must credit Natalie Wood for making the best of the stereotyped part of a go-getter;Robert Wagner's moody looks work wonders too when he plays the trumpet and in the scene when he backs Pearl Bailey's impressive vocals.This is the kind of movie they don't do anymore;this is the kind of story which could go on and on and on and on;in a word,it's the perfect soap opera ,and it still exists today in the form of the TV series.Like this?try these.......Peyton Place Mark Robson 1957Imitation of life Douglas Sirk 1959

Ripshin The opening twenty, or so, minutes of this film are ludicrous, and I had to force myself to stay away from the delete button on my DVR. Pretty couple Wagner & Wood unconvincingly play two white-trash Texas teenagers, utilizing some of the worst faux Texas/Southern accents to ever grace (or in this case, disgrace) the screen. Granted, once the film has Pearl Bailey to work with, there are some nice moments, but they are few and far between.Hamilton has little to do, and Susan Kohner plays spoiled rich girl Catherine so broadly, you expect the character to grow horns and carry around a pitchfork.Sets and costumes are the usual MGM glam.

thomas e hardesty the movie was one of my favorites because it shadowed my own life to a certain degree. it seemed so real to me it was scary. i love natalie wood and robert wagner and i felt for both of them in this film as though it was really happening. susan kohner was a very beautiful girl and i fell for her hook line and sinker

david Sex and drugs in the Big City are too much for the young country rearedSouthern ladies and gents to bear, in this well over the top and veryflorid meller, directed by the always unreliable Michael Anderson. ButI was young (23) when I saw it at the Loew's Warfield in San Francisco,with PLATINUM HIGH SCHOOL, on 9-19-60; and it's a movie aimed at a youngaudience. I always loved Natalie Wood, back to when we both were kids;Bob Wagner was a fave since 1950; Susan Kohner caught my eye in TO HELLAND BACK, dazzled the world, and me, in IMITATION OF LIFE. George Hamilton's the odd man out here, but he's credible. Story andtreatment are pure soap, but nothin's wrong with that. The only sour note for me in this lushly produced and always interestingwalk on the 1930s wild side, is the music. Jazz and more jazz; badlyplayed, written, composed and sung. Stops the movie stone cold wheneverthey use it, which is waayy too often. Pearl Bailey's role shoulda beencut. This aside I found it, then and now, an absorbing and watchable dramawith a sterling cast of young stars. The two girls are excellent inevery way. Too long (124), and too much jazzy music -