Region 4 Winners and Losers

    Imitation of Life has been released on DVD in different Regions, both as a single release and in DVD Collection Box Sets.

     Universal Pictures has released the film onto DVD twice in Region 1 in the United States. The first time was with only the theatrical trailer as an extra. The second release was a special edition which included an audio commentary by film historian Avery Clayton, the 1934 version of the film by John Stahl on a separate DVD, and a retrospective documentary with Juanita Moore: Lasting Legacy - An Imitation of Life.

     The Region 2 United Kingdom version contains no extras. It is also available in the 7-disc Directed By Douglas Sirk Box Set which includes Has Anyone Seen My Gal?, All I Desire, Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, Written On The Wind, The Tarnished Angels and Imitation Of Life.

     The Region 2 French Carlotta release comes as a 2-disc standalone version or as part of a Box Set. The transfer is 7.2 gb in size with an average bitrate of 7.68 m/b per sec. The 2-disc standalone release includes the 1934 John Stahl version of Imitation of Life, a 20-minute feature by Jean-Loup Bourget entitled Shards of Melodrama (in French), a 15-minute reflection by Christophe Honore on the film (again in French) and a 45-minute featurette - Born to be Hurt: Sam Staggs on Douglas Sirk's 'Imitation of Life' (in English). The excellent 8-disc Douglas Sirk Collection, Vol. 1 Box Set including the four films Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, A Time to Love and a Time to Die and Imitation of Life. This Box Set includes the original John Stahl versions of Magnificent Obsession and Imitation of Life, interviews with Jean-Loup Bourget and Philippe le Guay on Magnificent Obsession, reflections on Imitation of Life by Christophe Honore and Sam Staggs, an analytical discussion on the melodrama of Sirk and Stahl by Jean-Loup Bourget, discussions on All That Heaven Allows by Todd Haynes, William Reynolds and Rainer Werner Fassbinder (in textual form) and an audio commentary by François Ozon, a documentary on Imitation of Life, an interview with Wesley Strick and voiceover analysis of Imitation of Life from Douglas Sirk and Jean-Luc Godard.

     The Region 4 Madman Directors Suite release is available as a 3-disc standalone version or in the 9-disc Douglas Sirk King of Hollywood Melodrama Box Set. Both releases use the same 1:85:1 transfer with an average bitrate of 8.22 m/b per sec. The 3-disc release includes the 1934 version of the film on the second disc, a featurette on Lana Turner and the same Sam Staggs extra that appears on the French Region 2 Carlotta release, Born to be Hurt: Sam Staggs on Douglas Sirk's 'Imitation of Life' . The 9-disc Box Set includes the films No Room for the Groom, All I Desire, Magnificent Obsession, Taza, Son of Cochise, All That Heaven Allows, There's Always Tomorrow, A Time to Love and a Time to Die, The Tarnished Angels and Imitation of Life. This includes an interview with Tony Curtis on No Room for the Groom, a 60-minute documentary featuring interviews with Douglas Sirk from 1982 entitled Days of Sirk, an interview with actors Pat Crowley and Gigi Perreau and an interview with director Allison Anders on There's Always Tomorrow, a discussion with Wesley Strick on A Time to Love and a Time to Die and audio commentaries by Therese Davies on All I Desire, Mark Nicholls on Magnificent Obsession and All That Heaven Allows, John Flaus and Adrian Martin on There's Always Tomorrow, Ross Gibson on A Time to Love and a Time to Die, Adrian Martin on Tarnished Angels and Angela Ndalianis on Imitation of Life.

     The Region 2 Carlotta and Region 4 Madman Box Sets are wonderful releases, with the Region 4 the pick for English-speaking fans of Sirk's work. The Region 4 Madman Directors Suite release of Imitation of Life is the best standalone DVD release currently available in English.