This is a bit lesser-known than its 1959 remake but almost as popular. At one time, it was widely preferred. I figured I ought to see both someday and might as well start with the first.
Delilah (Louise Beavers) goes to a wrong address to apply for a housekeeping job but persuades Bea (Claudette Colbert), broke widowed mother to toddler Jessie (Juanita Quigley, later Marilyn Knowlden and Rochelle Hudson), to let her work for room and board for herself and daughter Peola (Dorothy Black, later Fredi Washington). When Bea learns what uniquely excellent pancakes Delilah makes, she shows her own persuasiveness and opens a pancake restaurant, "Aunt Delilah's." After five years, fan Elmer (Ned Sparks) recommends selling the pancake mix; Bea hires him as an exec, and the brand takes off. She and Delilah have never been richer, yet money won't take care of their social difficulties.
The most heartbreaking of those difficulties, for both the characters and the audience, is that Peola is obsessed with passing for White, which she can do well. (Delilah's question to a teacher of "Has she been passing?" confused me at first.) She even takes "Black" as a terrible insult, which it might have been back when "colored" was standard. This, in turn, is quite the insult to Delilah, who will not distance herself from Peola willingly. We don't see Peola given any grief about her heritage, even from surprised peers, but we've all heard stories about what it could be like then.
Other issues (because that couldn't be the most focal) pertain to romance. Bea is too busy to find love again until she finally meets one Steve (Warren William), to Elmer's dismay, partly because he knows and dislikes Steve and partly because business suffers with her distraction. Then undergrad Jessie falls for him too, and Bea fears driving a wedge between her and her daughter, shortly after tension between Delilah and Peola has peaked.
In some ways, this film was progressive for the '30s. The travails of someone of mixed race had never been explored in a major motion picture before, and the Production Code Administration was loath to allow it. Washington really was the mix she played, unlike in the remake. Bea shows great love and respect for Delilah, made clearest at the poignant ending. A trailer even highlighted Beavers and Washington specifically, and some contemporary critics wished Beavers had gotten an Oscar (or at least a nod) five years before Hattie McDaniel.
At the same time, you know Hollywood will never re-remake it, especially now that the RL Aunt Jemima brand is cancelled. Delilah is very much a "mammy" type. Not only is she fine with making less money than Bea; she has no use for independence, asking to stay in Bea's mansion indefinitely. Despite repeatedly urging Bea to look for a second husband, Delilah makes no apparent effort to find one of her own. (It's unclear what the deal was with Peola's father.) And she hardly tries to teach Peola there's no shame in race. Does she believe there is too?
As old melodramas go, IoL is still quite effective. I felt as sorry as I was supposed to. Just be warned that you won't like it if you judge through a purely modern lens.
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