I purchased this movie because of Louise Beavers. I was impressed with her performance in Mr Blandings Build His Dream House where she does more than hold her own in her all too short appearances with stars like Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas. And I was not disappointed. She really is the solid center of this movie and its true star. She is like some sort of early method actress with a terrific screen presence, and her stile of acting differs remarkably from the more affected ones of her acting colleagues in this movie who come through as real airheads (or, shall we say designer products?) in their imitation of life.<br /><br />Basically I think this is less a movie about race but about Delilah's values – and in this aspect it is an entirely different movie than the remake of 1957. Although beset by a hard and difficult life, Delilah is a balanced person of principle. And she has knowledge, on philosophical as well as practical ways. She accepts her place in society (that is a personal choice, mind you) and aims to make the best out of it. The world of Big Dreams is not hers. Her meeting another women with the daring and the tenaciousness of a dye hard capitalist is, seen in that context, a sort of an accident. This other woman discovers and exploits Delilah's knowledge, first on a small then on a very large scale. Delilah's values lead to commercial success, Delilah's portrait becomes literally a brand (incidentally, a beautiful Art Deco design, not unlike Uncle Ben's). She takes success gracefully, although she does not really care about it. And she knows, there will always be things money can't buy and they most probably will determine your personal happiness. The daughters of the two single mothers seem to symbolize the mean truth, that there are issues that are simply beyond a mother's will and have to be left to godly powers. Delilah's daughter just wants to be an airhead too (that is a personal choice, mind you). She is most happy blending in with the anonymous general crowd of our modern times selling cigars in a store (Fredi Washington's best scene). There's nothing her mother can do about it.<br /><br />MINOR SPOILER AHEAD At the end of the movie, Delilah dies, probably of a broken heart. The world of airheads was too much for that archaic type of good, motherly woman. She leaves a vacuum behind, and people wistfully watch her stylized portrait eternally turning over flickering electric pancakes on the huge billboard on a rooftop. This will forever be a truly modern movie.