John Stahl’s original adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s then-current (1933) novel was conservative, but because the Depression was a far more progressive period than the conformist 1950s, it comes across today as considerably more enlightened. The black cook who moves in with the white heroine – Delilah (Louise Beavers) in the original, Annie (Juanita Moore) in the remake – is not really an equal, but at least she’s a business partner, and the film’s title is perhaps best illustrated by her manufactured smile, delivered on request to create an advertising logo for her pancakes. Her light-skinned daughter who passes for white is significantly played by a black actress (Fredi Washington) instead of a white one (Susan Kohner in the Sirk), and her mother is noticeably blacker, making the existential terms of the debate far more stark and honest.