Review of Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) by Hec T — 30 Jun 2018

Leo Mc Carey delivers a cheerful drama which makes us realize that it is possible to experience being choked up and laugh at the same time with absolutely nothing in-between.

To keep the short story short, Lucy (Beula Bondi) and Barkley Cooper (Victor Moore) are an old couple living the post-depression era, they have given everything to their five children and all they have left is their house and the genuine love for each other. Both are forced to take separate ways when they loose their house for financial reasons and none their children are able to take both parents in. After spending some months apart, they have the chance to spend what seems to be their last day together.

Mc Carey's knowledge of human beings is staged in Make Way For Tomorrow and satisfactorily gets our sensibility through merely situational moments. No repair is allowed in the whole duration of the film, as all the time one feels both, amazed and shattered. Sad moments are not created by meanness, there is no evil within characters, it is the kindness of people that stands out in almost every situation. After two thirds of the movie a screwball in the storyline takes place and even the universe conspires to create magical atmospheres.

The ending scene must be one of the most heartrending in the history of cinema and whoever is not torn apart by it, can not be considered human. If film-making is about arousing people's emotions and transcending through time, then Make Way For Tomorrow successfully achieves both, making it one of the best films ever made.