Review of Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) by Lee Anne W — 04 Oct 2013

This first caught my eye when the Criterion DVD came out, with a cover illustration by Seth, my favorite comic artist. It was directed by Leo McCarey, who also made some of the best movies of the 1930s (Duck Soup, The Awful Truth, and Love Affair--which he later remade as An Affair to Remember).

Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi (Ma Bailey in "It's a Wonderful LIfe") play an old couple who lose the family home when he loses his job. Their bratty children (including Thomas Mitchell, aka Uncle Billy from IAWL) selfishly refuse to sacrifice their lifestyles to take in their parents as a couple, as they get shunted off alone and apart.

What makes this such a great movie is that, at first, the movie makes sure that they're no angels, either. Lucy is a meddling, "don't mind me; I'll just sit in my rocking chair while you host your bridge party" intrusion, while Pa is a helpless failure, that you almost sympathize with their shitty children.

Then, before Pa gets shipped off to California and Lucy is being bullied into a home for elderly ladies, the couple spends one last day together, and you fall in love with them. It's a heartbreaker.

What a sweet, charming movie.