Make Way for Tomorrow
Encyclopedia
Make Way for Tomorrow is a 1937 American drama film
directed by Leo McCarey
. The plot concerns an elderly couple (Victor Moore
and Beulah Bondi
) who are forced to separate when they lose their house and none of their five children will take both parents in.
The film was written by Viña Delmar
, from a play by Helen Leary and Noah Leary, which was in turn based on the novel
The Years Are So Long by advice columnist Josephine Lawrence.
McCarey believed that this was his finest film. When he accepted his Academy Award for Best Director for The Awful Truth
, which was released the same year, he said "Thanks, but you gave it to me for the wrong picture."
In 2010, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"
The two burdened families soon come to find the respective parents' presence bothersome. Nell's efforts to talk her husband into helping are half-hearted and achieve no success, and she reneges on her promise to eventually take them in. While Barkley continues looking for work to allow him and his wife to live independently again, it is obvious that he has little or no prospect of success. When Lucy continues to speak optimistically of the day that he will find work, her teenage granddaughter bluntly advises her to "face facts" that it will never happen because of his age. Lucy's sad reply is to say that "facing facts" is easy for a carefree 17-year old girl, but that at Lucy's age, the only fun left is "pretending that there ain't any facts to face ... so would you mind if I just kind of went on pretending?"
With no end in sight to the uncomfortable living situation, each of the host families looks for a way to get the parent they are hosting out of their house. When Barkley catches a cold, his daughter Cora seizes upon it as a pretext to assert that his health demands a milder climate, thus necessitating that he move to California to live with daughter Addie there. Meanwhile, son George and his wife Anita begin planning to move Lucy into a retirement home. Lucy accidentally finds about their plans, but rather than force George into the awkward position of breaking the news to her, she goes to him first and claims that she wants to move into the home. Meanwhile Barkley resigns himself to his fate of having to move thousands of miles away, though he too is entirely aware of his daughter's true motivation for sending him.
On the day Barkley is to depart by train, he and Lucy make plans to go out and spend one last afternoon together before having a farewell dinner with the four children. The couple have a fantastic time strolling around the city and reminiscing about their happy years together, even visiting the same hotel in which they had stayed on their honeymoon 50 years prior. Their day is made so pleasant partly because of the kindness of various people they encounter, who, although strangers, seem to find them a charming couple, to genuinely enjoy their company and to treat them with deference and respect. This, of course, stands in stark contrast to the treatment the two are receiving from their children, and eventually Barkley and Lucy decide to continue their wonderful day by skipping the farewell dinner and dining at the hotel instead.
When Barkley informs their daughter of their decision with a blunt phone call, it prompts introspection among the four children. Son Robert suggests that each of the children has always known that collectively they are "probably the most good-for-nothing bunch of kids that were ever raised, but it didn't bother us much until we found out that Pop knew it too." George notes that it is now so late in the evening that they won't even have time to meet their parents at the train station to see their father off. He says that he deliberately let the time pass until it was too late because he figured their parents would prefer to be alone. Nell objects that if they don't go to the station, their parents "will think we're terrible", to which George matter-of-factly replies, "Aren't we?"
At the train station, Lucy and Barkley say their farewells to one another. On the surface, their conversation echoes Lucy's comments to her granddaughter about preferring to pretend, rather than facing facts. Barkley tells Lucy that he will soon find a job in California and then quickly send for her, and Lucy replies that she is sure he will do so. They then offer each other a truly final goodbye, saying that they are doing so "just in case" they do not see each other again because "anything could happen". Each makes a heartfelt statement reaffirming their lifelong love for the other, in what seems an unspoken acknowledgment that this is almost certainly their final moment together.
reportedly said of Make Way for Tomorrow, "It would make a stone cry," and rhapsodized about his enthusiasm for the film in his booklength series of interviews with Peter Bogdanovich
, This Is Orson Welles
. In Newsweek
magazine, famed documentary filmmaker Errol Morris
named it his number one most important film, stating "The most depressing movie ever made, providing reassurance that everything will definitely end badly."
Make Way for Tomorrow also earned good reviews when originally released in Japan, where it was seen by screenwriter Kogo Noda
. Years later, it provided an inspiration for the script of Tokyo Story
(1953), written by Noda and director Yasujiro Ozu
.
Roger Ebert
added this film to his "Great Movies" list on February 11, 2010, writing:
This film is now part of the Criterion Collection, describing it as "...one of the great unsung Hollywood masterpieces, an enormously moving Depression-era depiction of the frustrations of family, aging, and the generation gap...Make Way for Tomorrow is among American cinema’s purest tearjerkers, all the way to its unflinching ending, which McCarey refused to change despite studio pressure.
In 2010, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
by the Library of Congress
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"..
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Leo McCarey
Leo McCarey
Thomas Leo McCarey was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. During his lifetime he was involved in nearly 200 movies, especially comedies...
. The plot concerns an elderly couple (Victor Moore
Victor Moore
Victor Frederick Moore was an American actor of stage and screen, as well as a comedian, writer, and director.-Personal life:...
and Beulah Bondi
Beulah Bondi
Beulah Bondi was an American actress.Bondi began her acting career as a young child in theater, and after establishing herself as a stage actress, she reprised her role in Street Scene for the 1931 film version...
) who are forced to separate when they lose their house and none of their five children will take both parents in.
The film was written by Viña Delmar
Viña Delmar
Viña Delmar was a twenteth century American author, playwright, and screenwriter. With the editorial assistance of her husband, Eugene, she wrote or adapted about twenty plays which were produced as films during her lifetime—a career that lasted from 1929 to 1956...
, from a play by Helen Leary and Noah Leary, which was in turn based on the novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
The Years Are So Long by advice columnist Josephine Lawrence.
McCarey believed that this was his finest film. When he accepted his Academy Award for Best Director for The Awful Truth
The Awful Truth
The Awful Truth is a 1937 screwball comedy film starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. The plot concerns the machinations of a soon-to-be-divorced couple, played by Dunne and Grant, who go to great lengths to try to ruin each other's romantic escapades...
, which was released the same year, he said "Thanks, but you gave it to me for the wrong picture."
In 2010, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"
Plot summary
Barkley and Lucy Cooper are an elderly couple who lose their home to foreclosure, as Barkley has been unable to find employment because of his age. The couple summons four of their five children — the fifth lives thousands of miles away in California — to break the news and decide where they will live until they can get back on their feet. Only one of the children, Nell, has enough space for both, but she asks for three months to talk her husband into the idea. In the meantime, the temporary solution is for the parents to split up and each go to live with a different one of the children.The two burdened families soon come to find the respective parents' presence bothersome. Nell's efforts to talk her husband into helping are half-hearted and achieve no success, and she reneges on her promise to eventually take them in. While Barkley continues looking for work to allow him and his wife to live independently again, it is obvious that he has little or no prospect of success. When Lucy continues to speak optimistically of the day that he will find work, her teenage granddaughter bluntly advises her to "face facts" that it will never happen because of his age. Lucy's sad reply is to say that "facing facts" is easy for a carefree 17-year old girl, but that at Lucy's age, the only fun left is "pretending that there ain't any facts to face ... so would you mind if I just kind of went on pretending?"
With no end in sight to the uncomfortable living situation, each of the host families looks for a way to get the parent they are hosting out of their house. When Barkley catches a cold, his daughter Cora seizes upon it as a pretext to assert that his health demands a milder climate, thus necessitating that he move to California to live with daughter Addie there. Meanwhile, son George and his wife Anita begin planning to move Lucy into a retirement home. Lucy accidentally finds about their plans, but rather than force George into the awkward position of breaking the news to her, she goes to him first and claims that she wants to move into the home. Meanwhile Barkley resigns himself to his fate of having to move thousands of miles away, though he too is entirely aware of his daughter's true motivation for sending him.
On the day Barkley is to depart by train, he and Lucy make plans to go out and spend one last afternoon together before having a farewell dinner with the four children. The couple have a fantastic time strolling around the city and reminiscing about their happy years together, even visiting the same hotel in which they had stayed on their honeymoon 50 years prior. Their day is made so pleasant partly because of the kindness of various people they encounter, who, although strangers, seem to find them a charming couple, to genuinely enjoy their company and to treat them with deference and respect. This, of course, stands in stark contrast to the treatment the two are receiving from their children, and eventually Barkley and Lucy decide to continue their wonderful day by skipping the farewell dinner and dining at the hotel instead.
When Barkley informs their daughter of their decision with a blunt phone call, it prompts introspection among the four children. Son Robert suggests that each of the children has always known that collectively they are "probably the most good-for-nothing bunch of kids that were ever raised, but it didn't bother us much until we found out that Pop knew it too." George notes that it is now so late in the evening that they won't even have time to meet their parents at the train station to see their father off. He says that he deliberately let the time pass until it was too late because he figured their parents would prefer to be alone. Nell objects that if they don't go to the station, their parents "will think we're terrible", to which George matter-of-factly replies, "Aren't we?"
At the train station, Lucy and Barkley say their farewells to one another. On the surface, their conversation echoes Lucy's comments to her granddaughter about preferring to pretend, rather than facing facts. Barkley tells Lucy that he will soon find a job in California and then quickly send for her, and Lucy replies that she is sure he will do so. They then offer each other a truly final goodbye, saying that they are doing so "just in case" they do not see each other again because "anything could happen". Each makes a heartfelt statement reaffirming their lifelong love for the other, in what seems an unspoken acknowledgment that this is almost certainly their final moment together.
Main cast
- Victor MooreVictor MooreVictor Frederick Moore was an American actor of stage and screen, as well as a comedian, writer, and director.-Personal life:...
as Barkley "Pa" Cooper - Beulah BondiBeulah BondiBeulah Bondi was an American actress.Bondi began her acting career as a young child in theater, and after establishing herself as a stage actress, she reprised her role in Street Scene for the 1931 film version...
as Lucy "Ma" Cooper - Thomas MitchellThomas Mitchell (actor)Thomas Mitchell was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. Among his most famous roles in a long career are those of Gerald O'Hara, the father of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, the drunken Doc Boone in John Ford's Stagecoach, and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life...
as George Cooper - Fay BainterFay BainterFay Okell Bainter was an American film and stage actress.-Early life:She was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Charles F. Bainter and Mary Okell. In 1910, she was a traveling stage actress...
as Anita Cooper - Elizabeth Risdon as Cora Payne
- Porter HallPorter HallPorter Hall was an American character actor known for appearing in a number of films in the 1930s and 1940s...
as Harvey Chase
Reception
Orson WellesOrson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
reportedly said of Make Way for Tomorrow, "It would make a stone cry," and rhapsodized about his enthusiasm for the film in his booklength series of interviews with Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter Bogdanovich is an American film historian, director, writer, actor, producer, and critic. He was part of the wave of "New Hollywood" directors, which included William Friedkin, Brian De Palma, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino, and Francis Ford Coppola...
, This Is Orson Welles
This Is Orson Welles
This Is Orson Welles is a 1992 book by Peter Bogdanovich and Orson Welles, two major film directors, one the legendary creator of Citizen Kane, the other a former journalist-turned-popular-moviemaker of The Last Picture Show fame...
. In Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
magazine, famed documentary filmmaker Errol Morris
Errol Morris
Errol Mark Morris is an American director. In 2003, The Guardian put him seventh in its list of the world's 40 best directors. Also in 2003, his film The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.-Early life and...
named it his number one most important film, stating "The most depressing movie ever made, providing reassurance that everything will definitely end badly."
Make Way for Tomorrow also earned good reviews when originally released in Japan, where it was seen by screenwriter Kogo Noda
Kogo Noda
was a Japanese screenwriter most famous for collaborating with Yasujirō Ozu on many of the director's films.Born in Hakodate, Noda was the son of the head of the local tax bureau and younger brother to Kyūho, a Nihonga painter. He moved to Nagoya after completing elementary school and later went to...
. Years later, it provided an inspiration for the script of Tokyo Story
Tokyo Story
is a 1953 Japanese film directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It tells the story of an aging couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children. The film contrasts the behavior of their biological children, who are too busy to pay them much attention, and their daughter-in-law, who treats them with...
(1953), written by Noda and director Yasujiro Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu
was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...
.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
added this film to his "Great Movies" list on February 11, 2010, writing:
"Make Way for Tomorrow" (1937) is a nearly-forgotten American film made in the Depression...The great final arc of "Make Way for Tomorrow" is beautiful and heartbreaking. It's easy to imagine it being sentimentalized by a studio executive, being made more upbeat for the audience. That's not McCarey. What happens is wonderful and very sad. Everything depends on the performances."
This film is now part of the Criterion Collection, describing it as "...one of the great unsung Hollywood masterpieces, an enormously moving Depression-era depiction of the frustrations of family, aging, and the generation gap...Make Way for Tomorrow is among American cinema’s purest tearjerkers, all the way to its unflinching ending, which McCarey refused to change despite studio pressure.
In 2010, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
by the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"..