Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

Truly Dreadful Film

Great Film overall

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Watched it again this morning, although by chance--TCM had no 'description available' so had I not recognized the film I might have passed it by. Every time I watch I am saddened by the shallowness and callousness of the adult children who can't seem to get over their own 'importance' to lend a hand to their aging parents who at the sunset of their lives are in a real bind. The ending breaks my heart each time I see it. Great movie. Still relevant and still has a lesson to teach whether it be playing bridge or iPhoning. Self-centeredness crosses all time and barriers. Beautiful acting and story line. Who stays together for 50 years anymore?

This movie is not ALL about old parents and their's five children. Many reviewers kinda miss a point I think.This movie is also about LOVE.A love, for which we all seek, all dream to feel, TRUE LOVE. A love, so strong and pure, that will melt your heart and make you weep. A love, some say old fashioned, but love doesn't got old. It evolves in something more, a commitment, partnership, respect, care for each other and even children. In this case, 5 of them. And they love them all. Closing scenes give us, powerful goodbyes. Oh, and it's not that their children don't love them. BUT....

When you look at an old married couple, or visit a retirement center, it may make you think that one day you'll be like them, but you can never imagine how fast that time will go by."Make Way for Tomorrow" is about the gap between the elderly and the young that separates them permanently. When Lucy Copper and Barkley Cooper are kicked out of their homes, they are forced to live apart from each other with their now 40 year old children. This provides the basis for many heart wrenching moments showing the relationship between the old and the young and everyone's eventual path in life. Lucy and Barkley's children try to be polite to their parents, but generally look at them as a burden, with Barkley becoming sick and Lucy constantly barging in and inserting herself into others business so she doesn't have to be unbearably lonely all of the time, now that she is away from her husband. The parents both still hold out hope that Barkley will get a job and they will live together one day, but as we scene in one heart breaking scene in which Lucy confesses that now that they no longer think about dancing and parties at their age, all she wants to do is hide from the inevitable outcome of their situation. But as the movie goes on, she finally accepts, in yet another devastating scene, that she should admit defeat and go to a women's retirement home so she can get out of her kids way, but she makes her kids promise not to tell her husband, because it would tear him apart. But they still have just 5 more hours together before Barkley leaves, in which they can forget about everything else and just live with each other like they used to. These last scenes are like watching a long, bittersweet dying breath in which they know that this will all be over in only a matter of hours, but in the moment they don't think about it and don't care. This only makes the goodbye that much worse as we see Lucy's face in the final shot just after her husband leaves in which the seems the situation has just sunk in.

Every now and then, TCM rebroadcasts Leo McCarey's MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW. And every time it airs, I have to ask-- are conditions for elderly folks better now than they were in 1937?This story haunts me a bit, I must confess, because I don't think conditions have improved too much in America since the film was made and first seen. We have just as many older folks in our country living at or near the poverty level as we ever did.The phrase 'over the hill and to the poor house' is just as relevant as ever. Except one main difference is that the plight of senior citizens is no longer viable subject matter for movies in age- conscious Hollywood.