make way for tomorrow

[samsong]

there have been and still are several great movies rendered obscure by their unavailability that i've been obsessed with finding and seeing since i decided that i preferred films to people (haha! ha...), the latest of which has been leo mccarey's make way for tomorrow.  now, admittedly the sense of accomplishment and private joy of discovering these movies could very possibly be clouding my judgement but these have consistently been some of the best films i've ever seen--superstar: the karen carpenter story, the conformist (pre-dvd), four nights of a dreamer, distant voices, still lives, jeanne dielman, jacques rivette's films, etc.  as is usually the case with the films i love (that i've just seen), i can only drool over make way for tomorrow, which is useless to do unless other people have either seen it or are remotely interested, so i guess that's the purpose of this post--to find out if either fellow fans or curiosity exist.  i will say though that no other film has made me cry like this one, not even its japanese twin tokyo story, far more moving and certainly more substantive than mccarey's more largely appreciated tear-jerker an affair to remember--more entertaining to boot.

while i'm at it, are there other leo mccarey appreciators here?  i've only seen four of his films but this one, the awful truth, and duck soup were instant favorites upon first viewing.  i feel that he's underappreciated in that you don't hear his name like you do billy wilder, howard hawks, preston sturges, john ford, frank capra, even among the cineaste hollywood favorites like nick ray, anthony mann, william wellman.  he's just as good.

[samsong]

now that this is on dvd, none of you bitches have any excuse.

i always feel a plot summary is a disservice to a great film and that the only appropriate way to talk about one that others haven't seen is to speak purely in impressions and superlatives in an effort to get people to see it, so:

this is one of the greatest films i've ever seen and probably my favorite film of all time.  make way for tomorrow stands alone in its tough, uncompromising humanism that, to reiterate the already redundant quote about this film from orson welles, "could make a stone cry."  much has been made about its handling of themes regarding family and generational dissonance (endless comparisons to tokyo story abound, i myself no exception), but at the heart of the film is maybe the most beautiful and moving (life's worth of) love story ever put on film.  imagine the opening montage of up but as a feature length depression-era drama.  revisiting it today confirmed just how powerful this film is.  i've seen it several times, each time responding with an outpouring of emotion, and yet it managed this time around to be the most visceral viewing yet despite familiarity.  it's as generous and complete a movie experience as i've ever come across.

hopefully some of you get around to seeing it.

[martinthewarrior]

I got a dubbed vhs of this from a friends some time ago, and loved it. Really excited to pick up the Criterion version, for some reason I didn't think it came out until mid March. Glad that's not the case.

Got the awful truth as well, but haven't gotten around to looking at it. I take it you recommend it?

Seems like a good plan for tonight.

[Gold Trumpet]

Samsong, I'm on a budget, but I promise my next DVD purchase will be Make Way for Tomorrow. You've convinced me to buy it.

[matt35mm]

Definitely, you've convinced me to watch it as well.  I'll be renting, though, as I am on enough of a budget to not buy any DVDs right now.  Thanks for bringing this film to our attention; I hadn't heard of it before.

[samsong]

Got the awful truth as well, but haven't gotten around to looking at it. I take it you recommend it?

yup.  every bit as good as the other classic screwball comedies, maybe the most mischievous and outright hilarious of them all. 

[children with angels]

Just watched it. I agree wholeheartedly with Samsong. This has leapt up immediately into the upper echelons of my personal favourite melodramas (and I'm someone who LOVES his melodramas). It's also my favourite McCarey I've seen - and I adore The Awful Truth and Affair to Remember, and have a lot of affection for Duck Soup and My Favorite Wife.

There are so many beautiful moments, so many nuances of performance, so many wonderful little lines and and exchanged glances, but my God - the last thirty minutes...

Spoilers, I guess

Everything beforehand is good, and occasionally very moving, but it's not until we get to that extended period of them together that the film takes off into a whole other realm of feeling. And it's not only devastatingly emotional (the fragility of a determined humanism in the face of life's injustices and sadnesses: this kind of feeling is something classical Hollywood so often found ways to do SO well) - it's also incredibly smart structurally.

To give us this section at the end is to reveal what has been hidden for the rest of the film, and also what is hidden from the younger characters and allows them to behave the way they do: the seriousness of the love, humanity and weight of time that this relationship encompasses, and which forms the unspoken basis for everything else. Early on we feel sorry for the couple in a pathetic way - in other words, we sympathize, which is also the absolute best their children can muster. In the last thirty minutes this changes, and the sustained character access and interaction means we become able to EMPATHIZE. This is a stroke of genius, and manages to say something so true and poignant by using the very form of the film to say it. I haven't cried so much at the end of a movie for ages.

EDIT: A good piece on the film by Dave Kehr in The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/movies/homevideo/21kehr.html

[samsong]

glad you enjoyed it!  the emphasis on empathy is apt (though i wouldn't necessarily limit it to the last half hour), as i think it's something this film exhibits very effectively and makes it the humanist marvel that it is.  jean renoir's tenet "everyone has their reasons" resonates throughout; to suggest that any character in this film is contemptible is to take a position that mccarey doesn't, one of condescension and judgment.  there's a depth in mccarey's  understanding of people and honesty with which its expressed in make way for tomorrow that's profoundly moving.

the third act of make way for tomorrow is truly ethereal and among the very best in all of cinema.  repeat viewings have revealed the ingenuity of the film's construction as a whole; mccarey plays his cards close to his chest for those first two acts to set up transcendence in the third.  the added poignancy of revisiting this film, and one of the mark of any great film, is the awareness and inevitability of the end and seeing how intricately and subtly it's set up throughout the film.

i'll have to check out my favorite wife.  i watched going my way last night.  charming movie, as is its sequel the bells of st. mary's.  both are a little cloying but forgivable in that offense since they're so pleasant and warm.  i really love the ruggles of red gap, really hilarious with a bizarre performance from charles laughton.  simultaneously curious about and afraid of rally 'round the flag, boys!

[md]

Duck Soup was great, having never seen a Marx brother's comedy, they are quite charming.  thanks for the recommendation!

fwiw you can watch make way for tomorrow on youtube:



Edit:
Just rented it from netflix.  Very pretty movie with some very touching moments.  The scene when the friends are playing bridge in the living room and the mother interrupts in such an innocent but characteristically old fashion way was touching.  I bought it for the rents suggest you do too!

[MacGuffin]

Cinematical did a spotlight on Leo McCarey:

http://www.cinematical.com/2010/03/06/directors-we-love-leo-mccarey/

[Gold Trumpet]

Didn't buy the movie, but finally watched this and I am very happy I did. I see how Tokyo Story was a remake of it on so many levels. I spent the movie trying not to compare the two, so for 1937 Hollywood cinema, I loved how satisfactorily quiet this movie was. It's melodrama, but it had chances to fulfil its story with more emotional baggage and it never did. The first scene is a long look into the emotional sleeve of a family. It's to introduce the father's problem with trying to stay in his house, but the movie takes a winded approach to introducing the plot by focusing on the element of discourse between the family. The story never loses that sleeve of realism where you get to care about the small relations between the characters. Well, the development turns into how you care about the elder couple. It becomes about their indirect need for the other in the smallest ways. There is a fulfilment late into the story when they reunite for a short time, but the film still keeps the moisture of the story dampened to allude our cliche expectations by making it about elemental details of life.

It reminded me of Brief Encounter, but that was 1940s British cinema adapting full realist theater. The good award for that film is that it was able to fully translate a tone of theater for cinema, but good to see an American movie get it right early on when the expectation level wasn't there for the project. The filmmakers behind this movie just knew their approach was right for the story. I wish more films from this era had a better understanding of how to approach their stories.

[Alexandro]

finally saw it. it's a masterpiece, very high up there. I can imagine seeing it many times and being more won over with each one. loved the performances and the way the film just was able to go from awkwardness to laughs and sadness in the same scene over and over.

the third act is pure magic.

[samsong]

so glad at least a few of you got around to seeing this.  alexandro, i can attest to its rewatchability.  i've seen it four times now -- once with my parents... that was rough -- and it's just as powerful and lovely with each revisit.  i left the dvd at home when i moved back to new york and i find myself missing the movie, though part of me is glad not to have it here too.   i'm still completely enamored with its humanism but good god is it an emotionally draining film.