Make Way for Tomorrow

Dir. Leo McCarey. 1937, 92 mins. 35mm. With Beulah Bondi, Victor Moore, Thomas Mitchell, Fay Bainter. When McCarey won the Best Director Oscar in 1937 for his sparkling screwball comedy The Awful Truth, he stood up and said, “You gave it to me for the wrong picture!” He was referring to the other masterpiece he made that year: Make Way for Tomorrow, his emotionally overwhelming drama about an elderly couple (Bondi and Moore) who have been evicted from their beloved home and must move in with their adult children, whose selfishness and neglect of their parents ultimately lead to the loving couple’s separation. Wrenching and poignant, McCarey’s film—a direct influence on Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story—is one of the great Hollywood tearjerkers, avoiding melodrama in favor of a lived-in, detailed delineation of the subtle, gradual ways that families disintegrate. With all due respect to The Awful Truth, certainly one of the greatest of all romantic comedies, McCarey may have been right. 

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.