From acclaimed comedic director, Leo McCarey – whose career includes early Our Gang (Little Rascals) shorts, Marx Brothers movies, Laurel and Hardy and Cary Grant – comes the most depressing film you or anyone will ever see. Seriously, if you plan to watch this movie, bring the tissues. Orson Welles famously quipped that Make Way for Tomorrow could “make a stone cry.” I haven’t put this theory to the test with my pet rock yet, but I know it works on me.

It stars Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi as an elderly couple, an odd choice considering they were 61 and 49 at the time of the film’s release. Victor Moore was known for stage work as well as his appearance in several comedies and early musical spectacles including Swing Time, The Seven-Year Itch, and a favorite Christmas movie of mine, It Happened on 5th Avenue. Beulah Bondi was most famous for being Jimmy Stewart’s mother in at least four movies: Of Human Hearts, Vivacious Lady, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It’s a Wonderful Life. Oh, and she was in a couple of episodes of The Waltons. Anyway, what I’m trying to get at here is that by 1937, when Make Way for Tomorrow was released, they were both already veterans of the industry, and it shows.

Barkley and Lucy Cooper are losing their house to foreclosure because Barkley is unable to get a job due to his age. They reach out to their children to let them know and a decision is made for them to move in with them until Barkley can secure employment. The only snag is that only one of their children, daughter Nell, has room for both of them and requests three months to talk her husband into the idea. So, for the meantime, the parents are split up between daughter Cora, and son George. However, it doesn’t take long for the parents’ presence to get on their nerves, and soon Cora and George are both looking for ways to get each parent out of their respective houses. Nell also makes very little attempt to sway her husband to taking them both in, and eventually bows out of the plan. Barkley and Lucy begin to feel unwanted when Cora encourages Barkley to get rid of his cold by staying with their other daughter in warmer California and Lucy finds out that George has secretly been looking into retirement homes.

It’s all downhill from there. Make Way for Tomorrow has a purpose, or really, three purposes. 1. To make you cry, 2. To make you want to hug your parents, and 3. To argue for Social Security (which at the time of the movie was only in the early stages of development). It handles all three superbly. What makes the film so captivating and not some proto Soap Opera is mostly the script. The characters feel real, and their dialogue is genuine when it could easily fall into schmaltzy territory. The script writer, Viña Delmar, deserves particular recognition. She only ever wrote two screenplays – this one, and another Leo McCarey film released in the same year, The Awful Truth – and they’re both outstanding. It’s a shame she didn’t write more of them. Besides writing these screenplays, she spent most of her time writing novels and short stories, and being the model for the flapper girls of the 1920s.

Speaking of The Awful Truth – the Cary Grant comedy was the movie and the year (1937, same as Make Way for Tomorrow) Leo McCarey won his first Academy Award for Directing. In his speech, he famously said, “Thanks, but you gave it to me for the wrong picture,” referring to Make Way for Tomorrow, which he considered the greatest film he ever made. Considering his filmography, that’s saying something. This man gave us Duck Soup, Ruggles of Red Gap, Good Sam, Going My Way, The Bells of St. Mary’s, Love Affair and its remake, An Affair to Remember, just to name a few.

Make Way for Tomorrow is absolutely some of the best work Old Hollywood has to offer, and it’s a tragedy it hasn’t gotten the recognition it deserves. Whether you want to watch a tearjerker, an older film, or just something you’ve possibly never heard of, then definitely give this one a try. Just remember what I said before, “Bring the tissues.”

Bonus Review: Tokyo Story

Tokyo Story is a loose remake of Make Way for Tomorrow by the Japanese director, Yasujiro Ozu. It follows a very similar plot of an older couple visiting their children and discovering that their presence is mostly unwelcome, and therefore shares the same themes of the growing gap of understanding between generations. However, both films are very particular to their times. In Make Way for Tomorrow, the parents are losing their house due to economic reasons during the Great Depression, while in Tokyo Story, there’s a greater emphasis on Japanese culture coming out of World War II – urban versus rural; industrialization versus traditionalism.

While I give the edge to Make Way for Tomorrow, there are some things that Tokyo Story does better than its predecessor. For one, I believe the older couple have more agency in Tokyo Story. They are burdens to their children, but they could remove themselves from the situation at any time and aren’t just stuck sitting there, making their children’s lives miserable. For another, and probably most important, is the inclusion of the widowed daughter-in-law, Noriko. Her love and compassion for her in-laws particularly shines against the frustrations of the blood relations. It doubles down on the importance that Japanese culture places on family. Besides that, she’s the absolute best character in the whole thing.

For those of you who already feel yourself sucking in air through your teeth at the thought of watching a foreign film with subtitles, you honestly may want to avoid this one. I struggle with Ozu films myself. They are incredibly slow-moving, Tokyo Story especially, and the camera is always static. I promise you, though: if you give it a chance, it will reward you in the end. Tokyo Story is a beautiful film experience.