Tomorrow Is Here

What did I do late on Christmas Eve?  Watched Leo McCarey's Make Way For Tomorrow (1937).  I hadn't seen it in years, and it's rarely on TV.

It was McCarey's personal favorite.  When he won the Oscar for The Awful Truth that year, he said "you gave it to me for the wrong picture." It's a story about an old couple who lose their house and have to live separately with their adult children.  The final third of the film has their last outing before they're split apart.

The film was not a hit, and I can see why.  People like tearjerkers, but not this kind. (It also features only characters actors, no stars--Victor Moore, Beulah Bondi, Fay Bainter, Thomas Mitchell.) McCarey was no doubt pressured to create a happy ending, but he knew that would be a cheat.

The film isn't that well known, but is held in high esteem among those who've seen it.  Still, I wouldn't recommend it for the holidays.