The Extras
As with all Criterion releases, Make Way for Tomorrow is beautifully packaged, adorned with lovely cartoon artwork by Seth. Included on the disc are two 20-minute video overviews of McCarey's career and the making of Make Way for Tomorrow: "Tomorrow, Yesterday, and Today," with filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich; and an interview with film critic Gary Giddins. To be honest, I enjoyed these retrospectives more than I did the actual movie. Both Bogdanovich and Giddins are extremely knowledgable and fascinating speakers. They outline McCarey's beginnings as a lawyer so bad he was "chased out of court and ran all the way to Hollywood," where he paired Laurel and Hardy, and began making silent comedies. They recount Make Way for Tomorrow's reception, Giddins recalling one reviewer who liked the film but couldn't recommend it because it would ruin your day (after all, its audience was already suffering through the Depression). John Ford, Frank Capra, and George Bernard Shaw were all huge admirers of the movie. Bogdanovich remembers asking Orson Welles if he'd ever seen it, to which Welles responded, "Oh my God! That's the saddest movie ever made! It would make a stone cry!"
Also included is a booklet containing three essays: "Make Way for Lucy..." by Tad Gallagher, who illustrates the effectiveness of McCarey's technique, drawing comparions to Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story; "We Laugh, and Our Hearts Ache" by Bertrand Tavernier, a French filmmaker who recalls witnessing the film for the first time and preparing it for its much belated French debut in the 1960s; and "With This Ending, I Thee Unwed" by the late Robin Wood, who superbly dissects the ten key episodes of the movie's incredible final act.
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