This is an amazingly movie about the negative impact of aging for those who lived a good life, but just didn't have enough financial wealth to let them live well in their final years.
The movie opens with Barkley and Lucy Cooper bringing four of their five adult children together. The fifth, Addie, lives in California. The four adult children are George, Nell, Cora and Robert. Barkley and Lucy announce that due to four years of unemployment their bank account is empty and their house is in foreclosure. They inform the children that they have to move out within a few days. The siblings try to determine what to do and who will take the parents in temporarily or permanently. Robert is immediately taken off the list as is the sibling who lives in California. Robert is the youngest, unmarried and doesn't exactly appear to be financially secure. The most obvious sibling to take the parents is Nell, who appears to be the wealthiest of the siblings. She; however, requests that the parents stay with the other siblings for a bit so that she can ask her husband. One can tell that she doesn't like the idea of her parents staying with her at all and is just trying to push the parents off. Due to housing limitations, the parents are split. Barkley goes to live with Cora while Lucy goes with George.
Now many movies in that time period discuss the topic of extended families. For example, in Meet Me in St. Louis, one of the grandfathers lives with the family. Perhaps he is a slight annoyance to his in-law, but the house is huge and all the family members have their own space. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the extended family live in very cramped quarters, but the situation is meant to be seen as humorous. The Catered Affair also has cramped quarters and though there are arguments, the situation still works. Make Way for Tomorrow takes The Catered Affair and increases the pain by a factor of 10.
When it comes to the living situation, the movie focuses mostly on Lucy and her stay with George. George is married to Anita and has a 17 year-old daughter named Rhoda. (It appears that Rhoda is the only grandchild -- though perhaps Addie has children.) The family is middle-class. In order to earn additional money, probably to send Rhoda off to college, Anita teaches Bridge classes to people in their home. This causes problems when Lucy disrupts the class for a variety of reasons and therefore potentially damages the financial well-being of the family. Though initially resentful, Rhoda actually appears to take a liking to her grandmother, but perhaps this is more of a manipulative move as she tells her grandmother than she is going out on the town with a 35 year-old (notice 35 versus 17) and asks her grandmother to keep it a secret. This results in a major issue when the daughter doesn't come home from the date. The situation isn't explained in great detail, but somehow the daughter gets arrested and is released. This causes both George and Anita to look into moving Lucy into a nursing home (a move that the other sibling Nell was trying to push).
The movie gives a little less time to Barkley's time with Cora. Cora is definitely the poorest of the siblings. She and her husband live in a 1 bedroom apartment and so the father sleeps in the living room. When the father comes down with an illness, you see the evilness of Cora. When Barkley's friend comes by with chicken soup, the daughter treats the friend rudely. She also devises a plot that her father needs a warmer client and should therefore move to California with the unseen daughter.
We have the final set up. The children are unable to deal with their parents so after 50 years of marriage, Barkley will be sent off to California and Lucy will be sent to a nursing home. The two spend their last day together, strolling around the city. Most of the time is spent at the hotel they stayed at for their honeymoon. The manager of the hotel treats them with care, comping their drinks and dinner. As night falls, the two of them go alone to the train station that is meant for Barkley. The children are no where to be seen. Instead, they're grouped together in one of the sibling's homes. The children reflect on how terrible they are as children.
This is a really difficult subject matter of a movie. There is no uplifting ending. Instead, you just feel sorrow as the couple are split up for good, unlikely to ever see each other again after 50 years of marriage.
And are the children really that terrible? One doesn't know enough about Robert to really say though he definitely isn't ever seen coming over to visit either parent after the initial family meeting. He could definitely have relieved some of the pressures that were on George and his wife. As for the fifth sibling, Addie, nothing is said about any pushback so you have to assume she willingly took in her father (at the end of the credits). One can't really blame George for looking to move Lucy to a nursing home. In today's culture, that definitely isn't something to cause consternation, but in this 1937 movie it does feel taboo. Lucy has caused issues for the family. As mentioned, their financial situation could potentially get damaged if they continue to allow Lucy to stay (fewer Bridge clients). She is also a major reason why Rhoda has turned into a problem child. And though the maid appears to at least somewhat get along with Lucy, it has also caused work stress and the maid has hinted at quitting. Though you can be sympathetic to George and his family, a similar view can't be taken with Cora and Nell. Cora comes across as rude and perhaps evil in her attitude towards her father and life in general. And Nell perhaps looks down on her parents for being poor while she is wealthy.
This movie definitely will give you pause about your treatment of elder parents or grandparents. Are you doing all you can to help them in their final years or are you simply rejecting them?
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