Likewise, his films are only sporadically shown on television. At least two more, Good Sam (1948) and Once Upon a Honeymoon (1942), exist in compromised video versions. Of the twenty-three sound features McCarey directed, eleven (including possibly his greatest masterpiece, Make Way for Tomorrow ) are either out of print or have never been released on video in his home country.
Part of the neglect results from a problem of access to the movies themselves. When a McCarey film is popularly discussed (or revived) these days, more often than not, the film is Duck Soup (1933) or An Affair to Remember (1957), two works that have their merits but which are a far cry from McCarey’s strongest or most personal work. Yet today, thirty-three years after his death, while Frank Capra, John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock’s legends have only grown and, thanks to auteurism, reputations have been securely established for Howard Hawks, Douglas Sirk, and Nicholas Ray (among others), McCarey is ignored by virtually all but diehard cinephiles. Jean Renoir expressed a once widely held sentiment when he remarked, “McCarey understands people better perhaps than anyone else in Hollywood.” (1) His films were often hugely successful with audiences, and his colleagues admired his work (three Oscars and 36 nominations for his films, fan letters reportedly from Chaplin and Capra, etc). Of the greatest directors of the Classic Hollywood era, Leo McCarey’s work and reputation are today among the most popularly and critically neglected. July 5, 1969, Santa Monica, California, USA
October 3, 1898, Los Angeles, California, USAĭ.