Silent . Black and White . 103 minutes

Shochiku Kamata Studio

Written By
Fushimi Akira
Yasujiro Ozu

Cinematography
Mohara Hideo
Atsuta Yuharu

Cast
Yuji Ichiro (Watanabe Bin)
Saito Tatsuo (Yamamoto Shuichi)
Matsui Junko (Chieko)
Iida Choko (Chieko's Aunt)
Sakamoto Takeshi (Professor)
Okuni Ichiro (Professor Anayama)
Himori Shinichi (Hatamoto)
Ryu Chishu (Student)

Synopsis
Watanabe and Yamamoto are college friends who both fancy a girl called Chieko. One of them announces that there is a room for rent in his living quarters in the hopes of attracting her. The other has afternoon tea with her, but embarrasses himself as he tries to hide the wet paint on his hands. After their year end exam, the boys go to a skiing resort with other classmates and there they run into Chieko. However, it turns out that she's there for a matchmaking meeting with their ski club leader Hatamoto. On their way back to Tokyo, they discover they have flunked.

Thoughts from Ozu
This work is a student comedy with ski scenes. The protagonist squats in a lodging by taking down the "Room to Let" sign. Whenever a prospective tenant comes along, he will put him off with nasty words, or lie about having already rented the place. However, if a pretty girl knocks on the door, he would "sacrifice himself" and let her have the room. Of course, he would leave without his belongings. What better excuse that to keep calling on the lady to pick up this or that. In those days, Fushimi Akira and I were always making up stories like that. Many of my work of that period were collaborations with Fushima. When dusk falls, we would walk around Ginza, drink and have dinner, then talk about our script as we made our way to my home in Fukagawa. Then, we would chat, listen to music and brew some English tea. We'd stay up all night like this, and by the crack of dawn, we'd have the outlines of the story. Somehow, we always managed to come up with a script in one night. Looking back, it really amazes me.

Personal Thoughts and Comments
Days of Youth is the earliest surviving feature film from Ozu (he made seven prior films that have since been lost). It's a remarkable film to watch just to see how Ozu has grown as a filmmaker. His earliest work shares his love and influence of Hollywood comedies and perhaps few films express this more prominently then Days of Youth. Aside from the direct visual references (poster of Seventh Heaven and Claire Bow, or even a character that evokes physical similarities to Harold Lloyd), Days of Youth also shares the spirit of these Hollywood influences (most particularly the light-hearted romantic comedies of Ernst Lubitsch). Of course, Harold Lloyd's influence is evident and Ozu does reveal his early gifts as a visual comedian of sight gags (particularly in the second half of the film at the ski slopes). One of the joys of watching this film is just to observe how Ozu's trademark style and themes had not yet developed in his earliest features. While underneath the surface you can discover some of the roots, this film heavily contrasts his most familiar and memorable masterworks. The opening shots are something you'd never see in Ozu's postwar films, as Days of Youth opens with a circular-motion pan of a series of shots establishing the exterior environment and setting. His trademark "pillow shots" are shown here as point of view shots, and there are far more close-ups, tracking shots, and fades. This film lacks the pure mastery of visual space, composition, and patterns of Ozu's best films, but you can still find some definitive visual motifs (notably a brief shot of a train, and repetitive images of smoke pipes). Above all, Days of Youth is an enjoyable and charming comedy that blends itself as a buddy comedy, a slapstick comedy, and a romantic/love triangle comedy. At the core is a friendship that is shared during "the days of youth". This may be a minor film from Ozu, but it is a wonderful joy to watch both for the entertaining appeal of the film and the earliest surviving work from one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live.