1936
College is a Nice Place

Daigaku yoi toko

Thoughts from Ozu:
The plot evolves around some students staying at the same boarding house. The student life depicted was not happy at all. It was a dark film.

1935
An Innocent Maid

Hakoiri musume

Thoughts from Ozu:
I was told An Innocent Maid was to be made as a series, but in the end, this was the only film that materialized. As it was a festive film, it was planned for a two-week screening during New Year. Crank up date was set for December, 30 but the camera was out of order, so we worked through New Years Eve and finished on the morning of New Years Day. I still remember how everyone looked - their faces unshaven, eating celebratory zoni (rice-cakes boiled with vegetables).

1932
Until the Day We Meet Again

Mata au hi made

Thoughts from Ozu:
Okada Yoshiko appeared in my film for the first time. Already I thought she was pretty good. This was also my first sound film. With Kamata Studios release of Japan's first talkie, The Neighbour's Wife and Mine (Madamu to nubo, 1931) a year ago, everyone had switched to sound. I was the only one still clinging to silents for such a long span of time. That was on account of Mohara Hideo who was still experimenting on his own sound system. I promised him I would only use his invention to make talkies. Therefore, I could not use the Dobashi system adopted by Kamata.

1932
Spring Comes From the Ladies

Haru wa gofujin kara

Thoughts from Ozu:
I made this at a stage when I was still full of doubt about filmmaking. I cannot remember the work in detail. Since The Lady and the Beard, I had been shooting without continuity. Admittedly, one feels more reassured with continuity at hand, but I eventually found out that it made no difference at all. Perhaps not having continuity actually allows me to visualize each successive shot more clearly.

1931
The Beauty and the Sorrow

Bijin aishū

Thoughts from Ozu:
I wanted a change of scene from the "nonsense" comedy and create a vignette that fuses some realism with delightful candy-floss elements. However, the finished product was long and tedious. Much as I labored to make this film work, it was a failure. Despite the supreme effort put into Young Miss, it was no match for The Lady and the Beard which was so simple and effortless to do. This meticulously produced worked turned out to be an even bigger flop. It's hard to tell what makes it tick in this filmmaking business. I always thought it's not good to be stuck in this scene for too long.

1930
Young Miss

Ojōsan

Thoughts from Ozu:
The company wanted to use this film as a star vehicle for a couple of popular comedy actors. It boasted one of the strongest stellar cast of the time. From my personal vantage point, I had put a lot of effort into it. Perhaps I need to clarify the identity of "James Maki", who was put down as gagman on the credit list. Some thought it was my pseudonym. Actually, it was a fictional name thought up by Fushimi Akira, Ikeda Tadao, Kitamura Komatsu and me. However, after the pen name was invented, none of them wanted to use it so I became its sole owner.

1930
Lost Luck

Ashi ni sawatta kōun

Thoughts from Ozu:
What exactly was this film about? I couldn't remember a thing.

1930
The Vengeful Spirit of Eros

Erogami no onryō

Thoughts from Ozu:
Kido Shiro asked me to get a good rest at a hot spring, yet at the same time he asked me to come back with a film ready. Presented with those conditions for my holiday, my retort "how can I relax if I have to make a film?" was to no avail. So I made The Vengeful Sprit of Eros there. It was a seasonal film scheduled for release during the summer o-bon festival. I have forgotten the plot.

1930
An Introduction to Marriage

Kekkongaku nyūmon

Thoughts from Ozu:
There was a work of mine called The Strength to Live (Ikiru chikara) which was supposed to precede An Introduction to Marriage, but the former was shelved before the script was finished. As the latter was a festive film, it was scheduled for release at New Year, though it was actually a 1929 production. Since this was a New Year film, it was in general quite conservative and unexciting. This was the first time I cast Kurishima Sumiko.

1929
The Life of an Office Worker

Kaishain seikatsu

Thoughts from Ozu:
A forerunner of the salaryman genre, I deliberately wove scenes with a more realistic touch into comedy. I also made the exception of using overlapping shots, using a dissolve to conjure up the atmosphere of dawn in one scene. I only ever did it once, I didn't think much of it. I don't deny that some people use the dissolve to brilliant effect, but most of the time it only serves as a gimmick. I have a distaste for those kinds of overlapping shots.

1929
Treasure Mountain

Takara no yama

Thoughts from Ozu:
My memory of this film was that it was churned out in a hurry. Working day and night, I didn't sleep for five consecutive days. In spite of that, we didn't feel too tired. We even played baseball on the morning of the sixth day. I could still visualize that ball now. We were young after all. I wouldn't be able to sustain that later in life. It would take me much longer time to recuperate.

1928
Baby Beautiful

Nikutaibi

Thoughts from Ozu:
With this film, I had finally evolved my own style. It was also the first work to gain the company's recognition. I still remember Uchida Kisaburo's critical review in Kinema Junpo. I had by that point figured out what filmmaking was about. Nowadays, rookie directors could make features that ran seven or eight reels, but in my time, newcomers were only assigned three-reelers. In other words, it was much harder for young directors then to find out their strengths and weaknesses. They had to take much longer to understand themselves.

1928
A Couple on the Move

Hikkoshi fūfu

Thoughts from Ozu:
The company handed me the script. Though the company was calling the shots, as long as I thought I could handle it, I would accept the assignment dutifully. I made a conscious effort to try out a few things here. I thought I managed to offer something new and interesting but regrettably, the finished product was far from what I envisaged. Almost half the original was edited out.

1928
Pumpkin

Kabocha

Thoughts from Ozu:
This film was way too short. I started to get the hang of how to do continuity from this time onwards.

1928
Wife Lost

Nyōbo funshitsu

Thoughts from Ozu:
The film was developed from a script which won an award in some magazine. The story wasn't particularly interesting. As a matter of fact, I have forgotten most of the plot. I made it under company orders.

1928
Dreams of Youth

Wakōdo no yume

Thoughts from Ozu:
After Sword of Penitence, I turned down six to seven offers by the company. I wasn't that keen to become a director yet, because I longed to lounge around for a bit longer. Soon afterwards however, I had a chance to turn my own script into a film. Needless to say, the script was written according to company guidelines. My friendship with Mohara Hideo developed from that time on. He was to direct many of my films over the years. Mohara is a first-rate cameraman who produces beautiful work. My present cameraman Atsuta Yuhara used to be Mohara's assistant. The formers apprenticeship with that latter actually happened with this film.

1927
The Sword of Penitence

Zenge no yaiba

Thoughts from Ozu:
To be honest, I wasn't in a hurry to become a director. As an assistant director, I could take it easy; once I became a director, I wouldn't be able to get any sleep, what with all the continuity to plan and develop. But everyone around me urged me to at least have a go at making one. Originally, I decided to direct a film using a script I wrote: Mountain of Hard Times (Kawaraban kachi kachi yama). However, just was shooting was about to commerce, I was handed this script by Noda Kogo instead. In 1927, I got a notice with an additional clause from the company saying, "You have now been promoted to the rank of director, but you must make period dramas." At that time, period dramas were ranked lower than contemporary drama. Worse still, just as I received this notice, the period drama unit at Kamata studio was disbanded, so I was neither here nor there. As preparations for filming began, I was called off for military service. I tried to get it done quickly, but just before completion, I was drafted into a unit in Ise. In the end, Saito Torajiro directed the first scene for me. By the time I came back, the film had already been released. I saw it in the cinema, but didn't feel it was my own work. It may count as my debut, but I only saw it once.