Synopsis
Four frat boys try out their cheating gambits at exams, but their friendship is put to the test when Horino inherits his late father's business empire. The other three come groveling for jobs and Horino helps them cheat at his company's recruitment test. Horino rejects potential matches to court Oshige, the waitress every student fancies. Thinking that Horino is now above her, she has agreed to marry the poor and wimpy Saiki. Saiki feels he must give her up, but when Horino finds out, he gives him a thrashing. The engaged couple marry and go on a honeymoon with Horino's blessing.

Thoughts from Ozu
I made Where Now Are Dreams of Youth during the interim of I was Born, But..., when a child star's injury caused a temporary interruption to the filming. The narrative resembles (Ikeda's) Tadanao-kyo Gyojyok (The Deeds of Tadanao-kyo). In these days, despite directing four to five major productions, I didn't feel too busy. Nowadays, I only make one film per year, yet I feel I never have enough time.

Background
The 26th film, shot from early September to early October 1932.After the completion of I was Born, But… Ozu started filming Until the Day We Meet Again (Mate su hi made, 1932). This film depicts the story of a man who is love with a prostitute. He is drafted, and the plot develops around the human relation with his father and his sister. Ozu challenged a new genre, different from the films he had done until then. For this reason, the shooting was done under high tension, and as a result, the expenses were far more than estimated. Therefore, it was decided to make a quick, cheap film, and transfer the extra money to Until the Day We Meet Again. This cheap film was Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth?. Therefore, Ozu and Nods considered it best to apply the methods they had used before. This film does not intend to develop new ideas and does not show Ozu's active participation. Noda Kogo wrote that he used the play Old Heidelberg (Alt-Heidelberg) by Wilheim Meyer-Foerster as a model, which was also made into a film by Ernst Lubitsch, The Student Prince (1927). (In Japan, this play was performed by Matsui Sumako, Okada Yoshiko, and Murata Akiko on the stage). This is a well known story about a student prince and a girl working in a bakery. Probably to advance the film quickly, Ozu used his forte, a student comedy. For this reason many elements of Ozu's previous comedies can be reviewed in Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth? (the cheerleaders at the beginning, the cheating at the exams, the usual posters of foreign films, and the like.) Although the protagonist lives in a mansion in Kojimachi, and the bakery girl in an apartment, they do not escape from the gravitational field of students boardinghouses. Only Aoki (played by Saito Tatsuo) escapes from this surrounding - h live in a house in the suburbs. The character of Seito's roles changed considerably between the Days of Youth and I Flunked, But… and films like I Was Born, But… The deep feelings in Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth? Are not expressed by the company president (played by Egawa), but by Aoki. He was not supposed to have a leading role in this film, but finally he steals the show from the other players. This shows that Ozu could not return to the cheerful, carefree world of Days of Youth and I Flunked, But… since this world combined with the feelings expressed in I Was Born, But…