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ellipsis7 wrote:Should be interesting, despite the missing reels...

Michael Kerpan wrote:Of the Panorama DVDs of silentsand early talkies, I especially recommend...

Days of Youth (if you are a Harold Lloyd fan -- a must-see -- probably the best Lloyd film not made by Lloyd)

Passing Fancy -- see my Senses of Cinema article

Woman of Tokyo & Dragnet Girl -- Ozu gangster noir

Tokyo Inn -- my favorite Ozu silent 9along with I Was Born But)

Only Son (Criterion may release this eventually -- but a must-have film)

Of course, I think all the available films are worth seeing...

MEK

ellipsis7 wrote:MK - is A WOMAN OF TOKYO released by Panorama yet?... I've been looking for it and can't see it presently @ yesasia.com...

sidehacker wrote:While I'm at it, I'm planning on renting Tokyo-Ga. Should I get the disc from the Wenders boxset or the second disc of the Late Spring set?

sidehacker wrote:I don't mean to brag but Donald Sosin left me a comment about an upcoming Ozu silent boxset - link.

Donald Sosin wrote:I am currently scoring I WAS BORN BUT… , TOKYO CHORUS and PASSING FANCY for a Criterion set that will come out later this year.

Known in the West for his string of poignant dramas of middle class Japanese life produced in the 1950s and early 1960s, Yasujiro Ozu (1903-1963) began his career as an unabashed devotee of Hollywood cinema in the silent era’s golden heyday. He was especially enamored of Harold Lloyd (a hugely popular actor for Japanese audiences,) Charles Chaplin and King Vidor. Many of Ozu’s early films are built around eager young men in college or just out of college, much like Harold Lloyd’s persona, a resourceful, success-seeking go-getter who was perfectly in tune with 1920s era America. Like Chaplin, Ozu introduced a touch of pathos into his comedies that gave them an underlying somber tone that was to emerge more forcefully in his late contemplative masterpieces. Unlike his later films, these early comedies also contained an element of social criticism, the legacy of Vidor as seen in Three Wise Fools, The Crowd and Wine of Youth.

3/2 @ 7pm / SERIES: ozu's early comedies
Walk Cheerfully
Ozu takes a genre blending approach with an emphasis on comedy in this highly stylized, fast paced entertainment. Walk Cheerfully combines crime, drama, comedy, and romance while recalling obvious inspirations and references to many of the Hollywood silent films Ozu loved. Stylistically, the familiar Ozu aesthetic is not much in evidence, yet there are still visual motifs and patterns that look forward to the mature work. The film takes on multiple plot layers, but the focus is on Kenji, a petty thief who decides to go straight after he falls for a sweet woman (Yasue). Kenji's girlfriend, a femme fatale who evokes Louise Brooks, tries to lure him back into a life of crime, only to turn on him and hand him over to the police. The unexpected style and pace- including a skillful execution of camera movement and expressionistic devices make this picture unique in Ozu’s oeuvre.
Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1930, 35mm, 96 min.

3/9 @ 7pm / SERIES: ozu's early comedies
The Lady And The Beard
Okajima, a college student with invincible kendo sword fighting skills, both vexes and amuses women with his conservative ways and his big, brushy beard which he carries with pride. In an interview with Donald Richie, Ozu said of this picture, “Okada Tokihiko [the “Beard”] gave a smashing performance. The film's a knock out! Even though it only took eight days to shoot, response was much better than that of Young Miss, my previous picture This film business is so unpredictable.” Ozu here deftly inflects a Harold Lloyd plot with a touch of raku go Japanese farce.
Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1931 35mm, 75 min.

3/16 @ 7pm / SERIES: ozu's early comedies
Tokyo Chorus
Thematically Tokyo Chorus anticipates some of Ozu’s later mature work, but stylistically Ozu is clearly taking a Hollywood influenced approach to his material. One of the strands of the film concerns the contrast between urban and suburban living. Tokyo Chorus is remarkably moving, particularly in the way Ozu captures without sentiment and with humor the struggle of a salaryman to provide for his family during the Depression. There are some outstanding images and sequences within this film that are among Ozu’s best, and here he perfectly balances humor and pathos. With a screenplay by Noda Kogo who became Ozu’s favored writer and who worked on many of his later masterpieces (Tokyo Story, An Autumn Afternoon) Ozu deftly combines the eager young man on the go situation of a Harold Lloyd film with some of the social criticism found in King Vidor’s The Crowd, another Ozu favorite.
Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1930, 35mm, 90 min.

3/23 @ 7pm / SERIES: ozu's early comedies
I Was Born, But...
As in most of Ozu's thirties pictures, the visual style is far more expressive then that of his post-war work. Ozu always got great performances from child actors, and this film is essentially expressed through the two boys. I Was Born, But… marked one of Ozu's earliest successes as a filmmaker, both financially and critically, as the film was a box office success and also won the Kinema Jumpo poll as best Japanese film of the year. It's a witty comedy, but the film also has a touch of pathos drawn from another Ozu favorite Charlie Chaplin. Ozu himself loosely remade the film in color in 1959 under the title Ohayo (Good Morning.)
Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1932, 35mm, 100 min.

3/30 @ 7pm / SERIES: ozu's early comedies
What Did The Lady Forget?
The lives of hen-pecked Professor Komiya and his socialite wife Tokiko are turned upside down when their spoilt niece Setsuko comes to stay with them from Osaka. Setsuko is a “moga” (modern girl,) and Ozu gets a chance to satirize contemporary social mores in this movie. The film is a social satire of the upper class and it even mixes in elements of screwball comedy. Ernst Lubitsch seems to be an influence here. Ultimately this is Ozu at his most lighthearted. What Did the Lady Forget is a wonderful comedy highlighted by terrific performances. This may not be the most significant film Ozu ever made, but it is one of his most charming comedies.
Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1937, 35mm, 71 min.

Michael Kerpan wrote:Lady and the Beard -- the "least" of the batch -- I suppose. But it is probably Ozu's purest comedy (of the surviving films). Very silly -- but also often very funny. Our family thought it was a hoot.

backstreetsbackalright wrote:I'll back that up. I wasn't really all that excited for {Lady and the Beard} when it came to Seattle, but it turned out to be thoroughly enjoyable. Don't skip this one on account of its "lesser" status to something so incredible as I Was Born, But... Rather, bring your friends!

Michael Kerpan wrote:...(even Munekata Sisters). ;~}

backstreetsbackalright wrote:It strikes me all of a sudden that I've not seen Munekata. And I can't think of any other of Ozu's extant material that I haven't seen. Is this on DVD anywhere?