Days of Youth
About Days of Youth
University students Bin Watanabe and Shūichi Yamamoto both want Chieko. They carry the contest onto a skiing trip, each trying to get her attention in the snow. Chieko's mother is along. The rivalry is the whole comedy.
Cast & crew
More about Days of Youth
Yasujirō Ozu directed and wrote this Shochiku silent comedy, his oldest film known to survive. Hideo Shigehara photographed it. Ichirō Yūki plays Watanabe, Tatsuo Saitō plays Yamamoto, and Junko Matsui plays Chieko. Chōko Iida plays Chieko's mother. Chishū Ryū appears as a student. Shochiku released it on 13 April 1929.
Themes
Background
Shochiku released it on 13 April 1929, a silent student romance from Ozu's first years as a director.
In film history
It is the earliest Ozu feature known to survive.
Making
Ozu was still making student comedies for Shochiku. The ski trip is the set piece that separates this one from a campus farce shot only in Tokyo rooms.
Look
Hideo Shigehara shot the student rooms and the skiing trip.
Preservation
The oldest known surviving film by Yasujirō Ozu. A copy is available on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- The Japanese title is Gakusei Romance: Wakaki hi.
- Takeshi Sakamoto plays a professor. Shin'ichi Himori plays another student, Hatamoto.
- A copy is on the Internet Archive, and a file is on Wikimedia Commons.
Scenes
- Watanabe and Yamamoto compete for Chieko on the ski slopes.
