Yasujiro Ozu has been called "the most Japanese" of the great Japanese auteurs for his quiet, graceful formality and themes of familial responsibility and sacrifice. But in the silent era, before he embraced that austere, understated approach, he was a remarkably versatile filmmaker who made everything from buoyant college comedies to streetwise crime dramas to tender portraits of hard lives during the depression. An avid film buff, he drew as much from Hollywood films as from Japanese culture, turning out as many as six films a years for Shochiko Motion Picture Company. Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth? (1932) was made in the midst of that prolific era. In fact, it was shot during an unplanned break from I Was Born, But... (1932), when that production was put on hiatus while waiting for one of the child actors to recover from a mishap. The film, written by Ozu's longtime collaborator Kôgo Noda, begins as a comedy of four buddies who enjoy college life, perhaps a little too much, before evolving into a social drama as they face the harsh realities of adult life in depression-era Tokyo. Ozu cast two of his favorite actors in supporting roles: Tatsuo Saito as the student who drops out of college to run the family business and Chishû Ryû (who went on to have a career as Ozu's onscreen alter ego) as one of the struggling college buddies, while handing Ureo Egawa his first leading role as the poorest of the four friends. According to film historian Donald Ritchie, many of the stars under contract to Shochiko walked out after the head of the company adopted the "director system," which gave minor actors their first shot at major roles. While Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth? is very much rooted in the culture of Japan in 1932, note that Ozu references the Hollywood cinema he loved so much with posters for Hell's Angels (1930) and the W.C. Fields comedy Million Dollar Legs (1932) displayed on two of the film's primary sets.

By Sean Axmaker