BFI: 32 Ozu Films

[MichaelB]

Nice to see an essay by Michael Kerpan after the excellent essay by Nick Wrigley in the melodramas set. Another reason for looking forward to this.

It's probably not giving away too much to say that the production team behind the Ozu releases is well aware of this forum in general, this thread in particular, and especially the esteemed Mr Kerpan's encyclopaedically knowledgeable contributions - so I'm not the least bit surprised that they signed him up!

I also wouldn't be at all surprised if discussions here about the colour problems with the Criterion Good Morning and the Audrey Hepburn subtitle flub on Late Spring helped ensure that the BFI releases would rectify those issues.

[Michael Kerpan]

Good to know that being a "complainer" is sometimes actually useful. ;~}

[MichaelB]

I got my longest-standing regular writing gig (a decade and counting) after complaining about something!

[neilist]

How would I tell just by looking at the disc itself whether a blu-ray of 'An Autumn Afternoon' was the original issue or the higher bit-rate replacement? Is the disc marked 'repress' or 'reissue' at all? Presumably the codes around the centre of the disc on the data side are different?

[MichaelB]

How would I tell just by looking at the disc itself whether a blu-ray of 'An Autumn Afternoon' was the original issue or the higher bit-rate replacement? Is the disc marked 'repress' or 'reissue' at all? Presumably the codes around the centre of the disc on the data side are different?

I can't speak for An Autumn Afternoon, but the repressed Battleship Potemkin has a small 'V2' at the very end of the text curving around the bottom of the disc artwork.

[sidehacker]

Nice to see an essay by Michael Kerpan

drink every time he begins a sentence with "Alas,"

I kid. I'm looking forward to that piece and the rest of the set.

[EddieLarkin]

I have the Autumn Afternoon replacement disc and it does not have a "V2" identifier like Potemkin does. You can tell if it's the new disc by checking it's average bit rate. The first disc had an average bit rate of 13-14Mbps whilst the new one was 23-24Mbps. A PS3 or most Sony Blu-ray players display bitrate if you select Display whilst playing. If you don't have a Sony player then a program like BDinfo can read the disc and tell you (assuming you have a BD drive)

[RobertB]

I have different numbers on the inner ring of the side of the disc without any print on my two discs. The replacement is A0101809748-A511. The original one starts A010 and ends -A511, but the other numbers are different. The printed sides are identical.

[neilist]

Fantastic, thanks very much for the help!

[Michael Kerpan]

Nice to see an essay by Michael Kerpan

drink every time he begins a sentence with "Alas,"

Probably no drinks will be forthcoming, alas. ;~}

[EddieLarkin]

I've been trying to get my head around which Ozu films make up the 32 total, and thus which remain to be released, and have come up with what I hope is a definitive list. Bolded are films yet to be released/announced by the BFI

Days of Youth
A Straightforward Boy (short film)
Walk Cheerfully
I Flunked But
That Night's Wife

The Lady and the Beard
Tokyo Chorus
I Was Born But
Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth
Woman of Tokyo

Dragnet Girl
Passing Fancy
A Mother Should be Loved
A Story of Floating Weeds
Kagami jishi (documentary)

An Inn in Tokyo
The Only Son
What Did the Lady Forget
Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family
There Was a Father

Record of a Tenement Gentleman
A Hen in the Wind
Late Spring
Early Summer
The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice

Tokyo Story
Early Spring
Tokyo Twilight
Equinox Flower
Good Morning

Late Autumn
An Autumn Afternoon

A total of 32, with 25 released and 7 to come. Other extant Ozu films include:

Fighting Friends Japanese Style (partial only)
I Graduated, But... (partial only, included in the Student Comedies set)
The Munekata Sisters (Shintoho)
Floating Weeds (Daiei, released by MoC)
The End of Summer (Toho)

Have I made any mistakes? Presumably Fighting Friends will appear as an extra on a future BFI release, The End of Summer will hopefully come from MoC or another distributor, and who knows what if any attention Munekata Sisters will receive.

[triodelover]

Tokyo Chorus and Passing Fancy are part of the Eclipse set of Ozu silents that also includes I Was Born but.... A Story of Floating Weeds is also a Criterion release paired with Floating Weeds. An Inn in Tokyo is a Panorama release still available through YesAsia. Record of a Tenement Gentleman and The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice was part of Tartan's Ozu series and are still available in a two-film set through third-party sellers at Amazon UK among other sources.

[EddieLarkin]

Though all are planned for re-release by the BFI in the near future, right?

[triodelover]

Though all are planned for re-release by the BFI in the near future, right?

That's the assumption (along with The Munekata Sisters) but I don't think it's confirmed by BFI. All I'm saying is that those six films are available in SD editions, although several (the Panorama and the Tartan set in particular) could be improved upon even in new SD editions.

[EddieLarkin]

I left the Munekata Sisters out as I was under the impression it was a non-Shochiku production, and thus not part of the proposed 32 film collection

[zedz]

I've been speculating that the two remaining sound films were being held back until good HD elements (e.g. Criterion restorations) became available, and they'd then be paired up with appropriate, or inappropriate, silents, but I don't know if the maths works with that configuration.

You could do another thematic set about economically struggling families ('Tenement Stories'? Now there's a catchy title. Maybe this is the right time to use 'A Who's Who of the Tenement'?): Record of a Tenement Gentleman, Tokyo Chorus, Passing Fancy and An Inn in Tokyo. If you had to drop one, it would probably be Tokyo Chorus.

Then you could pair up The Flavour of Green Tea Over Rice (probably the most marketable and 'Ozu-like' film they have left) with A Story of Floating Weeds (easily the remaining silent with the highest recognition factor) and throw in Kagami jishi as a bonus.

That's about the only way I see the remaining stocks breaking down into actual releases in the established formats. The most likely alternative would be three double features (Tea, Tenement, Weeds - assuming good HD transfers are available of all three) with the short and fragments scattered as bonuses, but this would mean headlining a silent, which they have yet to do.

[Gregory]

Flavor of Green Tea over Rice looked great in the retrospective 9 years ago, and I can't understand what's taken Criterion so long to get it out. (It probably would have been in an Eclipse set by now but for the fact that it's neither "Silent Ozu" or "Late Ozu.") I believe they added it to Hulu fairly recently, so wouldn't that mean they've done their HD transfer?

[Michael Kerpan]

My impression is that Green Tea doesn't have any terribly good source materials -- but I am hoping for a pleasant surprise.

[Michael Kerpan]

My copy of The Gangster Films arrived today. Now I need to start watching them. ;~}

[Michael Kerpan]

Finally got around to starting the set. The fragments of Straightforward Boy are a hoot. And I knew I loved Walk Cheerfully, but I had forgotten just how MUCH I love this remarkably visually playful (and charming) film.

[AidanKing]

I think The Gangster Films is an excellent set as usual and would recommend it highly. It has an excellent booklet as expected and I very much enjoyed Michael's contribution.

[Michael Kerpan]

I think The Gangster Films is an excellent set as usual and would recommend it highly. It has an excellent booklet as expected and I very much enjoyed Michael's contribution.

Thanks for the kind words.

This really is a splendid set (even setting aside my minute contribution). The films are wonderful, and they look good enough (despite their sometimes battered state). Having subtitles available at last is really great. ;~}

[AK]

I think The Gangster Films is an excellent set as usual and would recommend it highly. It has an excellent booklet as expected and I very much enjoyed Michael's contribution.

Second that! I haven't gotten around to watching the films yet (!), but Michael's essay is the highlight of the wonderful booklet.

[Michael Kerpan]

Second that! I haven't gotten around to watching the films yet (!), but Michael's essay is the highlight of the wonderful booklet.

I'm blushing. ;~}

Seriously though, the films are MUCH more fun than any essay about them could possibly be -- not a fair contest at all.

[antnield]

Yasujiro Ozu and the art of Benshi.