Ozu's There Was a Father shows some early signs of his style and sensibilities

Yasujiro Ozu's relatively early film (he'd begun his work in the silent era), There Was a Father (1942) is a long way from his greatest work, Tokyo Story, but still a film worth watching for its own merits and for what it shows us about Ozu's developing talent and style. He works here with the great lead actor Chishu Ryu, who leads in almost every Ozu film over some 30+ years!, although without his usual writing partner (Kogo Noda). The simple plot line follow a father-son relationship over 25 years; the father (Ryu) is widowed, working as a high-school math teacher and raising in 5-year-old son. On a field trip w/ his students one student drowns in a boat accident; overcome by guilt and remorse, the father leaves his teaching job and begins a career search, even spending some time at a monastery. The young son is removed to a boarding school; over time, the father moves to Tokyo, where he works in a factory, as the son continues w/ his education but always apart from the father. The movie jumps forward rapidly in time, w/out belabored transitions. By the time the son is in his 20s, and traveling regularly to Tokyo to spend time w/ his beloved father, the son suggests that he would like to give up his job and move in w/ his father in Tokyo. In the climactic scene, the father resolutely tells his son that he will never allow this, both of them must continue working in their careers (strange advice from a man who walked away from his initial career of teaching). So we have a story of deep filial devotion and a father who encourages the work ethic rather than family values and love - a turnaround from the expected (compare with the entirely different filial loyalties in Tokyo Story). Apparently, the Japanese authorities supported this film, as they encouraged devotion to work and to the state - especially at the time of filming, which obviously was in the early years of World War II. Strangely, the war is hardly mentioned in this movie; the son has been drafted and has passed his physical, so the scene of his marriage at the end is tinged w/ fear - not on his part, but on ours: Is he likely to be alive in 3 years? A note I read about this movie pointed out that the American occupying forces edited the only copy of the film, so there may well have been more about the Japanese war effort and military culture, though what exactly is unknown. The film foreshadows Ozu's work in some respects: the adoring and subservient wife; the reverence for the teacher (in this film and in the much later Autumn Afternoon adult (male) students take their elderly retired teachers out for a celebration, which involves much alcohol. (All of the ex-students in There Was a Father, who are about 30 years old, are married w/ children - and it seems that none is expecting to be drafted.) We see many shots from Ozu's famous "tatami point of view," looking up at the characters from near-ground level - but few of the long takes and the silences that the later Ozu used to heighten and highlight the subtleties of his characters' interactions and conversations. Sadly, the print - probably best or only available - on Criterion is in dire need of clearnup, but the jittery and scratched film and the horrendously scratchy soundtrack.