When his industrialist father unexpectedly dies, fun-loving college student Tetsuo Horino (Ureo Egawa) finds himself president of a large company, a position that he doesn't take very seriously (much to his uncle's (the vice-president) annoyance) and when his college buddies show up hoping he can find jobs for them, he cheerfully helps them cheat on the company's entrance exams, just as they used to help each other cheat at school. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that Tetsuo's position as his friends' 'superior' has made the dynamics of their friendship very different, especially when one of them, Taichirô (Tatsuo Saitô), becomes engaged to Shigeko (Kinuyo Tanaka), a young waitress that Tetsuo was planning on wooing. Directed as a minor, low-budget side-project by Yasujirô Ozu (who made 1953's poignant 'Tokyo Story'), the story is slight but the characters are engaging and the imagery, especially of the growing 'Westernisation' of Japanese culture fascinating. Tetsuo always wears Western styles (although his friends sometimes wear yukatas), as does all of the senior management at the company, yet he quickly rejects a wealthy, assertive 'non-traditional' young woman as a potential wife, hoping to reunite with the soft-spoken, diffident, kimono-wearing Shigeko. There are posters for Hollywood films (such as 'Hell's Angels' (1930)) on the walls of the bakery where the guys hangout (sometimes drinking tea, other times beer) and English words like 'bakery' and 'private' are often seen. The film is silent and the version I watched (on TCM) had translated intertitles but no music. Despite the strange experience of watching a completely silent film, the 90 minutes passed quickly enough. The entire cast is very good but I especially liked Saitô's 'hang-dog' friend Taichirô, who doesn't seem to have much of a future without his wealthy friend's generosity and is forced into a tough choice when, not knowing that he and Shigeko were engaged, Tetsuo announces his plans to court the young woman. A likable, small film about change and enduring friendship. Recommended.
