Silent Era : Home Video Reviews

Silent Era Home Page > Home Video > Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies

Reviews of silent film releases on home video.
Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett
and the Silent Era Company.
All Rights Reserved.

Silent Ozu
Three Family Comedies
(1931-1933)

Contents: Tokyo Chorus (1931), I Was Born, But . . . (1932) and Passing Fancy (1933).

This three-film collection, culled from the earliest years of Yasujirô Ozu’s long cinematic career, contains an audience favorite and the highlight of the collection, I Was Born, But . . . (1932).

Due to the entrenchment of the Benshi narrator tradition in Japanese film exhibition, the production of Japanese silent films extended well into the 1930s. These three films are excellent examples of the continued development of the Japanese silent film and excellent films in the Ozu oeuvre.

Eclipse Series
2008 DVD edition

Silent Ozu: Three Family Comedies (1931-1933), black & white, 291 minutes total, not rated, including Tokyo Chorus (1931), black & white, 90 minutes, not rated, I Was Born, But . . . (1932), black & white, 90 minutes, not rated, and Passing Fancy (1933), black & white, 100 minutes, not rated.

The Criterion Collection, ECL045 (Eclipse series 10),
UPC 7-15515-02912-4, ISBN 978-1-60465-033-4.
Three single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD discs; 1.33:1 and 1.20:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono and stereo sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; Japanese language intertitles, optional English language subtitles; chapter stops; three slimline DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $44.95.
Release date: 22 April 2008.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD collection has been mastered from three very-good 35mm source prints.

The films are accompanied by music scores performed on piano by Donald Sosin.

For our comparative reviews of the individual films in this collection, see our Tokyo Chorus on home video, I Was Born, But . . . on home video and Passing Fancy on home video pages.

As would be expected of a Criterion Collection release, this collection has been lovingly produced for home video and is enthusiastically recommended.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.