Good news: from a technical perspective, it's aged well. It's not clearly from the 30s the way many movies of that era immediately feel. The mood is pleasant and it's nice and short. Bad news: it's too gentle and mild to be truly funny, and there's not enough conflict for it to be a true drama. It was difficult to get into on an emotional level, as a result. That may just be me though. Overall: not terrible. Some stuff to admire, but some stuff that makes it feel a little flat and so-so.
What Did the Lady Forget?
1937 [JAPANESE]
Action / Comedy / Drama
Plot summary
A professor, Komiya, and his bossy wife, Tokio, are to look after Setsuko, their high-spirited niece from Osaka. Despite being a minor, Setsuko is a liberated woman who does whatever she wants, including smoking. She even convinces Koyima to take her to a geisha house. When she gets rather tipsy, the professor calls Okada, one of his students, to take her home. The wife becomes suspicious of Setsuko when she sees Okada bringing her home.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
December 25, 2019 at 05:03 PM
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It's not bad
OZU Comedy
This is a comedy from Ozu from the mid 30's, which takes a while to get to the heart of the story but, once there, reveals an interesting premise. a niece named Setsuko, who is still a minor (she is probably 20, she is no child) goes to live with her uncle who is a doctor and her somewhat severe aunt. She is quite liberated, she smokes and takes her uncle to a geisha house when he was supposed to be golfing. The aunt eventually finds out and confronts them. This is a slice of life from Ozu when he was still honing his eventual brilliant skills on family stories. Not as essential as his best, it is still good and its only 71 minutes. If you're new to Ozu watch these films first: Late Spring, I Was Born But, Autumn Afternoon and, of course, Tokyo Story. This is a good film, with Ozu's patented long shots and camera angles. I enjoyed watching it.
Screwball comedy -- from Ozu
Yasujiro Ozu's 1937 "Nani wa shokujo wa wasureta" (What Did the Lady Forget) is probably his closest approach to screwball comedy. Set in (probably) the most affluent milieu of any of Ozu's film, this involves a bossy wife (Sumiko Kurushima, Japan's first female star in one of her last roles) and her doctor-professor husband and niece, who rebel against (or at least try to wriggle around) her authority. This film was the last time Ozu's pre-war ensemble would appear together (except for the one-time post-war reunion of most of them in "Tenament Gentleman") and the acting overall is first-rate. This film probably does less to explore the fundamentals of the human condition of any Ozu film -- but it is thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. (Note: Ozu re-used some of the elements of this plot in his post-war "Flavor of Green Tea over Rice").