The Lady and the Beard (1931)
Directed by Yasujirô Ozu

Film Review

The Lady and the Beard, Yasujirô Ozu's twentieth film, is a succinct résumé of much of the director's previous work, combining the boisterous humour of his student comedies with an acute awareness of prevailing social concerns, most notably the problem of graduate unemployment in depression era Japan.  In his previous comedies, Ozu took as his main inspiration the films of his idol Harold Lloyd.  The Lady and the Beard, by contrast, owes far more to Charlie Chaplin, and is to Ozu what Modern Times (which had yet to be made) is to Chaplin - a wry commentary on the march of time and its profound consequences for society and individuals.

A rabid devotee of American cinema since his early teens, Ozu was one of Japan's most forward-facing, western-influenced filmmakers.  It is significant that he made only one period film (his debut film, Blade of Penitence, 1927), and, by all accounts, he appeared to have next to no interest in his country's traditions.  Virtually all of the films Ozu scripted and directed were set in the here and now, dealing with issues that were familiar to a modern Japanese audience.  And yet, despite his enthusiasm for modernism, you can sense a slight mistrust for modernity in some of Ozu's films, particularly his later works, such as the unusually pessimistic Tokyo Twilight (1957).  In a typically scurrilous vein, The Lady and the Beard sees Ozu mocking the enthusiasm with which the modern Japanese spurn their traditions and kowtow to that beacon of modernity, the industrialised West.  To be old-fashioned is to be an object of contempt and ridicule, as the hero of the film finds when he leaves college, a haven where eccentricity is tolerated, and enters the real world, where everyone must conform to some accepted (western-influenced) notion of normality.

Ozu had a habit of recycling ideas from earlier films and the first half of The Lady and the Beard closely mirrors that of his previous social comedy I Graduated, But..., with the main character, a university graduate, struggling to find work.  This time, the reason for the hero's failure to secure a job is laughably self-evident.  He dresses in scruffy traditional Japanese garb and has a bushy beard of terrifying proportions.  Once the beard has gone, our hero finds himself a far more attractive proposition, not only to employers but also to eligible young spinsters.  The Kendu-obsessed hero Kiichi finds success by making the meanest of concessions to modern tastes, but he then ends up in the invidious position of choosing between two women, one of whom is an emblem of modernity (a Joan Crawford-style gangster's moll), the other a picture of traditional Japanese virtue (a sweet little thing who is a dab-hand with a needle and thread).  That Kiichi finally opts for the latter over the former provides a cogent moral that modernity isn't everything.

Although The Lady and the Beard was shot in just eight days it is a slick production, jam-packed with technical innovation and some of Ozu's most imaginative direction.  The humour is sharper, more sophisticated than in the director's previous comedies, and the satirical edge much keener, mocking social conventions with an almost pathological glee.  Ozu extracts considerable comedy mileage out of the familiar 'arranged marriage' scenario, with the comically barbate hero instantly rejected by all and sundry, only to become a front runner when he has shaved off his whiskers.  Ozu's editing gags are also a source of amusement. After a scene in which we are reminded that a beard was once considered a symbol of maturity and wisdom, Ozu cuts from a portrait of Abraham Lincoln to a shot of a Lincoln car, one of innumerable private puns that adorn his films.

With his impressive physique, good looks and penchant for playing larger-than-life comedy figures, Tokihiko Okada was the ideal casting choice for the lead part of Kiichi, a man who, early in the film, resembles a cross-between Chaplin's Tramp and Mifune Toshiro's sword-wielding samurai.  Okada was one of the most popular film actors of his generation and had previously worked with Ozu on two films, That Night's Wife (1930) and Young Miss (1930).  He subsequently appeared in Ozu's Tokyo Chorus (1931) but died not long afterwards (in 1934) from tuberculosis, aged 30.  Okada's performance in The Lady and the Beard is a non-stop tour de force, one of the funniest and most humane performances in any Ozu film, so no wonder the film was so popular.  The Lady and the Beard was not only a commercial success (a rare achievement for Ozu in his early years), it also met with considerable critical acclaim, with Ozu finally beginning to emerge as one of Japan's most promising young filmmakers.

Film Synopsis

As a college student, Kiichi Okajima impresses everyone with his mastery of the Japanese martial art of Kendo.  But, once he has graduated, the world seems not to appreciate his devotion to Japan's cultural traditions.  When he goes for a job interview with a modern company, he is turned down because of his ample beard.  When he is invited to a dinner party by his college friend Baron Yukimoto, his outdated garb arouses derision from the female guests.  One day, he snatches Hiroko, a decent young woman, from the clutches of a female con artist, Satoko.  To show her gratitude, Hiroko advises Kiichi to shave off his beard, as this will improve his employment and marital prospects.  Sure enough, his facial hair sacrificed, Kiichi has no difficulty finding a job, and within no time he has three attractive young women chasing after him...