I'm incredibly grateful to BFI for this and their other hi-def Ozu's (Late Spring, Early Summer, and Tokyo Story - and the forthcoming Equinox Flower and There Was a Father). It is so wonderful to revisit the director's masterpieces in these definitive a/v editions. This has a huge recommendation for both fans and those yet to become one.

NOTE: From email from a reliable source states: "I can absolutely assure you that the original theatrical prints of OHAYO (GOOD MORNING) were not green tinged. They looked like any other color film of quality that you have seen. (I saw the film screened at least 10 times over the life of the print that Janus (?) had circulating in the US. I saw it go from pretty pristine to battered and faded.)

The green edge is most likely the result of faded negative or IP. Criterion tried to compensate by boosting the reds, but it was a total botch. Also, I think that their colorist was trying to make the skin tones more occidental and less oriental.

At any rate, it seems that Shochiku's master version is the source for all the current editions (save the Criterion mess). Short of a total photochemical restoration, the fading loss is what we have. Of course, I have no idea what original printing materials remain in Japan. This may be it. And if so, we will always know this film by its green tinge. (Unless some digital genius comes up with some new way of restoration, always a possibility I guess.)

The original prints were lovely with a full spectrum of colors and contrasts. The Japanese cinematographers would never put up with prints with a green cast. Nor would have Ozu-sama, who wielded considerable clout at the studio during his lifetime.

Green or not, it is still one of my all-time favorite films."

Michael Brooke says: "First of all, the booklet is indeed incorrect, so apologies for that: the film was definitely shot in Afgacolor. The three-strip Technicolor process had been phased out by the mid-1950s (along with cellulose nitrate stock), due to the high cost of production and processing - so by the time Ozu belatedly started shooting in colour, he was faced with a choice between single-strip systems, and he favoured Agfacolor over Eastmancolor. The fact that Good Morning was shot on Agfacolor negative stock was definitively verified by David Bordwell in his book Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema - though it's highly possible that prints in Europe may have been produced in Technicolor's labs, which may be where the misapprehension arose.

As Ozu produced both Equinox Flower and Good Morning in Agfacolor so closely together, they would both have a similar look and feel, although the elements from both films would be subject to individual storage and fading issues, which would affect colour somewhat. Our HD master for Good Morning was transferred from the best available source material - in this case the original 35mm Interpositive - and as such reflects the colour present in that element. We have not made any attempt to push this or any of our Ozu titles in an overly green direction, just work to a palette we feel is the best appropriation of Ozu's original colour scheme, which has often been brightened up, over-saturated or pushed to Western standards for colour films on past DVD releases."

***

ON THE DVDs: This is quite unfortunate. With three different version of the same film, I wouldn't recommend any of these DVDs.  The Criterion has some vivid, if inaccurate, colors and this is one of their few tape-sourced transfers. Aside from 2 pages of liner notes the Criterion has no Extras. The Criterion appears to be the worst in terms of clarity and sharpness. The Panorama transfer was taken from the same film elements as the Shochiku, this is why both look similar. The Shochiku is on a dual layered disc, where as the other two are on single layers. The Shochiku has no English subtitles. As the Panorama image quality appears as clear as the Shochiku AND it has English subs. I have been told that the Panorama has a number of little image problems that aren't discernible from the stills. They're the sort of problem that Criterion just wouldn't allow - digital errors, static areas of the screen due to over-compression. Its very unfortunate that there doesn't seem to be a release of this film on DVD that is worthy of its stature... or of director Ozu. 

Criterion, being the premiere DVD production company in the world should re-issue this title (perhaps in a Boxset with "I Was Born... But").  

- Gary W. Tooze