Wasei kenka tomodachi

Atsushi Watanabe and Hisao Yoshitani Hisao Yoshitani are best friends. They share everything in their cramped apartment, from individual eggs to goldfish. Yet when they rescue Eiko Takamatsu from almost running her over, they discover that they can't share her.

I'd like to think that Yasujiro Ozu was directing this short under the influence of the Laurel & Hardy comedies, but Fat-and-Thin buddy pairs were not new to cinema, and the sort of gags he offers seem to be simultaneously more absurd and grounded than the practiced slapstick and offered by Hal Roach's two rising superstars. Some of the gags seem to reference Buster Keaton's early shorts. Perhaps that is simply Ozu's Japanese nature coming through, and his feeling that friends would not quarrel over the sort of thing they had been doing since day one, but only if something changed the equation. In any case, it's pleasant enough.

Although he is not listed in the IMDb credits, I thought I spotted Chishu Ryu as the buddies' supervisor.