Ozu's films

[J Rand]

Can anyone help me sort this out.  The earliest record I can find of one of
Ozu's films being shown in the West was in 1956 at the University of
California Film Festival and then some of his films were included at the NFT
in London in 1957.  However, I read that Tokyo Story (1953) received acclaim
in the West which then encouraged Shochiku to invest further in his films
which were at that time viewed as being rather old fashioned and not
suitable for export to the West.  Certainly an article in Kinema Jumpo in
1949 implies that although his work was much admired it was thought to have
much too slow a pace to be appreciated by Western audiences.  In that case,
how did Tokyo Story get to the West?  Did it mean that western critics saw
the film in Japan and thought it would be good to take it to festivals or
what.

Does anyone know?

Janet