Double bill of Japanese dramas directed by Yasujirô Ozu. In 'I Was Born, But...' (1932) brothers Keiji (Tomio Aoki) and Ryoichi (Hideo Sugawara) find their worldview challenged when their faith in their father is shaken. They are being bullied at school and are humiliated when they discover from one of their bullies that their father allows himself to be badly treated by his colleagues and superiors at work.

When they confront their father, they are punished, but secretly their father wishes that his children's lives will be better than his. In 'There Was a Father' (1942) widowed father Shuhei Horikawa (Chishû Ryû) quits his teaching job in the aftermath of a tragic accident. To fund his son Ryohei (Haruhiko Tsuda/Shûji Sano)'s education he moves to Tokyo to work but in the process he finds that they are drifting increasingly apart.