A Page of Madness

1926 1h 11m JA

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7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 182

HorrorDrama

Synopsis

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A man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Masao Inoue
Custodian
Ayako Iijima
Daughter
Yoshie Nakagawa
Custodian's Wife
Eiko Minami
Dancer
Misao Seki
Doctor
Minoru Takase
Crazy Man A
Hiroshi Nemoto
Young Man
Kinnosuke Takamatsu
Crazy Man B

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Teinosuke Kinugasa
Writers: Yasunari Kawabata, Yasunari Kawabata, Teinosuke Kinugasa
Languages: No Language
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 71-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

ERA

Did you know

100 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa, shot by Kōhei Sugiyama. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

CAST

Did you know

Masao Inoue and Ayako Iijima and Yoshie Nakagawa carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0017048 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Teinosuke Kinugasa directs. Kōhei Sugiyama behind the camera. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in No Language.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 71-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2100 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa, shot by Kōhei Sugiyama. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Masao Inoue and Ayako Iijima and Yoshie Nakagawa carry the top of the cast.
6IMDB entry: tt0017048 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Kōhei Sugiyama
Runtime: 71 min · 1h 11m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: JA
IMDB: A Page of Madness (1926)

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Teinosuke Kinugasa

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Patrick E. Abe2016-10-20
★ 6/10
"Kurutta "Ippeiji" is notable for several reasons. First, it is one of the few Japanese silent movies of the 1920's to survive. Second, unlike most silent films, it lacks intertitles/title/dialog cards because a narrator, who also acted out lines and situations is/was to be present in a Kabuki-style setting. Third, It's a low budget, avant garde movie where the cast is "doing a Roger Corman"; serving as production crew members between takes. The story: The husband of an asylum inmate has taken the job of janitor to watch over her. She dances on the stage of her mind, oblivious to the staff or other inmates. One day, a formally dressed young woman visits the asylum for the insane to invite her mother to the wedding. She is shocked to see her father is working as a janitor, then dismayed to find her mother living in squalor. She leaves, though her father plots to get his wife out for the wedding. Life goes on, as the inmates parade across the asylum grounds, work on booklets, or wander the corridors. The discordant soundtrack mirrors the inmates' state of mind, while disparate images flow by. Double exposures, graphic elements, distorted reflections, and quick cuts announce that this is a High Art film. I found this no-context-at-all silent movie hard to follow, but still interesting. 8/10
griggs792025-03-26
★ 8/10
A Page of Madness is silent, surreal, and visually arresting — a descent into something far murkier than mere madness. The asylum pulses with unease; inmates convulse in what appears to be seizures, captured through a lens that mistakes illness for delirium, reflecting a time when epilepsy and mental illness were indistinguishable. What unfolds is a profound exploration of madness and regret, less like a narrative and more like a disturbed memory — fractured, guilt-ridden, soaked in sorrow. There are no intertitles to guide you, no dialogue to hold onto — just disjointed, nightmarish imagery that loops and folds in on itself. Time feels broken. Reality slips. You’re left to wander a labyrinth of regret where nothing is certain, and everything aches. It’s the kind of film that doesn’t just unsettle — it possesses. Strange, tragic, and hypnotically beautiful in its disquiet, it burrows under your skin.