A Page of Madness

Kurutta ichipeiji

A man takes a job at an asylum to be near his wife in this powerful cinematic vision of the human mind, followed by a series of pivotal, silent avant-garde shorts.

  • Director

    Teinosuke Kinugasa

  • With

    Masao Inoue, Yoshie Nakagawa, Ayako Iijima

  • Japan 1926. 70min. Total running time 104min

  • Digital (restoration)

  • English subtitles

  • Silent with live piano accompaniment by Neil Brand

Kinugasa’s film is a kaleidoscope of nightmarish imagery, plunging viewers into the subconscious horror of a woman confined to a lunatic asylum. It fuses French impressionist superimpositions, German expressionist lighting and Soviet montage into a uniquely powerful cinematic vision of the disordered human mind. Lost for almost 50 years, it was rediscovered in 1971 and now ranks as one of the great early works of Avant-garde cinema.

+ Dream of a Rarebit Fiend

USA 1906. Director Edwin S. Porter. 6min. 35mm. A BFI National Archive print

+ Entr’acte

France 1924. Director René Clair. 22min. 35mm. A BFI National Archive print

+ Waxworks (Jack the Ripper episode)

Germany 1924. Director Paul Leni. 6min. Digital

Film on Film