A Page of Madness (狂った一頁, Kurutta Ichipēji 1926), based on a story by Nobel Laureate Yasunari Kawabata and directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa, opened at the famed Musashino-kan theater with live Benshi narration. Considered “on par” with foreign films at a time when domestic production was still emerging, A Page of Madness divided critics, with some praising its cinematic technique and other lamenting its challenging narrative. Today, the film is perhaps the most famous “experimental” film of silent Japanese cinema, although the extent of its experimental nature is still highly debated. The film stands as a bizarre artifact of Japanese modernism and an experiment in Pure Cinema.
Considered lost in a fire at Shochiku Shimogamo Studio, a partial print was found in 1971. FPA France, which specializes in silent film restoration, debuted the new 4k restoration in 2023.