Kurutta ippêji (1926)

Director:

Teinosuke Kinugasa

Writers:

Yasunari Kawabata (short story)
Yasunari Kawabata (adaptation) ...
(more)

Release Date:

January 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Asylum | Dream Sequence | 1920s | Japan | Avant Garde

Cast

Masuo Inoue	...	Custodian
Yoshie Nakagawa	...	Custodian's wife
Ayako Iijima	...	Daughter
Hiroshi Nemoto	...	Young Man
Misao Seki	...	Doctor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eiko Minami	...	Dancing girl
Kyosuke Takamatsu	...	Second madman
Minoru Takase	...	First madman
Tetsu Tsuboi	...	Third madman

Directed by
Teinosuke Kinugasa

Writing credits
Yasunari Kawabata		(short story)
Yasunari Kawabata		(adaptation) &
Teinosuke Kinugasa		(adaptation) &
Minoru Inuzuka		(adaptation)

Produced by
Teinosuke Kinugasa	....	producer

Cinematography by
Kôhei Sugiyama

Art Direction by
Chiyo Ozaki

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Eiichi Koishi	....	assistant director
Masami Ôsugi	....	first assistant director

Camera and Electrical Department
Eiji Tsuburaya	....	assistant camera (as Eiichi Tsuburaya)
Masao Uchida	....	gaffer

Other crew
Kiyoshi Takeda	....	title designer

Production Companies

• Kinugasa Productions
• Naitonal Film Art
• Shin Kankaku-ha Eiga Renmei Productions

Distributors

• New Line Cinema (1975) (USA)

Also Known As:

A Crazy Page
A Page of Madness
Kurutta ichipêji (Japan) (alternative transliteration)
Kurutta ichipeiji (Japan) (alternative transliteration)

Runtime:

59 min (1975 sound version) | 78 min (2007 restoration) (18 fps)

Country:

Japan

Language:

None

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Company:

Kinugasa Productions

Trivia:

Back then most Japanese cinemas would show domestic films, and some other cinemas would show foreign films. Ever since this films is quite different from most films which were made back then, it would be shown in latter cinemas. Quite to the surprise of everybody, the film would immediately be a big success.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Le fantôme d'Henri Langlois (2004)

Fantastic Silent Film

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much going into this film viewing in my Japenese film class, but this film really blew me away. The director does a wonderful job following through with the title of his film, truly portraying a picture of madness. I think the fact that this film is silent adds to the resemblance of madness, helping the viewer experience the characters inner world rather than the world outside his mind. This film just added to my feelings about foreign silent films vs. American, in that the foreign films work much more to exercise your mind and make you think rather than going for the fluffy film always with the happy ending, exercising the imagination very little.