A Page of Madness is among the most inventive and surprising of all silent films. Responsive to the major currents in the art cinema of the 1920s - from German Expressionism to the propulsive montage styles of Abel Gance and Sergei Eisenstein - this intertitle-less film was an attempt to elevate Japanese cinema from theatrical constraints. Co-screenwriter (and later Nobel laureate) Yasunari Kawabata described it best: a celebration of the play, melody, and speed of light.