The Chess Player

[monroe at mpm.edu]

Chess Player, The
Director: Raymond Bernard
France. 1927.
133 minutes. B&W, Tinted.

The Chess Player is a powerful drama of patriotism, betrayal and suspense
produced at an extraordinarily fertile moment in French cinema history. Like
Abel Gance's Napoleon, director Raymond Bernard's creation is a grand epic
filled with style, verve and action. The film was a sensation in 1927 and
continues to astonish audiences today. 

1776. Poland. With his homeland partitioned and ruled by Russia, Polish
nobleman and patriot Boleslas Vorowski heads a secret liberation movement.
When Vorowski is wounded in battle, his mentor, the inventor Baron Wolfgang
von Kempelen, constructs the Turk, a marvelous chess-playing automaton. With
the handsome Polish nobleman secreted inside, the Turk vanquishes the
Russians - if only on the chessboard. When Catherine the Great summons the
Turk to the Russian Imperial Court for a command match, the fate of Polish
independence lies in the hands of the chess player.

Henri Dupuy-Mazuel's novel was based on the story of the real Turk, an
automaton that baffled the best minds of Europe and America - including
Benjamin Franklin, Edgar Allan Poe and Napoleon. Shot on location in Poland,
France and Switzerland, The Chess Player combines gorgeous decors and
thousands of extras from the Polish cavalry into an electrifying feast for
the eyes and mind. The film has been expertly restored by Photoplay
Productions under the auspices of Kevin Brownlow, Patrick Stanbury and the
late David Gill.

Produced by the Societe des Films Historiques. Starring Pierre Blanchar,
Charles Dullin, Edith Jehanne, Camille Bert, Pierre Batcheff, Marcelle
Charles-Dullin. Directed by Raymond Bernard. Cinematography: Joseph-Louis
Mundviller, Marc Bujard, Willy Faktorovitch. Art direction: Jean Perrier,
Eugene Carre. Special effects: W Percy Day. Set design: Robert
Mallet-Stevens, Jean Perrier. Costume Design: Eugene Lourie. Original score
composed by Henri Rabaud, performed by the Orcestre de
Radio-Television-Luxembourg conducted by Carl Davis. Restoration by
Photoplay Productions in collaboration with the BFI, Bundesarchiv
Filmarchiv, Cinematheque Municipale de Luxembourg, Cinematheque Francaise,
Les Services des Archives du Film.

Bonus Features
DVD only:

Original publication on the film from La Petite Illustration
Cinematographique (5 February 1927) 
Stills Gallery 
Raymond Bernard text interview by Kevin Brownlow (Download). 
Interview with Tom Standage (author of "The Turk: The Life and Times of the
Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine"), courtesy of The Lenny
Lopate Show, WNYC. 

Reviews

"One of the most fascinating and stylish productions of French silent
cinema. Perfect!" - The Times London

"Some of the most extraordinary scenes so far seen in cinema, scenes that
will revolutionize film technique the world over." - Cinea

"A film that surpasses all films!" - Le Soir

"Beautifully restored...An opulently mounted epic. A masterwork!" - Philip
French, The Observer

http://www.milestonefilms.com/movie.php/chess/

See also ...

Umland, Rebecca and Sam Umland.  Review of The Chess Player.
   Video Watchdog No. 112 (October 2004): 47.

http://www.videowatchdog.com/home/home.html

Single best movie mag around, for my money.  See also Film Comment and
CinemaScope (Guy Maddin's a regular columnist there) ...