A chess fanatic is in danger of losing his lover because of his obsession with the game. This is a fast-paced short comedy, filmed during a Moscow tournament and featuring a gallery of world champion chess players. Pudovkin, though committed to the Bolshevik aesthetics predominant in 1920’s Russian cinema, was also a fan of early American comic cinema and the influence of Hollywood shows in much of the exaggerated action in “Chess Fever”. While the absent-minded hero of the film debates choosing between love or chess, his forever suffering girlfriend finds herself trapped in a city where everyone seems to be playing chess. This video version of this silent classic has a new soundtrack especially composed for the film in 1993 by Roger White.
Content notification
Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.
Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.
How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
304813
Language
Russian
Audience classification
G
Sound/audio
Silent
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)