Schachnovelle (1960)

Director:

Gerd Oswald

Writers:

Harold Medford (writer)
Gerd Oswald (writer)

Release Date:

25 June 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In 1938 Austria shortly after the Nazi occupation, a prominent Viennese intellectual, Werner von Basil...

Plot Keywords:

Brainwashing | Chess | Based On Novel

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Curd Jürgens	...	Werner von Basil
Claire Bloom	...	Irene Andreny
Hansjörg Felmy	...	Hans Berger
Mario Adorf	...	Mirko Centowic
Hans Söhnker	...	Bishop Ambrosse
Albert Bessler	...	Scientist
Rudolf Forster	...	Hotel Manager
Alan Gifford	...	Mac Iver
Jan Hendriks	...	First Officer
Albert Lieven	...	Hartmann
Harald Maresch	...	Ballet Master
Dietmar Schönherr	...	Rabbi
Karel Stepanek	...	Baranow
Wolfgang Wahl	...	Moonface
Dorothea Wieck	...	Countess

Also Known As:

Brainwashed (USA)
The Royal Game
Three Moves to Freedom (UK)

Runtime:

Germany:103 min | USA:102 min

Country:

West Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | West Germany:12 | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Tempelhof, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Roxy Film

a disappointment

This movie is the first (and the last?) adaptation of Stefan Zweig's short story "Die schachnovelle". I read it and I studied it for my exams when I was in high school. But above all, I loved it so I was quite impatient to discover this movie. I watched it and I must say that I was disappointed. Not only is the short story a toned down and softened adaptation of Zweig's masterpiece but it's also a betrayal. For example, when Mr B... is prisoner of the Gestapo, he's succeeding in finding a book that deals with chess. In the movie, the Gestapo's leader's taking it from him and not on the short story. Moreover, Mr B... is appearing at the beginning of the movie whereas in the book, he's entering the plot in the middle. I also noticed that the subjects broached in the short story like Mr B...'s madness against chess or Nazis' goal to dehumanize their prisoners were more sketched out than showed and analyzed. On another hand, unlike Zweig, Gert Oswald doesn't succeed in recreating a choking and unhealthy atmosphere in the part where Mr B... is prisoner of the Nazis. Nevertheless, I thought that the actor who played Czentovic's role was quite convincing thanks to his physical appearance (Zweig is writing about his head "a farmer's fat head") and he's recreating perfectly his feelings: he's conceited, unpleasant even ridiculous and he's despising his adversaries during the chess game. But this positive side isn't sufficient enough to save the movie and I hope that there'll be another (better) adaptation of the short story.