A toymaker in Poland specializes in building lifesize mechanical men. He builds a chess-playing "automaton" to hide a pretty young Polish activist who is being hunted by occupying Russian forces.
Social & External
The people behind it
Françoise Rosay
Catherine II
Conrad Veidt
Le baron de Kempelen
Bernard Lancret
Le prince Serge Oblonsky
Micheline Francey
Sonia Vorowska
Paul Cambo
Le prince Boleslas Vorowsky
Jacques Grétillat
Potemkine
Jean Témerson
Stanislas
Edmonde Guy
Wanda Zalewska
Delphin
Manuel Gary
After two American prisoners are killed by guards in the act of escaping from a German POW camp in World War II, barracks black marketeer J.J. Sefton is suspected of being an informer.
Just after World War II, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.
What if the events in a key era in our history were actually completely different than what our history textbooks try to tell us? What if Master Jan Hus didn't even get warm in Constance, let alone burn up? What if Jan Zizka had more than one healthy eye? This animated comedy from director Pavel Koutský playfully breaks the myths about the Hussite era as the pedestal of history is occupied not by preachers and military leaders but by two unbelievable scatterbrains, who become the heroes of their time against their will.
What starts as a friendly chess game, quickly progresses into a full blown conflict.
When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.
A young chess prodigy is drawn into a dangerous underground circuit where every move carries life-or-death consequences.
Every Sunday, lonely bachelor and refined judge Mladen goes to play chess with his friend, sculptor Fedji. Slowly, he engages in a love affair with Neda, Fedia's wife, and almost invisibly, a love triangle forms. Chess board is the central part of the film, as moves on the board reflect emotions of the characters.
The plot revolves around three men waiting to be deported in a prison. To escape the monotony, they form chess pieces from their bread rations, with which they then play against each other. Grünstein, a Polish Jew, proves to be a real talent, because although he is a beginner, he manages to defeat even the experienced player Lodeck, a German sailor, with his "Grünstein Variant".
A man with a broken back dies after his wife has an affair with his brother.
Yannick moves to a small, quiet town to study cinema. One day when he fell off his bike, he knocked at the door of the Beaulieu residence so he could clean the blood off his hands. But Jacques Beaulieu and his family had other plans for Yannick. Beaulieu is a righteous psychopath and fanatic chess player who wants to rid the world of evil. And even though Ian has done nothing wrong, he is beaten, tortured and tormented before Beaulieu makes him an offer: win at chess and he is free to go. And so Ian is now a pawn in Beaulieu 's game. A game in which he will either lose his mind or his life.
Based on a true story from 1998, five Latino and Black teenagers from the toughest underserved ghetto in Miami fight their way into the National Chess Championship under the guidance of their unconventional but inspirational teacher.
Amidst a strong typhoon in 1978, during the martial law era in the Philippines, college friends and protesters, Luis and Angelica, find shelter in an abandoned house after a rally dispersal. With police forces lingering outside, the raging storm, and a single candle lighting their small refuge, they find an old, dusty chessboard.
Short TV film upon the story of Ludwik Niemojski of the same title, which was a part of his "Incredible Stories". It tells about Bartolomeo, brilliant chess player, who had ruined his private life because of his passion for chess.
Hoping to entrap Maria von Gall, who runs a courageous underground railroad for Jews in France, the Nazis kidnap her son Thomas, a brilliant 11-year-old chess master. An exchange arrangement goes awry and he sees her die in a hail of bullets; but he is rescued by his American father, whom he has never met before, and who plans to flee with him to Spain. However, Queen Maria had solemnly entrusted her little pawn Thomas with a precious secret and a terrifying mission, and it was time for him to move. A pawn may become an important piece by slowly, quietly advancing all the way through the enemy's ranks. Or a pawn may die trying. Retreat is what a pawn can never do.
Branko Kralj is an alienated businessman and avid chess fan. He is married to the attractive Visnja and they have a son. Their marriage is weak and Branko feels much closer to his mistress than to his wife. One day Kralj and Visnja travel on a half empty train. Kralj goes to a far away compartment for a game of chess, and leaves Visnja alone. Three men take advantage of the lone woman in her compartment and rape her.
Famed reporter Stephen O'Malley travels to a small town to investigate the death of a national hero.
A tense game of chess between two calculated rivals. Who will come out on top?
Andor is a young chess player, who even calls his pet turtle Kasparov. “Do you think I will succeed? - the boy asks her before the decisive tournament. "If I win, he will never come back." Who is Andor talking about and why is he either afraid of this return, or wants it?
In the gripping drama "God Help Us", a desperate man stands on the edge of self-destruction caught in a supernatural game of life and death. An Angel and a Demon engage in an otherworldly game of chess to determine the man's fate. Tension rises as the dual between the two extraterrestrial beings mirrors the man's internal struggle with each move on the chessboard propelling the man closer to either salvation or despair. Will Angel's divine strategy prevail or will Demon's conniving manoeuvres let him leave? "God Help Us" is a thought-provoking journey as it challenges viewers about the fragility of the human soul exploring themes of faith, resilience and morality
Bagus (10) felt disappointed when his friends left him while playing. His sad feelings changed when he met the village head who invited him to play chess.
At the tense 1938 Munich Conference, former friends who now work for opposing governments become reluctant spies racing to expose a Nazi secret.
The warmhearted story of Polish immigrant and mathematician Stan Ulam, who moved to the U.S. in the 1930s. Stan deals with the difficult losses of family and friends all while helping to create the hydrogen bomb and the first computer.
In the 16th century in the Cévennes, a horse dealer by the name of Michael Kohlhaas leads a happy and prosperous family life. When a lord treats him unjustly, this pious, upstanding man raises an army and puts the country to fire and sword in order to have his rights restored.
Young women toiling in a factory are exposed to hazardous material which takes a disastrous toll on their health.
After his wife is assaulted, a husband enlists the services of a vigilante group to help him settle the score.
In this sprawling, fictionalized history of the Black Panthers, 1960s Oakland becomes a war zone as the Panthers battle for the right to exist.
Jean and Otto, a French newspaperman and a young German Francophile, are fighting for peace in Europe. Jean’s daughter, Corinne, is launching a brilliant acting career in the film world, but war breaks out and France is occupied. The two friends have a major role to play in this new France. Jean becomes a big press baron and an ardent advocate of collaboration with the occupying forces, while Otto becomes the Reich’s ambassador in Paris. Corinne, meanwhile, finds herself thrown into the lion’s pit.
Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.
Biarritz, 1933. Charm and talent assist small-time swindler Serge Alexandre, alias Stavisky, to bribe his way into the centre of French politics. But when his great scam involving millions is exposed, he brings the government to the verge of collapse and the country to the brink of civil war.
At the turn of the 19th century, Pugilism was the sport of kings and a gifted young boxer fought his way to becoming champion of England.
A passionate love story set against a backdrop of sexual freedom, loosely based on the relationship between 19th century authors Pierre Louÿs and Marie de Régnier.
A story set in 19th century China and centered on the lifelong friendship between two girls who develop their own secret code as a way to contend with the rigid cultural norms imposed on women.
At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.
Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of King Henry VIII, is named regent while the tyrant battles abroad. When the king returns, increasingly ill and paranoid, Katherine finds herself fighting for her own survival.
A chilling vision of the House of Saddam Hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was forced to become the double of Hussein's sadistic son.
The true story of negotiations between implacable enemies — the secret back-channel talks, unlikely friendships and quiet heroics of a small but committed group of Israelis, Palestinians and one Norwegian couple that led to the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords.
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
In 1887, at a time when duels are in vogue in Paris, Clément Lacaze and Marie-Rose Astié meet. He's a charismatic master of arms; she's a feminist, far ahead of her time. Clément gets caught in a spiral of violence and decides to initiate Marie-Rose in the art of dueling. The two must work together to save face. How far will they go to defend their honor?
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.