Such a mixed bag, though. I watched The Fly (1958) quite recently, but can't recall any chess scene. Same with Saturn 3; I suppose I was paying more attention to Farrah. On the other end of the spectrum there is Searching For Bobby Fischer.
500 Movies with chess
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Because more people seem to be peeking at this thread than commenting on it, I thought it would be fun to start a more interesting list of movies that are primarily about chess, or at least, where chess in an integral part of the plot.
From my own experience, I can think of only a few.
Luzhin's Defence
Queen to Play
Searching for Bobby Fischer
and I will (barely) add From Russia With Love
and The 7th Seal
The 500 list suggests many short films as possibilities, and a few full length films that I have not seen such as:
Knight Moves
Checkmate
Chess
Incidently, the 500 list may be ordered alphabetically (I had not realized this when first posting) and you may then click on titles for Imdb description of flick.
Fresh is an interesting movie that has a lot of chess in it.
The Luzhin Defence is #417 (Sort by: Title A-Z)
May 26, 2014
0
#6
A good list. The most thorough source, up to 2005, is Chess in the Movies by Bob Basalla. My list was last updated in 2010 at http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/movies.htm with 1,700 titles, before Geocities shut dwon. I have seen over 200 new titles with chess since 2011. Sherlock Holmes: Seeking Justice was OK for a chess scene, but I counted at least a dozen mistakes in their chess scene. I have not seen Pawn Sacrifice with Toby Maguire or Life of a King with Cuba Gooding Jr. yet. Brooklyn Castle was good. Of course I am biased about that documentary film as the producer called me on some chess technical matters and wanted my opinion on some of the dialog.
Back in 1976 or 1977, I watched a fascinating 40-minute movie about a fictional pharmacist, a Monsieur Renaud, who, in the 1930s, was the strongest chess player in a small French town of Labriete. Short of money, he is convinced by his friend to challenge the World Chess Champion, "Alexander Suljekhine" to a game of correspondence chess. For high stakes. Suljekhine accepts...
A couple of days ago I found the movie (with English subtitles!) online:
http://freedisc.pl/ziomek72,f-382566,1976-parada-oszustow-1-mistrz-zawsze-traci
If you can suffer through two 25-second ads in the beginning, and a mandatory pause after about 15 minutes, I believe the movie is worth watching...
[Edit: just noticed that one can download the movie in *.avi format using the "pobierz plik" button]
I found this list on IMdB.
http://www.imdb.com/list/qWQyMKmKFxk/?ref_=tt_rls_5
and felt it must have been so much work to compile, that it deserved recognition.
I cruised through it once. It seems any movie with a chess board qualifies. My favorite Luzhin Defense (one of the few actually about chess) may be missing, but still, it's a respectable pile.