If you need a fun and relaxing break in between your Christmas shopping, opt for a brief Russian film from 1925, Shakhmatnaya goryachka, known in English as Chess Fever, directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin and Nikolai Shpikovsky.
The film opens with an international chess tournament and follows the vicissitudes of a young couple who are going to get married soon. Unfortunately for the main heroine (Anna Zemtsova), the soon-to-be husband (Vladimir Fogel) and cat lover (the opening sequences with naughty kittens hiding even in his wardrobe are extremely cute...) is completely obsessed with chess.
The game is the main reason why he neglects her and, frustrated and depressed, the young woman decides to dump him and poison herself, feeling too unhappy in a world where she seems surrounded by chess fans.
Yet even buying poison at a chess-obsessed chemist's becomes an extremely difficult thing to do. A twist in the story that involves also the Cuban chess world champion José Raúl Capablanca (starring as himself; the film also features Vladimir Nabokov in a cameo role) changes the fate of the two young lovers and brings back the much needed peace, restoring their relationship.
Fashion-wise the film is visually very interesting for the look of the young chess-obsessed hero. The protagonist wears indeed graphic checkered hat and socks, uses a chess printed handkerchief and his coat and jacket pockets seem to contain not just cute kittens, but numerous chess manuals and portable mini-boards (the graphic look of the protagonist was also employed to illustrate the film poster View this photo).
The main character uses his mini-boards to indulge in his passion in the most bizarre places and moments, even while asking to be forgiven by his fiancée. One of his portable boards contained inside a special fabric pocket that he wears around his neck will prove particularly handy at the very end of the film.
Alexander McQueen paid homage to chess in his Spring/Summer 2005 collection, entitled "It's Only a Game". As fans may remember, the show closed with a special human chess game in which the models took the place of pieces.
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
Comments