SOVIET COMEDIES OF THE 1920s + CHESS FEVER

Writer film historian and Silent London blogger Pamela Hutchinson offers a context for our Soviet comedies day with a brief presentation highlighting the influence of 1920s Soviet silent comedies. +  Chess Fever (1925). Shot in Moscow with real footage from the World Chess Championships, this film follows a young woman (Anna Zemtsova) frustrated by her fiancé’s chess obsession.

Despite trying to escape, she meets legendary World Chess Champion José Raúl Capablanca. This clever blend of fiction and reality had a lasting impact on cinema, influencing future sports comedies and the use of real-world figures in narrative films. With live music by John Sweeney.