Werner von Basil, a Austrian intellectual, was captured by the Nazis in 1938. They want to break him to confess smuggling. Without any mental sustenance, the only thing left to keep his mind busy is an old tactics book for chess.
Acting
Curd Jürgens' haunted eyes doing all the dialogue's heavy lifting.
Direction
Oswald traps you in Werner's skull—claustrophobia as aesthetic.
Director
Gerd Oswald
Curd Jürgens
Werner von Basil
Claire Bloom
Irene Andreny
Hansjörg Felmy
Hans Berger
Mario Adorf
Mirko Centowic
Hans Söhnker
Bishop Ambrosse
Rudolf Forster
Hotelmanager
Jan Hendriks
First Officer
Albert Lieven
Hartmann
Dietmar Schönherr
Rabbi
Wolfgang Wahl
Mondgesicht
Albert Bessler
Scientist
Alan Gifford
Mac Iver
Karl Stepanek
Baranow
Dorothea Wieck
Countess (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on Stefan Zweig's 'The Royal Game,' written in 1942 during his own exile from the Nazis. Zweig died by suicide the same year.
Jürgens himself fled Nazi Germany in 1936; his performance channels personal knowledge of what these bastards took from people.
DE
