I haven't seen a lot of Soviet silent comedies, but I found this half- hour-long short quite delightful. It's got an appealingly kooky, over- the-top sense of humor that adds just enough of a touch of surrealism to familiar well-paced things to remain continually surprising and funny.
Our hero is obsessed with chess -- so obsessed that he seems to carry with him a more-and-more endless supply of ever-smaller portable sets. His tie, socks, cap, handkerchief, and scarf are all chessboard patterned -- so he can't kneel down on the handkerchief to try to win back the love of the his new wife (whom he has alienated with his chess fever) without absentmindedly pulling out some pieces, setting them down, and analyzing an endgame. His home has become so cluttered that his overcoat has somehow ended up in his desk drawer, and apparently endless cats are stowed in ever more amusing places.
The filmmakers are smart enough to use just a small enough amount of plat that it hold together for thirty minutes while uniting a dense supply of gags on a theme. A charming bonus is that the real champion of the world at the time, Jose Raul Capablanca, appears as himself. It's hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this.
Our hero is obsessed with chess -- so obsessed that he seems to carry with him a more-and-more endless supply of ever-smaller portable sets. His tie, socks, cap, handkerchief, and scarf are all chessboard patterned -- so he can't kneel down on the handkerchief to try to win back the love of the his new wife (whom he has alienated with his chess fever) without absentmindedly pulling out some pieces, setting them down, and analyzing an endgame. His home has become so cluttered that his overcoat has somehow ended up in his desk drawer, and apparently endless cats are stowed in ever more amusing places.
The filmmakers are smart enough to use just a small enough amount of plat that it hold together for thirty minutes while uniting a dense supply of gags on a theme. A charming bonus is that the real champion of the world at the time, Jose Raul Capablanca, appears as himself. It's hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this.