The Chess Player (1938)

Director
Jean Dréville

Main cast
Françoise Rosay; Conrad Veidt; Bernard Lancret; Micheline Francey; Paul Cambo

Genres
Drama, History

Description
A toymaker in Poland specializes in building lifesize mechanical men. He builds a chess-playing "automaton" to hide a pretty young Polish activist who is being hunted by occupying Russian forces.


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