''A Chess Dispute'' is a 1903 British short

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

silent

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

, directed by

Robert W. Paul Robert William Paul (3 October 1869 – 28 March 1943) was an English pioneer of film and scientific instrument maker. He made narrative films as early as April 1895. Those films were shown first in Edison Kinetoscope knockoffs. In 1896 he s ...

, starring Alfred Collins. It is included on the BFI DVD ''R.W. Paul: The Collected Films 1895-1908''.

Release

The film was released on August 31, 1903.

Plot

The movies depicts a stationary camera which looks on as two dapper gents play a game of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

. One drinks and smokes, and when he looks away, his opponent moves two pieces. A comedic fight ensues, first with the squirting of a

soda siphon The soda siphon (sometimes spelled syphon), also known as the seltzer bottle or siphon seltzer bottle, is a device for storing and dispensing carbonated beverages (typically carbonated water) while maintaining the internal pressure, thereby preven ...

, then with each punching the other. The opponents wrestle each other to the floor and continue the fight out of the camera's view, hidden by the table. The waiter then arrives to haul them out of the hotel.

References

External links

* British black-and-white films British silent short films Films about chess 1903 comedy films 1903 films 1903 short films 1903 in chess British comedy short films Films directed by Robert W. Paul Silent British comedy films {{1900s-UK-film-stub