''Checkmate'' (French: ''Échec et mat'') is a 1931 French mystery
crime film
Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...
directed by
Roger Goupillières
Roger Goupillières (22 September 1896 - 20 December 1988) was a French film director and screenwriter.Dolly Davis,
Jean Marchat
Jean Marchat (1902–1966) was a French film actor who appeared in around fifty films during his career. He made his film debut in 1931 and appeared in Maurice Tourneur's '' Departure'' the same year.Waldman p.144
Selected filmography
* '' Depart ...
and
Jean-Pierre Aumont
Jean-Pierre Aumont (born Jean-Pierre Philippe Salomons; 5 January 1911 – 30 January 2001) was a French film and theatre actor. He was a matinée idol and a leading man during the 1930s, but his burgeoning career was interrupted by the Second ...
.Bessy & Chirat p.131 It was shot at the
Joinville Studios
The Joinville Studios were a film studio in Paris which operated between 1910 and 1987. They were one of the leading French studios, with major companies such as Pathé and Gaumont Film Company, Gaumont making films there.
A second studio was a ...
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. The film's sets were designed by the
art director
Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...
Claude Darblet plans a joke with two of his friends. One of them will pretend to be murdered, with the evidence all pointing at Claude before the prank is revealed. Things then take a dramatic turn when he really turns up dead.
Jean Marchat
Jean Marchat (1902–1966) was a French film actor who appeared in around fifty films during his career. He made his film debut in 1931 and appeared in Maurice Tourneur's '' Departure'' the same year.Waldman p.144
Selected filmography
* '' Depart ...
as Claude Darblet
*
Jean-Pierre Aumont
Jean-Pierre Aumont (born Jean-Pierre Philippe Salomons; 5 January 1911 – 30 January 2001) was a French film and theatre actor. He was a matinée idol and a leading man during the 1930s, but his burgeoning career was interrupted by the Second ...
as Jacques
*
Rolla Norman
Edouard Charles Normand, best known as Rolla Norman, (1889–1971) was a French stage and film actor.
Selected filmography
* ''The Assassination of the Duke of Guise'' (1908)
* ''The Advocate'' (1925)
* '' Gribiche'' (1926)
* '' The Last Fort'' ( ...
as Monsieur Sylvestre
* Adrien Lamy as Lagoupille
*
Daniel Lecourtois
Daniel Lecourtois (25 January 1902 – 16 January 1985) was a French film actor.Hayward p.250 He appeared in more than sixty films and television series during his career. In his later career he often played authority figures.
Partial filmography ...
*Bessy, Maurice & Chirat, Raymond. ''Histoire du cinéma français: 1929-1934''. Pygmalion, 1988.
* Crisp, Colin. ''Genre, Myth and Convention in the French Cinema, 1929-1939''. Indiana University Press, 2002.
* Rège, Philippe. ''Encyclopedia of French Film Directors, Volume 1''. Scarecrow Press, 2009.