A bit of (peripherally) chess-related movie trivia.
There’s a contemporary “making of” documentary included as a DVD extra on the Warner Brothers release of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935). A scene shows William Dieterle and Max Reinhardt, co-directors of the William Shakespeare adaptation on the set.
For a moment, it looks as if they’re relaxing with some peculiar three-dimensional chess variant.
However, we swiftly learn that they’re in fact, using the pieces as as markers for the actors, as the camera next pans over to the actual set.
No comment about it from the narrator. It’s a very brief view: I tried to capture the vertical pan in three frames.
One wonders if they used pieces for the stars and pawns for the extras, or if the breakdown was fairies versus foolish mortals.
Edited to add:
I found the documentary piece had already been uploaded. You can see the whole thing at …
youtube.com/watch?v=4B-YLW1 … eY&index=5
Look at around the 4:20 mark. Do not blink!
(Later edited as I had the first two images in reverse order.)