Actually the Omnibus version that I saw is not exactly as people describe the
Royal Game as being. Maybe there was all that chess play, but I think it was
a different film. The protagonist took a chess book during an interrogration
session in prison it would have been easy to assume it was a Nazi prison, but
it could have been elsewhere.. When the prisoner got back to his cell, he was
disapointed to find that the bookt was a book of chess games. Whether he knew
much about chess or not, He made a set out of black and white bread and
studied the games. When he was released or freed, he played chess andt
suffered a nervous break down.
A pshchologist whom he consulted advised him that under no circumstances should
he have anything to do with chess. He thanked the doctor, and as he left the
dortor's office, the camera dollied back to reveal that the lobby floor was a
checqured pattern. The film closed with a look of terror and anguish on the
poor man's face as he realized that he was face to face with what amounted to a
huge chess board.