Les Visiteurs du Soir, a classic costume drama, was produced in France during the Nazi occupation. Directed by Marcel Carne, it is in a class with other French films of the time; that is, surface escape entertainment that relied on side issues or fantasies. However, Les Visiteurs du Soir utilized cinematic and narrative devices to empathize with the plight of France, and the entire film can be "read" as an allegory of the occupation. Chess is one of the methods used to tell the inner story.

The time is 1485. The devil has sent two envoys to earth to corrupt the human race. Taking the form of minstrels, the two descend on a magnificent baronial castle where a prenuptial feast is in progress. The father of the bride and a guest are playing chess. The guest seems to be losing - if he had moved his Knight at a crucial moment the game might have gone the other way, but now he is ready to resign. One of the satanic visitors mentions that he is interested in chess and quickly studies the position. The guest says, "I lost the attack." Replies the visitor, "You think so?" and, moving the Knight to another square, he announces, "Check and mate! You've won!" Then he says, "Chess is so simple."

Carne seems to be saying through chess and the narrative role of this scene that the French Resistance would have to strike quickly and boldly to refute Nazi domination.

Dall'articolo "Chess in the Cinema. Film of the Forties" in Chess Life & Review, agosto 1979