Update: 6/29/14

          It has been nearly two years since my last post on this blog. This is a result of the manifold calamities I experienced whilst in Sweden. The auction went well, I won what appeared to be a copy of the American cut of King of Chess, which was spread across two VHS tapes. However, things went sour on the walk back to my hotel. I was attacked by two men, who stripped me of all my valuables, including the tapes. Then they proceeded to beat the ever living shit out of me and then ran off into the Swedish light. There I lied, a pool of blood surrounding my head. When I awoke the next morning, I noticed that the men had taken my passport. I then crawled to the American Embassy, hoping that I could get my passport. When I arrived in the Embassy in Stockholm, I began to grow suspicious of my surroundings. All of the employees were dressed as clowns, and all of the furniture was made of meat. I starred in confusion for many minutes until one of the clowns came up to me and asked what I needed help with. I told her my story, hopping that I could find assistance, but she just laughed in my face and gave me a swift blow to the gut. I bent over in pain, and coughed up blood. She then kicked my face with her ginormous clown shoe, sending me flying out the window. Next thing I know, the clowns are all taking turns running me over in their tiny little cars and squirting water on me with the flowers pinned to their lapels. I begged them to stop, but I saw no sympathy. Once the sun fell and their shifts were finally over, they went home and left me there on the ground.

           Thankfully, I had the energy to escape from the Embassy before they arrived again for work the next morning. I was confused, how could an entire country want to suppress such an important piece of our history? Was this film really that controversial? As I pondered these questions, I realized that the answer to all of these questions was obviously yes. Whatever is in the American cut of King of Chess is truly some of the most radical and extreme film making that the art is yet to see. The Swedish government obviously saw this and, fearing a revolt, has tried to eliminate it and all who desire to associate with it. The world is simply not ready for it. As I came to these conclusions, I began to feel a greater importance for my mission, and I realized that I could not lose hope. For the past two years, I have been living a nomadic life in Scandinavia, wondering the lands in search of this great film. While my adventures have been to no avail thus far, I will continue searching for this film until the day I die.

Waiting in Line

     Hi, I've finally gotten out of Hong Kong and found my way to an auction in Sweden where I beleave the VHS copy to be. Soon, we have the final version of the film. This is the last update I'll be making in the next few months due to security here in Sweden.

Update 9-28-12

     Please excuse the recent hiatus, I was robbed on the streets of Hong Kong by a gang of gun-smuggling ruffians. I'm actually writting this at some public library right now. Anyways, back to King of Chess. It turns out the man who supposedly had the tape actually had sold it and an entire box full of old VHS tapes to his old landlord to pay his rent back in 1996. He did, however, give us a lead as to where that man could be, though. Hopefully I will soon find my passport agian so I can get out of here.

Update 9-14-12

After searching high and low, we have found that all copies on 8mm have been destroyed. This is because Golden Princess Films was so furious with the 8mm's distributor's edits made for the Americanization of the film that the ended the deal with them and ordered them to pull all copies off the shelves and have them never be seen again. However, this doesn't mean the film is totally lost. Most likely the higher-ups who were flabbergasted by the American Cut most likely saw it on a VHS, which would have been easier to ship over due to durability. This VHS, if it exists, is most likely the only copy left of this cut.

Suspicious Title in film catalog....

While searching through a 8mm collector's issues of a Castle Films Home Movies catalog, we came upon an interesting title in one of the last issues printed. The title?The Royal Standard. Is this perhaps a mistranslation of King of Chess? Perhaps, but it dose seem to be stretching it a lot. However, one can hope. We are currently tracking down former members of Castle Films, to see if this is true...

R.I.P. Johnathan Smith

Sadly, Johnathan Smith who was mentioned in the last post was caught in a fire yesterday. He and everything in his house was burned to an ash. This means that we may never find a copy of the American cut of King of Chess. However, we will continue to search until we find it.

Supposed Laserdisc Release of the Film

We were recently contacted by a Johnathan Smith about the possession of the American cut of the film. He claims that he doesn't have it on 8mm but rather laserdisc of all things. This is most likely a hoax as it would take around 6 laserdiscs to have a complete copy of the film on the format, but regardless, this film is so rare that we can't pass up the offer to try to find it. However, we are still negotiating a price out with him. Hopefully, we will have the film soon.