New York USA-1939: Man and Woman Play Chess

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only. $149 flat from Stockfilm for documentary, news and educational use, plus internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Year1939
Decade1930s
LocationNew York, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD
Collection1939 New York

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

Before you add to cart: Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement. Checkout will only offer editorial, educational, internal and social/web scopes.

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Stockfilm licenses the rights identified in the applicable agreement. Additional use-specific review may be required. See the Licensing Guide and Archive Integrity.

Man and Woman Play Chess — Clip Details

A vintage 8mm home movie from 1939 captures a quiet, intimate moment in New York, USA, as a man and woman play chess at a table covered with a fringed cloth. The woman, in a dark dress with a light collar, leans forward intently, her hand resting on her chin in concentration. The man, in a dark suit, mirrors her focus, his hand near his face as he contemplates his next move. The grainy black-and-white footage, with soft lighting and a potted plant on the table, evokes a sense of mid-century domestic life and intellectual engagement. This archival clip offers authentic period detail for historical, nostalgic, or documentary projects.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Shot details: Black & white
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: editorial use only Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 124763010

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Editorial only Direct license: editorial use only. Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Editorial use only; commercial use is not offered for this clip. Review the flags below for your editorial context.

People visible: Yes
Minors visible: No
Logos / trademarks: No
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel 1676 · 8mm · 5″ reel
Original reel label: jane
Reel-level year note: 1939
Reel-level location note: new york,washington
Date: 1939 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level note shows the same year, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Location: New York, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level location note is linked, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

View source reel context Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Useful for 1930s New York home-movie requests needing an intimate domestic recreation scene for documentary, education, or period-life sequences.
Period detail: The dark clothing, formal table setting, fringed cloth, and small chess set may show late-1930s domestic leisure in a private interior.
Home-movie behavior: The couple appears absorbed and informal, with small gestures of thinking and looking toward the board that give the scene unstaged home-movie value.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include two adults, a chessboard, a fringed tablecloth, a potted plant, dark chairs, a plain wall, and soft interior light.
Film character: The 8mm black-and-white image has pronounced grain, soft focus, high contrast, and slight frame instability that read as authentic physical-film texture.
Edit role: An editor could use this as a quiet insert, relationship cutaway, domestic memory beat, or transition into a sequence about leisure, thought, or home life.
Historical context: The scene visually suggests chess as a private social activity within a modest interior, without enough evidence to identify the people or household.
Research note: People and private property are visible, so copyright status should be reviewed separately from likeness, privacy, and property-release considerations.
Research search match: Likely matches searches for 1939 New York home movie chess, 1930s couple at table, vintage 8mm domestic leisure, and black-and-white family footage.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with same-reel domestic interiors, then with New York 1939 home movies, then with broader 1930s recreation or couple-at-home footage.

Still Frames From This Clip

In 1939 New York home-movie footage, a man and woman sit indoors at a fringed table while playing chess. — A couple studies a chessboard across a fringed table in a private interior.

The woman pauses with her hand near her mouth as the man leans beside her during a chess game in a New York interior. — The players pause in thought during the chess game.

A woman leans on her hand at the chess table while the man shifts position in the grainy 8mm interior scene. — One player leans in concentration as the other moves beside the table.

The couple remains seated at the chess table, with the woman looking down and the man beside her in a private home interior. — The chess game continues in a quiet domestic setting.

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