Films

Films Featuring Bridge

If you are a Bridge fan and a film fan, then when the two coincide then must it truly be bliss? Well, sometimes, though since Bridge is nearly always peripheral to the plot and character development, one is often left wondering "Is that all there is?".

Anyway if you want to watch it then here is where you can find it. Star rating is how I rated them for amount of Bridge content. Not to be taken too seriously.

If I missed one, then let me know.

• Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence (1998)
  Not at first sight a film with anything to do with Bridge ... (more)
• Gosford Park (2001)
  Set in a country house in 1932 ... (more)
• Sunset Blvd. (1950)
  Joe Gillis, played by William Holden, is a failed screenwriter ... (more)
• Animal Crackers (1930)
  A Marx Brothers comedy classic where Groucho Marx plays an African explorer named Captain Spaulding ... (more)
• The Dogwalker (1999)
  The thing about this film is that the Bridge players are so unusual ... (more)
• The Gambler (1974)
  James Caan is good in this one ... (more)
• The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
  Voted the best film of 2001, this is a tale of the strange Tenenbaum family ... (more)
• Metropolitan (1990)
  Bridge is bourgeois in this film loosely based on Jane Austen's Mansfield Park ... (more)
• My Dog Skip (2000)
  A heart-warming family tail that'll make you laugh and cry ... (more)
• Boy's Night Out (1962)
  Four men have a weekly night out together and play bridge ... (more)
• Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953)
  Monsieur Hulot causes havoc wherever he goes, unintentionally and very funnily ... (more)
• Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
  Michael Moore confronting Bridge players with their crimes ... (more)
• The Family Man (2000)
  Quite a sentimental but nevertheless well-done film ... (more)

Other Bridge Films

I haven't seen these films myself but I learnt from Ray Lee that the film Grand Slam (1933), (more) featuring Loretta Young is entirely about Bridge.

He also alerted me to Evening Primrose, a made-for-TV movie starring Anthony Perkins with songs by Stephen Sondheim. One scene (and song) is built around a bridge game very cleverly.

A trawl of IMDb indicated that the following films also feature Bridge:

• Black Eyes (1915) (more)
• Squandered Lives (a.k.a Duke's Son) (1920)
• The Single Standard (1929) (more)
• Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour (a.k.a The Sleeping Cardinal) (1931)
• Bridge Wives (1932) (more)
• Honeymoon Bridge (1935)
• Night Intruder (1938) (more)
• No Census, No Feeling (1940) The Three Stooges... (more)
• Notorious (1946) (more) (at circa 49mins 35secs)
• Stuck (2001) (more)

Films Possibly Featuring Bridge

• Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)
  A fan of world champion and original member of the Dallas Aces Mike Lawrence, I own his excellent book "Dynamic Defense" as well his great teaching programs "Private Bridge Lessons" (Volumes One and Two) and "Counting at Bridge" ... (more)
• Mr & Mrs Bridge (1990)
  This has to be about Ely Culbertson and his wife Josephine who ruled Contract Bridge in the 1930s (He founded the Bridge World magazine) ... (more)
• Titanic (1997)
  Following a tip received at the Ormesby Bridge Club, I reluctantly checked the script of this monstrous epic. There's a scene that takes place when the Titanic is sinking (yes that is most of the film, but anyway). Set in the First Class Smoking Room where two card games are in still in progress, a card-player says as furniture slides by: "It seems we've been dealt a bad hand this time". But is the card game Bridge? I suffered the film once and so know it is too awful for me to watch it again to confirm. Note: Since the Titanic sank in 1912, it would have to be Auction Bridge and not Contract Bridge.

Films That Absolutely Do Not Feature Bridge

• The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)

• A Bridge Too Far (1977)

I have watched both of the above films and exhaustively studied frame by frame for bids, play, and even references to the Great Game - all without avail. Avoid.

Bridge on TV

References to Bridge pop up from time to time even in the latest TV series. See two examples spotted by my indefatigable scouts here.