Le Grand Échiquier is a French variety television program created and presented by Jacques Chancel. It aired at 8:30 pm on the first channel of the ORTF from January 12, 1972 to July 12, 1972, then on the second color channel of the ORTF from September 1972 to December 1974, and finally on Antenne 2 from January 1975 to December 21, 1989. The program returned to France 2 on December 20, 2018 and is hosted by Anne-Sophie Lapix.

The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"

Between the first and second World Wars, we portray glorified and renown naval sea officer Felix Graf von Lucker and his fictitious ship Niobe, which is the 1887 built Amphitrite from Southampton. Von Luckner is famous for his tactical genius in the first World War, especially sinking 14 enemy ships and only losing one crewman, whilst always seeking a peaceful outcome - making him the ideal seaman.

Film shot in subjective camera, often in voice-over which tells the love affair of the blonde Yselle, surprised by her extremely jealous and very possessive husband.

The career of Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones, from his youth in Scotland through his service to Catherine the Great of Russia.

The story of Lafayette, the 19 year old pacifist who takes the side of the Colonials during the American war of Independence.

Wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, Minnesota Clay seeks revenge on the man who withheld evidence at his trial. There is a problem however, he is going blind.

In Naples, a voice from the skies announces one morning that the final judgment will be at 6 p.m. on that day. What follows is a series of vignettes depicting various people's reactions (or lack thereof) to the announcement.

Three couples are involved in a murder at Montecarlo.

A helicopter crashes in the desert, and the crew winds up in the underground city of Atlantis and get mixed up in a slave revolt.

When a cynical journalist accepts a wager that he won't survive the night in a haunted castle, it unlocks an odyssey of sexual torment, undead vengeance, and a dark seductress who surrenders the gravest of pleasures.

Women are being tortured to death with various devices in the dungeon of an old castle by a mysterious, hooded figure who may be a notorious executioner from medieval times.

Françoise Arnould plays here a married woman who decides one day to get away from her husband and return to her childhood place, where she meets all her former friends, and lovers.

When a concert pianist is crippled in a car accident, his wife turns to gambling and gets in over her head.

Klaus murders women. After killing another girl, Klaus is spotted by his friend Kersten as he leaves his latest victim's house. Kersten gives him a ride and Klaus begins to plot the man's death. He's a witness, after all. Nobody else can say Klaus was there except Kersten. They decide to head to a party. Klaus' unhappy wife is there. So are a bunch of other people. Killing Kersten will be difficult. Then they all play a game called... Murder Party!

Aging-roue comedy: foxy grandpa's doctor tells him he needs to cut out the high-living and make a stable, tranquil home for himself, as befits his age and station... but he decides he'd rather do that by marrying his nephew off and piggybacking on the domestic tranquility created in that household.

Following the defeat of France by Germany during WWII, two French soldiers are taken to a German farm as forced laborers.

A certain number of French fighter pilots who will not accept the Second Armistice at Compiègne nor Vichy's orders decide to join the USSR. Once they have reached Moscow they resume training and form a squadron they call "Normandie". Reinforced in 1944, the squadron wins many victories. Following the acts of valor displayed by its pilots during the Battle of the Nieman River, it becomes the "Normandie-Niemen" squadron for the rest of times...

4 con men take the place of the real musketeers and manage to steal the Queen's necklace but then give it back to her, moved by her tears.

Italy, the early 19th century. A villa is the home of a small English community, all rich and superficial people lounging about in its beautiful surroundings. Claire, George's wife, and Robert, her son, are murdered by a mysterious killer. Thinking the murderer is one of the family, distraught George devises a plan to unmask the culprit. Having met a woman, Ann, who is a dead ringer for Claire, he takes her back to the villa and announces their imminent marriage. Ann is considered an outsider and treated with contempt and hostility, while George fails to find any significant clue to the solution: everybody is to be blamed, at least morally, but the final revelation is more bitter than expected...