Classics

Question 1

Jack Robin, formerly Jakie Rabinowitz, was the title character of what popular 1927 film?

Answer 1

The Jazz Singer

Question 2

The Ladykillers, Rififi, Ocean’s Eleven, and Reservoir Dogs are among the movies influenced by what classic 1950 John Huston film noir? Its title (from the source novel of the previous year) introduced into the vernacular a term for an unsafe and alienating urban landscape.

Answer 2

Asphalt Jungle

Question 3

The 1949 Republic serial “Ghost of Zorro” starred this man who later played the Lone Ranger.

Answer 3

Clayton Moore

Question 4

Name the classic 1937 Jean Renoir war film and masterpiece of French cinema whose title is the filmmaker’s description of war itself and of the belief that war accomplishes any positive ends?

Answer 4

La Grande Illusion

Question 5

In the 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz, the wizard agrees to grant the wishes of Dorothy and her companions when they bring back to him what particular item?

Answer 5

Broomstick

Question 6

The death of his co-star put an end to Dean Martin’s chance to star in a remake of a 1940 Cary Grant-Irene Dunne film. Name the unfortunate co-star AND the title of either the original, or the proposed title of the abandoned remake.

Answer 6

Marilyn Monroe; My Favorite Wife, Something’s Got To Give

Question 7

What two men were born just four days apart in April 1889, fifty years before one lampooned the other with a famous movie portrayal?

Answer 7

Charlie Chaplin, Adolf Hitler

Question 8

Director Josef von Sternberg is best known for the seven films he made in the 1930s–including Morocco and The Scarlet Empress–for what European-born movie star?

Answer 8

Marlene Dietrich

Question 9

Breakdance in the middle of the room, or identify this dancing pair who starred in “Top Hat.”

Answer 9

Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers

Question 10

What 1941 movie used a 34-inch balsa wood sled called Rosebud?

Answer 10

Citizen Kane As one of the characters concludes: “Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn’t get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn’t have explained anything.” Charles Foster Kane had two sleds. One was named Crusader, but the other was clearly his favorite. Rosebud was also William Randolph Hearst’s secret nickname for Marion Davis’s clitoris, so he reason to hate the movie. In 1981, Steven Spielberg spent $60,500 buying one of the “Rosebud” sleds

Question 11

In the 1940s he became the first person to receive nominations as actor, director and writer for the same film.

Answer 11

Orson Welles (Citizen Kane)

Question 12

After an act of heroism, Ben-Hur appears before this emperor whose name relates to the river of Rome.

Answer 12

Tiberius

Question 13

Gary Oldman, Christopher Lee, Frank Langella, Gerard Butler, and Leslie Nielsen have all portrayed a character on film who, perhaps most definitively, was portrayed in a 1931 film by what other actor?

Answer 13

Bela Lugosi

Question 14

The 1956 live-action film Anastasia stars Ingrid Bergman and this (actually Russian) actor, who was far more well known for two other movies that came out that same year (neither of which were set in Russia).

Answer 14

Yul Brynner

Question 15

In the 1942 movie Holiday Inn, the title venue is only open on public holidays, and the staff performs extravagant musical numbers inspired by that holiday. TV showings these days frequently cut one particular number because Bing Crosby, Marjorie Reynolds, and the entire band perform in blackface. What holiday — still recognized by New York state, but never by itself an official federal holiday — does that number celebrate?

Answer 15

Lincoln’s Birthday

Question 16

Starring in the 1927 movie “It” made her the “It” Girl & the quintessential flapper.

Answer 16

Clara Bow

Question 17

A lunatic hypnotist, his carnival somnambulist, and various asylum inmates (who may not be what they appear) are central to the plot of what 1920 horror film and classic of German Expressionism?

Answer 17

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Question 18

Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr kissed passionately in the surf on Halona Cove on Oahu in this 1953 film.

Answer 18

From Here To Eternity

Question 19

After kissing Debbie Reynolds goodnight, Gene Kelly is elated and begins doing this, the film’s title.

Answer 19

Singin’ in the Rain

Question 20

Who appeared in 31 films from 1956 to 1969, first as “Clint Reno” and finally as “Dr. John Carpenter,” with “Pacer Burton,” “Tulsa McLean,” “Chad Gates,” “Steve Grayson, “ and “Lucky Jackson” among the roles in between?

Answer 20

Elvis Presley

Question 21

What was Elvis Presley’s first film?

Answer 21

Love Me Tender

Question 22

Name the actor who played Fargo Gondorff in the film The Sting II, recorded the massive 1952 hit album Music for Lovers Only, and is the namesake of the former Fifth Avenue Bus Depot in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Answer 22

Jackie Gleason

Question 23

Sons of the Desert, a fan society of this comedy duo is named for the pair’s 1933 film.

Answer 23

Laurel and Hardy

Question 24

Nominated three times but with no wins, this reclusive Swede didn’t show up in 1955 to collect her honorary Oscar.

Answer 24

Greta Garbo

Question 25

When Sam is not playing it once, for old time’s sake, he’s playing something else entirely along with a full band to drown out the Germans. What are they playing?

Answer 25

La Marseillaise

Question 26

This movie comedy duo rode camels in 1942 while on “The Road to Morocco.”

Answer 26

Bob Hope & Bing Crosby

Question 27

From 1959 to 1968, she made only four films but received Oscar nominations for best actress for all four.

Answer 27

Katharine Hepburn

Question 28

Ronald Reagan starred in this 1951 comedy revolving around the attempts of psychology professor Peter Boyd to teach human morals to a chimpanzee, hoping to solve the “nature versus nurture” question. He did not appear in its sequel because he thought the premise was silly.

Answer 28

Bedtime for Bonzo

Question 29

My Friend Irma (1949), That’s My Boy (1951), and Hollywood or Bust (1956) are among the films made during the hugely successful 10-year singing/clowning partnership of what two actors and entertainers?

Answer 29

Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis

Question 30

A 1937 biopic of what French author, depicting his role in the Dreyfus affair, won the Academy Award for Best Picture but was banned in a number of European countries? It was even removed from the Venice Film Festival after the French government of PM Edouard Daladier complained to fascist authorities in Italy that the film was insulting to the French army.

Answer 30

Emile Zola

Question 31

Joan Crawford won her only Academy Award for Best Actress for portraying a character who was later played by Kate Winslet in a 2011 HBO miniseries. What was the name of this titular anti-heroine, who originated in the 1941 novel of the same name by James M. Cain?

Answer 31

Mildred Pierce

Question 32

What actress starred opposite Errol Flynn in eight of his films–and then went on to outlive him by sixty years?

Answer 32

And she’s still alive! Olivia de Havilland co-starred in some of Flynn’s best movies, including The Adventures of Robin Hood and Captain Blood.

Question 33

A list of seven locations began in 1940 with Singapore, continued in 1941 with Zanzibar, and ended in 1962 (after a ten-year hiatus) with Hong Kong. Give any one of the other four locations that complete this list.

Answer 33

Morocco, Utopia, Rio, Bali

The four remaining films in the “Road To…” series starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

Question 34

What 1952 film depicts, in real time, the events of a late morning in a small New Mexico Territory town, beginning at 10:40 AM, with the pending retirement of Marshall Will Kane?

Answer 34

High Noon

Question 35

1955’s Pather Panchali was the debut of legendary Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray and the first in his trilogy that tells the coming-of-age story of what young Bengali character, after whom the trilogy is named?

Answer 35

Apu

Question 36

What “roared” in the title of a British comedy film from 1959 that starred Peter Sellers as a clumsy field marshal, an opulent grand duchess, and the prime minister of the European Duchy of Grand Fenwick?

Answer 36

The Mouse (That Roared)

Question 37

In the early talkie era, Hollywood studios would produce foreign language versions of a film by re-staging the entire shoot on the same sets with a new cast and script. One such reshoot has been honored with inclusion in the National Film Registry: a 1931 Spanish movie, starring Carlos Villarías as the title character, shot at night on the sets of what classic film? (The English and Spanish titles are identical except for a diacritic.)

Answer 37

Drácula

Question 38

Jose Ferrer was the first Latino performer to win an Oscar, collecting the 1950 Best Actor trophy for what title role? In 1987 the same character would be played (updated and renamed) by Steve Martin, and in 1990 (this time in the language of the source material) by Gerard Depardieu.

Answer 38

Cyrano de Bergerac

Question 39

The actor born Roy Scherer, Jr., who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Giant and later appeared in three films with Doris Day, achieved his success under what earthier stage name?

Answer 39

Rock Hudson

Question 40

Taking home the award in 1941, what song from Disney’s “Pinocchio” was the first Disney song to win the Oscar for Best Original Song?

Answer 40

When You Wish Upon A Star

Question 41

In the holiday film “It’s a Wonderful Life”, what are the names of the cab driver played by Frank Faylen and the cop played by Ward Bond, supposedly the inspiration for the names of a prominent duo first introduced to audiences on a children’s TV show in 1969?

Answer 41

Bert & Ernie

Question 42

A golden, gem-encrusted statue made by the Knights of Rhodes as a gift for Holy Roman Emperor Charles V is a fictional film noir MacGuffin known by what name?

Answer 42

Maltese Falcon

Question 43

“Miss Lonelyhearts”, “Miss Torso”, the lead character’s fashion model girlfriend Lisa, and a wise-cracking nurse named Stella are among the characters in what 1954 film?

Answer 43

Rear Window

Question 44

In “Peter Pan” some of these beings are jealous of Wendy and try to pull her into the water.

Answer 44

Mermaids

Question 45

Josette Day and Jean Marais play the title characters in what French fantasy film from 1946, directed and written by Jean Cocteau and based on a 1757 tale by Mme. Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont?

Answer 45

Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bete)

Question 46

Created during the silent film era, this Golden Age of animation character first appears in 1919’s “Feline Follies”

Answer 46

Felix the Cat

Question 47

The hit-and-run manslaughter of a pedestrian is one of the many crimes committed by high schoolers who have descended into chaos in what 1936 anticannabis exploitation film, which has a cult following today despite (or due to) being widely regarded as terrible?

Answer 47

Reefer Madness