Monday 21 October 2013

The fiendishly difficult Advice to the Lovelorn movie quiz



Fifty questions, each more tricky than the last (except for question seven, that's a doddle if you get number six right). No prizes except for pride, but there's plenty of that available. There are 52 points up for grabs - I reckon a decent score would be anything above 15.

Email richardburin@hotmail.com with your answers (subject line: "Movie quiz"), and I'll add you to the leaderboard at the bottom. The quiz is open until the end of the month.

Moderate
1. Which three films have won all five major Oscars (picture, director, screenplay, best actor, best actress)? (One point for each)
2. Which actress was immortalised in the biopic Mommie Dearest?
3. Which movie had the tagline: "Garbo talks!"
4. What was Jean-Pierre Melville's favourite film?
5. Warner couldn't scrap As Time Goes By from Casablanca because Ingrid Bergman had cut her hair, making re-shoots impossible. Which picture necessitated the snip?
6. Which editor re-cut Orson Welles' Magnificent Ambersons...
7. ... and which 1965 musical did he direct?
8. Who played Annie Hall's brother?
9. Max Fischer's line in Rushmore, "Can you get me off the hook? You know, for old times' sake?" was borrowed from which '70s movie?
10. Who portrayed Deep Throat in All the President's Men?

Tricky
11. Which film couldn't be reviewed by critics because Sinatra's female fans were screaming too loudly?
12. Who voices a character in every Pixar film?
13. Which 1961 movie helped change the British law prohibiting homosexuality?
14. What was Alan Smithee's directorial debut?
15. The Hulk and Gollum dance together in which movie?
16. How much was Preston Sturges paid for his Great McGinty script?
17. Christopher Reeve's Hollywood star was paid for by fans of which movie?
18. Which Bunuel film gets a namecheck in the Pixies' Debaser?
19. In which film did Ginger Rogers try to shoot Fred Astaire?
20. Clint is chased by a toy car in which '80s movie?

Difficult
21. Which movie did Dillinger break cover to watch at the Biograph Theater, the night he was killed?
22. Who played Charlie Chan's Number Two Son?
23. John Barrymore performed Hamlet's soliloquy in which movie?
24. Fred Astaire said which 1943 dance number was the greatest he'd ever seen?
25. Who described Jean Arthur's appearance as "half-angel, half-horse"?
26. Marion Davies does a Lillian Gish impression in which film?
27. A novelisation of this film won the 2004 Carnegie Award.
28. The Smiths song Reel Around the Fountain contains two lines from which kitchen sink drama: "You're the bees' knees, but so am I" and "I dreamt about you last night - I fell out of bed twice".
29. Billie Holiday played a maid in which movie?
30. Which film did Noah Baumbach direct under a pseudonym?

Fiendish
31. Sam Peckinpah got final cut on only one his movies. Which one?
32. Which 1972 movie was based on a comic strip in the satirical magazine Private Eye?
33. Who is the only person to have ever won an Oscar without being nominated?
34. John Ford wound up Peter Bogdanovich by telling him that Arrowsmith was his favourite of his films, and at other times claimed it was the critical and commercial flop, The Fugitive. Neither was true. What was?
35. Who tripped up Leo McCarey as he went to pick up his Oscar for Going My Way?
36. Ronald Reagan's autobiography was named after a line in which film?
37. Peter Boyle renounced movies glamourising violence after the release of which film?
38. What links Apocalypse Now and Giuseppe Tornatore's Baaria?
39. Which comic actor said the Russian version of his name looked like it said: "Exapno Mapcase"?
40. In which '80s film does Colin Firth climb out of a lake in a dripping wet white shirt?

Evil
41. Who is the only actress to have, erm, unwittingly "excited" Melvyn Douglas (i.e. Little Melvyn) during a love scene?
42. What do Joanne Woodward, Owen Wilson and Neil Hamilton have in common?
43. This actor died the day before the New Yorker printed the correction he had demanded, saying that he was still alive. That was in 1959.
44. Which actress had the most requested profile of the 1930s, in terms of plastic surgery?
45. The famous line: "My name's John Ford, I make Westerns" is actually a misquote from which director's memoirs?
46. Who was Robert Mitchum's first choice for the part of his brother in his pet project, Thunder Road?
47. What was Hitler's favourite film?
48. In 1989, which actress appeared as the mother of a character she won an Oscar for?
49. John Mills compared his daughter Hayley to which vegetable on the set of Pollyanna?
50. Which movie is the picture at the top from?

WALL OF FAME (LAST UPDATED, 28/10/13)
Kirbyapplegate - 49 points
Louise Penn - 40 points
Pamela Fallon Thornley - 34 points
Elab - 33.5 points
Gustav - 22 points
Jules Ark - 15.5 points
Christopher Hyatt - 14 points
Owen Hughes - 5 points (wins the prize for the funniest made-up answers)
Billy Ray - 4 points
Rocco Tenaglia - 3.5 points
Thanks also to those who've tweeted me their scores, though you don't go on the list unless you email me your answers, as I'm no fun.

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