Pretend That He Just Doesn't See Quiz

Answer: The Day of the Triffids

Based on the novel of the same name and written by John Wyndham, the film version was released in 1963. Howard Keel played the main character, who was saved from blindness, as he was in hospital with his eyes covered when the meteor shower occurred. The story follows him as he rescues a young girl, who also has her sight, and escapes to France.

A submarine rescue takes place - being underwater also protected the crew, and a different storyline tells how mankind is saved by a chance discovery that seawater kills the triffids.

Several of the actors in the film portray blind people although Keel and Janette Scott, another of the leads, are not among them.

Answer: City Lights

This silent film dates from 1931 and stars Charlie Chaplin in his persona of the 'little tramp'. The film opens with the tramp spoiling the opening of a new monument before he encounters a young flower seller who, he comes to realise, is blind.

The plot involves a millionaire, who the blind girl thinks is Chaplin's character, a miracle cure for her blindness and ends with the hope of a future for the tramp and the girl. Virginia Cherrill is the actress who pretends to be blind portraying the girl in an early role for her.

Answer: Tommy

The 1975 film 'Tommy' was directed by Ken Russell and based on an album by British band The Who, from 1969. Tommy is described as a 'deaf, dumb and blind' kid but is an expert at playing pinball. As the film progresses, we learn that his disabilities are caused by mental trauma sustained when he witnessed his mother's infidelity and his father's death at the hands of her lover. Tommy is eventually cured but establishes a cult, leading to even more disaster.

The film stars Roger Daltrey, lead singer of The Who, as Tommy, with Ann-Margret, Oliver Reed, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner and Elton John also appearing. The other members of The Who feature as well.

Answer: Wait Until Dark

Terence Young directed this 1967 film which also stars Alan Arkin and Richard Crenna. The plot involves a doll containing heroin, which is passed on by another passenger at an airport. The man, played by Efrem Zimbalist jr., takes the doll to his apartment where his blind wife (Hepburn) is also living. The villains, including Crenna and Arkin, try to trick her into giving them the doll but she manages to outsmart them. The police arrive in the nick of time and the film ends with several of the crooks dying.

Terence Young may not be a familiar name but he did direct three 'James Bond' films - 'Doctor No' (1962), 'From Russia With Love' (1963) and 'Thunderball' (1965).

Answer: Ray

Released in 2004, 'Ray' tells the story of Ray Charles, the blind singer and pianist, and was directed by Taylor Hackford. The story begins with the young Ray Charles Robinson, portrayed by C. J. Sanders, becoming blind at the age of seven. Encouraged by his mother, who insists on him being independent, Charles becomes the successful singer and musician we know. The real Ray Charles approved the script, although he died shortly before it was released, even though it did not shy away from his drug use and infidelities.

Jamie Foxx is an accomplished pianist himself, although he did not sing many songs in the film. He is reported to have used prosthetics to cover his eyes so he was truly blind during filming. For his efforts, Foxx won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2005, along with a BAFTA and Golden Globe, among other awards.

Answer: Daredevil

The character of Daredevil was created by Marvel Comics and featured Matt Murdock as his alter ego. He was blinded as a boy by radioactivity but gained superpowers in his other senses at the same time.

The character was brought to the big screen in 2003, with Ben Affleck playing him. The storyline covers the background before showing Murdock in his daytime life as a lawyer and his night time activities as a vigilante. His love interest, Elektra, is played by Jennifer Garner who appears to be killed during the film, although this is left somewhat ambiguous. The character has also appeared in a series of Netflix films, but the 2003 film is still the only cinema version at the time of writing, in 2024.

Answer: The Book of Eli

The story is set thirty years after an apocalypse which has left the world (or America, where the film is set) in ruins. Eli (Washington) has been wandering for all this time until he runs into a man named Carnegie (Gary Oldman) whose partner Claudia (Jennifer Beals) is blind. Carnegie is desperate to get his hands on a book which he believes will give him ultimate power.

Carnegie eventually succeeds in obtaining the book which Eli has been safeguarding, only to find out it is a braille copy of the Bible, the only copy of the Holy Book in existence. He is unable to read it and Claudia refuses to help. Eli has escaped to San Francisco, meeting up with another group of survivors. Although he no longer has his Bible, he is able to dictate it from memory, dying soon after, and new copies are printed.

The film also featured Mila Kunis, Michael Gambon and Tom Waits, with an uncredited cameo by Malcolm McDowell as the man who saves the Bible from extinction.

Answer: A Patch of Blue

This 1965 film stars Elizabeth Hartman as Selina D'Arcey, blinded as a young girl by her own mother, who works as a prostitute - Shelley Winters played the mother. Her escape from a lonely and unpleasant life is to visit the park where she meets Gordon Ralfe (Poitier), a black man who befriends her. Her mother plans to force Selina into prostitution, but Gordon has found her a place in a school for the blind and rescues her from this fate.

Selina believes she is in love with Gordon and knows he is black, but he is more aware of the difficulties that would face them and tells her that she needs to meet more people. The ending is left open.

The film was praised for having 'good intentions', but lacking realism. Despite this, it was popular with audiences and established Poitier as a star.

Answer: See No Evil

The plot of this film, directed by Richard Fleischer, involves another blind woman menaced by a crook, in this case a murderer. Sarah (Farrow) has been staying with her uncle and his family while recuperating from her accident. While she is out, her three family members are murdered, with the gardener also attacked. Sarah is oblivious to the bodies in the house until the next morning and the gardener tells her what happened, including the fact that the killer dropped his bracelet, before succumbing to his injuries.

Sarah finds the bracelet, working out that is has a name engraved on it but unable to see it or work out the name. After some more dangerous encounters, Sarah's boyfriend manages to rescue her from the killer's grasp in the nick of time.

The film was shot in Britain with a British cast, most of whose names aren't especially well known - Paul Nicholas and Michael Elphick are probably the best known of them. It wasn't particularly successful, and the cliché of the blind victim being stalked was rather overdone in the opinion of many critics.

Answer: Scent of a Woman

Released in 1992, the film stars Al Pacino as a Vietnam veteran who was blinded due to his own foolishness and bravado during his military service. The character, Frank Slade, is embittered and is reliant on alcohol. The other storyline involves a student, Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell), who is in trouble at his school due to being a witness to a silly prank and refusing to name the culprits. The paths of these characters cross when Charlie is employed as Frank's assistant.

The story involves a trip to New York for the two of them where Frank has planned his final goals in life with the intention of killing himself once they are achieved. The relationship between the two becomes mutually supportive, with Frank convincing Charlie's school to treat him fairly and Charlie persuading Frank that his life is worthwhile.

Taking the role certainly paid off for Pacino as he won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance at the 1993 ceremony.