Christians Allowed Trivia Quiz

Answer: Manger

This movie, directed by Sidney Olcott, retells the life of Christ - starting with the annunciation to the Virgin Mary. The main part is, of course, the life of the adult Jesus, up to the crucifixion and resurrection. The storyboard follows the gospels. Robert Henderson-Bland stars as the adult Jesus, and Gene Gauntier plays the role of Mary.
"Luke" 2:7 gives us the exact word we're looking for: after Mary had given birth to Jesus, "She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."
The other options are figments of my imagination.

Answer: Bernadette

The movie of which I speak is "The Song of Bernadette", directed by Henry King. It tells us the life of Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879). She was canonised in 1933.
The movie plot describes the disbelief Bernadette meets when she proclaims her visions. Only with the help of some relatives and of the Empress Eugenie, can Bernadette finally convince the religious authorities.
Lourdes has become a major place of pilgrimage since Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary appear there many times.
Jennifer Jones won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her performance.
Louise Soubirous was Bernadette's mother. Marie was one of Bernadette's sisters and Justin was one of her brothers. All these characters had a minor role in "The Song of Bernadette".
Anne Revere played Louise Soubirous, Emadean Walters played Marie and Nino Pipitone Jr. played Justin.

Answer: Deborah Kerr

"Quo Vadis", directed by Mervyn LeRoy, is based upon the book by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewycz (1846-1916).
Deborah Kerr (1921-2007) was the Scottish actress we're looking for. She also starred in "From Here to Eternity" (1953), "The King and I" (1956) and "An Affair to Remember" (1957).
In the beginning of the movie, General Marcus Vinicius (played by Robert Taylor) meets Lygia, an early Christian, and falls in love with her.
At the palace Emperor Nero (Peter Ustinov) rehearses a song. His advisor Petronius (Leo Genn) reproaches the Emperor for lacking inspiration. So Nero orders the city of Rome burnt down to get rid of the filthy wooden houses and to reconstruct Rome in magnificent marble. When watching the city on fire, Nero sings a dramatic song.
The people of Rome want someone to take the blame for the destruction. So Empress Poppaea (Patricia Laffan) accuses the Christians. During the subsequent persecutions, several Christians meet their worldly end in various gruesome ways.
Elizabeth Taylor and Sofia Loren have a small part in the movie. Elizabeth Taylor plays one of the Christian women executed in the arena by lions, and Sofia Loren can briefly be spotted as Lygia's slave.
Peter Ustinov won a Golden Globe for his role as Emperor Nero.

Answer: The Ten Commandments

This movie was inspired by the book "Exodus". It shows us Moses growing up in Pharaoh's palace, up to his adolescence. Then Moses chooses to side with the Jewish people. Called upon by the God of the Jews, Moses pleads with Pharaoh to "Let my people go".
Charlton Heston played Moses and won a Golden Globe for his performance. Yul Brynner starred as his opponent, Pharaoh Rameses, who only gives in after several plagues.
Cecil B. De Mille was nominated for an Oscar, but the only Oscar the movie won was for the special effects. In my humble opinion the movie deserved more Oscars, but it had tough competition.
The other options were also Christian inspired movies. "The Sign of the Cross" (1932) is Cecil B. De Mille's movie about the first Christian persecution by Emperor Nero.
"Ben Hur" (1959), starring Charlton Heston once again, won eleven Oscars, including "Best Actor" (Heston) and "Best Director" (William Wyler). It relates the life of a Jewish noble condemned to slavery. I'll not spoil the rest of the plot to you (although you're probably familiar with it).
"The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965) was directed by George Stevens and starred Max von Sydow as Jesus. Its screenplay is based upon the gospels.

Answer: Matthew

Pasolini's movie title is "Il vangelo secondo Matteo", which was translated for the English market as "The Gospel According to Saint Matthew". Thus the movie title gives us the answer to this question.
Pasolini relates the three years of Jesus' public ministry: from the first preachings and miracles, up to the crucifixion and the resurrection. The storyboard follows closely the Gospel of Matthew.
On the whole we get from this movie the image of a strongly engaged person, who will stop at nothing to pass on His message. The community life sketched in this movie reminds us of the ideals Karl Marx proclaimed; "all goods are for the benefit of all the community". Marx might have found this ideal in the Bible (see "Acts" 4:32-37 and "Acts" 5:1-11).
Pasolini was nominated for a BAFTA award and for a Golden Lion at the Film Festival in Venice. There he won the Special Price of the Jury.
James, Peter and Jude have written one or more canonical epistles, but no canonical gospels.

Answer: Orson Welles

The movie "A Man for All Seasons" gives a view of the court life at the time of Henry VIII (portrayed in the movie by Robert Shaw).
Orson Welles (1915-1985) was an American actor and director. He starred in "Citizen Kane" (1941), "The Third Man" (1949), "The Merchant of Venice" (1969) and many other movies. He also directed "Citizen Kane" as well as other movies, including "Macbeth" (1948).
After having been married for several years to Catherine of Aragon, King Henry had not produced a male heir and got more and more attracted to Anne Boleyn, one of the ladies in waiting. Now King Henry VIII searched a motive for ending the marriage to Catherine, so that he could marry Anne.
The main consultants of Henry VIII were Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (played by Cyril Luckham); Thomas Cromwell (a role by Leo McKern); Thomas Cardinal Wolsey (played by Orson Welles); and Thomas More (portrayed by Paul Scofield). Apparently Thomas was a very popular first name in those days.
Of these four, Cranmer and Cromwell supported Henry's theory of supremacy over the church (and thus the divorce that led to the schism between the Catholic and the Anglican Church), while More opposed this. Wolsey might have opted for neutrality, but this was no option according to King Henry VIII.
The Catholic Church has canonized Thomas More, who died on the scaffold and qualifies thus as a martyr also. Since 1980 Saint Thomas More appears also on the Anglican Calendar of Saints. His name day is celebrated on June 22nd (Catholic Church) or on July 6th (Anglican Church).
Both the director Fred Zinnemann as the leading actor Paul Scofield won an Oscar, a BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe. The movie won the Oscar and the BAFTA Award for Best Picture, and Robert Shaw was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

Answer: Andrew Lloyd Webber

"Jesus Christ Superstar", the movie, was based upon the eponymous theatre show. Both the show and the movie are commonly indicated as musicals, but this moniker might be incorrect: a musical contains spoken parts, and "Jesus Christ Superstar" does not. All the dialogues are sung.
The story of the movie mixes Biblical events with a tour by the theatre company playing the eponymous show. This implies some anachronisms, but strictly speaking the anachronisms are not blunders.
All the people I've mentioned have contributed to the movie. Andrew Lloyd Webber composed the music for the theatre show and orchestrated the movie. Norman Jewison directed and produced the movie. Ted Neeley played the title role and Yvonne Blake designed the costumes.
The soundtrack was nominated for an Oscar and did win a BAFTA Award. Ted Neeley was nominated for a Golden Globe and Yvonne Blake was nominated for a BAFTA Award.

Answer: Therese

The movie by Alain Cavalier is titled "Thérèse" and retells the life of Thérèse of Lisieux. She joined the convent at the age of fifteen and started her autobiography in 1895, aged twenty-two. She died of tuberculosis. Her colleagues did not find her special, but her autobiography has had a great influence in the Roman Catholic Church.
Catherine Mouchet plays the title role.
Incidentally: if you wonder about the accents not appearing in the suggested answer, this was done on purpose. I've seen many times that diacritic marks such as accents will not be rendered properly in Flash mode, with undesirable effects.
There is a movie named "La Sainte Catherine" (2006), but it is a comedy and does not deal with the life of Saint Catherine.
The movie "Agnes of God" (1985) is about a nun, but not about someone who was canonized after her death.
And Joan of Arc, who inspired many movies (for example the 1948 movie starring Ingrid Bergman or the 1999 movie with Milla Jovovich), was no nun.

Answer: Paul Cox

There have been several movies portraying the Belgian missionary to Hawaii, who went to live among the lepers and was infected by leprosy himself. I chose here to use the 1999 movie, a co-production of several Belgian, Dutch, Australian and American companies.

Paul Cox, a Dutchman living in Australia, directed "Father Damien" (1999). The title role was performed by the Australian actor David Wenham. The Belgian actor Jan Decleir played the role of Bishop Köckerman, Father Damien's superior in Hawaii. Minor roles were for notorious actors such as Derek Jacobi, Peter O'Toole and Kris Kristofferson.
The script was based upon a book by the Belgian journalist Hilde Eynikel.

Answer: Mel Gibson

"The Passion of the Christ" tells about the last days of the earthly life of Jesus Christ, starting from the prayer in the Garden of Olives, immediately after Last Supper, until the crucifixion.
Its storyboard follows the gospels in detail, including scenes of extreme violence. Hence the movie got restricted ratings in various countries. For example, the rating for Malaysia was "banned - except for Christians". This Malaysian rating also explains the title of this quiz.
The director and producer of this movie was Mel Gibson. He chose to render the dialogues in the languages that were spoken in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion: Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic. This was done in order to enhance the realism in the movie. By the way, Gibson used the same procedure in his Maya movie "Apocalypto" (2006) - another very violent and thus controversial movie.
Mel Gibson became a world star with his roles in the "Mad Max" (1979, 1981 and 1985) and "Lethal Weapon" (1987, 1989, 1992 and 1998) movie series. He directed "Braveheart" (1995), "The Passion of the Christ" and "Apocalypto".
The other people mentioned here have acted in "The Passion of the Christ". Monica Belluci is an Italian actress. She played the role of Mary Magdalene. Hristo Shopov is a Bulgarian actor, who played the role of Pontius Pilate. And Maia Morgenstern is the Romanian actress who played the role of the Virgin Mary.