It Was the Best of Movie Times - 1939 Quiz

Answer: The Wizard of Oz

L. Frank Baum's original story (first in a series of 20 books about Oz, including the three alternative answers for this question) established Oz as a real place, hidden from the rest of the world by magical and/or natural barriers. Determining the exact location of Oz is as challenging as identifying the American state in which Springfield, home of "The Simpsons", can be found. Over the series of books, it became obvious that it could no longer be somewhere in the deserts of the American West, which was the original supposition. The start of "Ozma of Oz", in which Dorothy reaches a country neighboring Oz after falling overboard on her way to Australia, suggests a Pacific island - palm trees in Oz suggest southern Pacific, but a character in one of the books follows the North Star on a journey, which could only happen north of the Equator. In the movie, the issue was avoided by making the entire Oz story a dream sequence.

"The Wizard of Oz" won Academy Awards for 'Best Music, Original Score' and 'Best Music, Original Song' (to Harold Arlen for "Over the Rainbow"); it was nominated for a further four, including 'Best Picture'.

Answer: Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple plays the part of Sara Crewe, a young girl who is placed by her father in an exclusive girls' school while he goes to fight in the Boer War. When he is listed as Missing in Action, her idyllic life of privilege ends, and she has to work for her keep in the school, taunted by her former schoolmates as a 'little princess'. Mary Pickford had played the role in a 1917 silent version of the same story. Shirley has a ballet sequence in "The Little Princess", as well as a musical number with Arthur Teacher; Bill Robinson was her dancing partner in a number of her earlier films.

"The Little Princess" was not nominated for any Academy Awards, but 'our Shirley' was so popular that this was the twelfth-highest grossing film of 1939.

Answer: Ninotchka

Greta Lovisa Gustafsson is known for her serious roles, and her reclusive approach to the press, unlike most Hollywood stars of the time. She successfully made the transition from silent star to talkies in "Anna Christie" (1930) which was billed with the slogan 'Garbo Talks'. "Ninotchka" was intended to make a similar transition to the more popular lightweight films being produced, and was given the publicity slogan 'Garbo Laughs' (although she had several lighthearted scenes in "Queen Christina" (1933), that was not the tenor of most of her previous work). "Ninotchka" was one of the first American films to criticize the Stalinist Soviet Union, as the title character discovers that life in 'decadent' Paris is much more attractive than the one to which she is supposed to be returning after completing the jewelry deal which is at the core of the film's plot. With a screenplay by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, the film was based on the book "Ninotchka" by Melchior Lengyel, and itself became the source for the 1957 film "Silk Stockings" starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse.

"Ninotchka" was nominated for four Academy Awards, including 'Best Picture', but did not win any in the year's fierce competition.

Answer: "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte

"Wuthering Heights", "Jane Eyre" and "Agnes Grey" were all published in 1847, after the unsuccessful publication of a book of poetry the previous year, in which the sisters used the pseudonyms of Ellis, Currer and Acton Bell.

"Wuthering Heights" (1939), starring Merle Oberon as Cathy and Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff, is probably the most famous adaptation for the screen of Emily Bronte's novel about the pair of doomed lovers, but it is not the only one - other versions were released in 1920, 1970 and 1992 (as well as a number of televised versions). "Jane Eyre" (1945) starred Orson Wells as Rochester and Joan Fontaine as Jane Eyre; other versions were released in 1910 (twice) 1914 (two of them again!), 1915, 1921, 1934, 1961, 1968 and 1996, along with numerous television productions. "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" was adapted for television in 1968 and again in 1996. As of March, 2010, "Agnes Grey" has not been the basis for a film, although the BBC did produce a radio adaptation.

"Wuthering Heights" won the Academy Award for 'Best Cinematography, Black and White'; it was nominated for a further seven awards, including 'Best Picture'.

Answer: Beau Geste

Gary Cooper played Michael 'Beau' Geste, the central character who always acted with quintessential British honor, despite appearances. (Watch the film for more details.) In the 1929 version of P. C. Wren's 1924 novel, the brothers were played by Ronald Colman, William Powell and Noah Beery. In this version, Noah Beery and William Powell portrayed fellow Legionnaires.

"Beau Geste" was nominated for two Academy Awards, but did not win any.

Answer: Goodbye, Mr Chips

Mr Chipping's careers started shakily, as he lacked confidence and the ability to relate well with adolescents. During a holiday taken to reconsider his career options, he falls in love with and marries Kathy, who transforms his life. Her ease with others, especially the schoolboys, helps him overcome his previous difficulties, and, despite her tragically early death, he becomes a well-loved teacher, affectionately nicknamed 'Mr Chips', who stays in the same school for over 40 years. (I am sure that I am not the only person who was inspired at least in part to pursue a career as a teacher by this film!)

"Goodbye, Mr Chips" won an Academy Award for 'Best Actor', and was nominated in a further six categories.

Answer: Tallulah Bankhead

Bette Davis plays the part of Judith Traherne, a carefree socialite who has a brain tumor removed, but who still faces death within a year, a diagnosis that is originally kept from her to allow her to enjoy life. When she discovers the truth, she breaks off her engagement with the neurosurgeon (with whom she became involved after the surgery); her stablehand Michael O'Leary (Bogart) convinces her to spend her final months with the man she loves. Ronald Reagan is Alec Hamm in the film. Tallulah Bankhead had played Judith Traherne in a 1934 Broadway production of "Dark Victory".

"Dark Victory" was nominated for three Academy Awards, including 'Best Picture', but did not win any.

Answer: Mr Smith Goes to Washington

Jimmy Stewart is Jefferson Smith, a Boy Rangers leader who is selected to fill a Senate vacancy on the assumption that his political naivety will make him a suitable pawn. When his personal dream of a national boys' camp endangers the schemes of the 'bosses', they frame him for fraud. He stages a filibuster to establish his innocence, while the Boy Rangers try to spread the word of his innocence and are brutally attacked by his opponents' henchmen. When Smith finally collapses, in apparent defeat, one of his opponents is overcome with guilt and confesses all. (When I was 10, I missed Thanksgiving dinner in order to see the end of this film on television - turkey and tears don't mix.)

"Mr Deeds Goes to Town" (1936) starred Gary Cooper; "Lost Horizon" (1937) starred Ronald Coleman; "Arsenic and Old Lace" (1944) starred Cary Grant.

"Mr Smith Goes to Washington" won an Academy Award for 'Best Writing, Original Story', and was nominated for 10 more, including 'Best Picture'.

Answer: Gunga Din

Sam Jaffe played Gunga Din, a young native who had always, unsuccessfully, wanted to join the British Army, and who befriends the central soldiers of the story, helping them avoid mass slaughter from an imminent Thuggee uprising, dying in the climactic scene. At his funeral, he is formally inducted into the army, and the last lines of Rudyard Kipling's poem are read over the funeral pyre.

Though I've belted you and flayed you,
By the livin' Gawd that made you,
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!

Baloo the bear and Rikki Tikki Tavi the mongoose both featured in Kipling's "The Jungle Book", while Kim was the son of an Irish soldier, abandoned in India, who carried messages for the British Army while leading an old Tibetan lama around India in a quest to find enlightenment in "Kim".

"Gunga Din" was nominated for one Academy Award, but did not win.

Answer: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced across the screen in 10 films, starting with "Flying Down to Rio" (1933), finishing with "The Barkleys of Broadway" (1949), and including "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle" (1939), which was their last film at RKO. She was primarily an actress rather than a dancer, but her partnership with Astaire produced some of the great dance routines on film.

Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse can be seen in "Singing in the Rain" (1952); John Travolta and Karen Gorney were featured in "Saturday Night Fever" (1977); Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey starred in "Dirty Dancing" (1987).

Although " The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle" was not nominated for any Academy Awards, it contains some stunning dance sequences.

Answer: John Wayne

This was not John Wayne's first movie (he had been in many movies, starting in 1926), but the part of Ringo Kid is usually considered to be the one that made him a star. Gary Cooper had been the producer's choice for the role, but John Ford got his way, and a partnership that would continue through 23 more films had its start.

"Stagecoach" won two Academy Awards, for 'Best Actor in a Supporting Role' and 'Best Music, Scoring'. It was also nominated in four other categories, including 'Best Picture'.

Answer: Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara

The other pairs had all portrayed the bellringer and the gypsy girl with whom he fell in love, and whom he tried to save from hanging after having been framed for murder, in earlier versions of the story. Charles Laughton had previously played Captain Bligh in "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935). His production company had a failure with "Jamaica Inn", which was Hitchcock's last British film before moving to Hollywood, and the role of Quasimodo was a financial windfall for him. Laughton signed O'Hara to a management contract, and arranged to have her cast as Esmeralda. At the age of 19, she had starred in two major films, and she carried on from there in a long and successful career.

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" was nominated for two Academy Awards, but did not win any.

Answer: Of Mice and Men

The title of Steinbeck's novella, published in 1927, came from a line in the Robert Burns poem "To a Mouse": "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang oft agley". George Milton (Burgess Meredith) and Lennie Small (Lon Chaney Jr) dream of owning some land of their own, where Lennie will be able to care for and pat the soft rabbits, a desire that has already gotten them into trouble. When Lennie accidentally kills a woman while trying to stroke her hair, the dream falls apart forever.

"Of Mice and Men" was nominated for four Academy Awards, including 'Best Picture', but failed to win any.

Answer: Judy Garland

Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland made their first film together, "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry", in 1937. Both stars in their own right, they formed a popular partnership, appearing together in three of the Andy Hardy films, as well as several films in the series spawned by the successful "Babes in Arms". Mickey starred with Elizabeth Taylor in the 1944 classic "National Velvet".

"Babes in Arms" was nominated for two Academy Awards, but did not win any.

Answer: Gone With the Wind

"Gone With the Wind" won Oscars for 8 of the 13 awards categories in which it was nominated, including an award to Hattie McDaniel as 'Best Supporting Actress' for her portrayal of Scarlet's servant Mammy. Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American to be nominated for, and the first to win, an Academy Award, as well as being the first to attend an Academy Awards ceremony as a guest rather than a servant. On her death in 1952, she willed her plaque to Howard University, from whence it disappeared during riots in the late 1960s.

In the category of 'Best Film' at the 12th Academy Awards, "Gone With the Wind" beat a number of films which could easily have won in a less stellar year. In alphabetical order, the 10 nominees were "Dark Victory", "Gone With the Wind", "Goodbye, Mr. Chips", "Love Affair" (apologies if you're a fan - I couldn't fit it in!), "Mr Smith Goes to Washington", "Ninotchka", "Of Mice and Men", "Stagecoach", "The Wizard of Oz" and "Wuthering Heights". WOW!