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Quiz about Movies of the 50s  Part I
Quiz about Movies of the 50s  Part I

Movies of the '50s - Part I Trivia Quiz


Here is an assortment of great movies from this era. Hope they bring back good memories, as they did for me when creating the quiz.

A multiple-choice quiz by zambesi. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
zambesi
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
363,523
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
1486
Last 3 plays: Guest 146 (9/10), Zirkon (9/10), Guest 31 (7/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture in 1953 went to "From Here to Eternity". The film won eight Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actor and Actress Awards. Who was the actor who won this award?
Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. In the Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Rear Window" who played the role of Det. Lt. Thomas J. Doyle?
Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Humphrey Bogart won his only Oscar (Best Actor) for his role as Charlie Allnut in the 1951 classic "African Queen". Robert Morley and Katharine Hepburn played British Methodist missionaries. What was the relationship of Morley and Hepburn in the movie?
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. "High Noon" was a classic western basically filmed in real time. The film won four Academy Awards and Gary Cooper won as the Best Actor for his role as the Marshall of Hadleyville, New Mexico. What was Gary Cooper's name in the movie?
Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. The 1959 movie "Ben Hur" won 11 Academy Awards. The chariot race between Ben Hur and Messala (Stephen Boyd) has become a famous movie sequence which actually lasted nine minutes in the movie.
Who played the role of Ben Hur?
Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Marlon Brando starred as Johnny Strabler in the 1953 outlaw biker gang movie "The Wild One" and was the leader of the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club. While in Wrightsville, California, a rival biker gang arrives. Chino (Lee Marvin) the leader, bears a grudge against Johnny as they used to be one big club before Johnny broke away. What was the name of Chino's biker gang? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. When the British POWs entered camp in the 1957 movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai" they whistled to the tune of a marching song. What is the name of this marching song?
Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. In the movie "Some Like It Hot" Tony Curtis (Joe) and Jack Lemmon (Jerry) need to leave Chicago in a hurry as they accidently witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and are spotted by the mob. What were their occupations in the movie?
Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. In the 1951 movie "A Streetcar Named Desire", all the principal actors/actresses received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor/Actress or Best Supporting Actor/Actress. Who did not receive the award for which they were nominated? Hint: However, he did win the Best Actor Award three years later in "On the Waterfront". Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Ernest Borgnine won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1955 for his role of Marty Piletti in "Marty". He was not wealthy but was a decent, hard-working and warm-hearted man, pining for the company and love of a woman as he headed into middle age. What was Marty's occupation in the movie?

Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Mar 24 2024 : Guest 146: 9/10
Mar 20 2024 : Zirkon: 9/10
Mar 20 2024 : Guest 31: 7/10
Mar 17 2024 : Terri2050: 4/10
Mar 15 2024 : pughmv: 10/10
Mar 15 2024 : Guest 86: 6/10
Mar 12 2024 : Guest 67: 6/10
Mar 12 2024 : Guest 86: 8/10
Mar 07 2024 : Guest 2: 5/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture in 1953 went to "From Here to Eternity". The film won eight Academy Awards including Best Supporting Actor and Actress Awards. Who was the actor who won this award?

Answer: Frank Sinatra

Sinatra won the award for his role of Private Angelo Maggio. Frank Sinatra had a very successful career as a solo singing artist during the 1940s. However, by 1953 his professional career was in limbo, and it was this award that re-started his career. He signed with Capitol Records in 1953 and released a string of solo hits.
Donna Reed won Best Supporting Actress for her role of Alma "Lorene" Burke. The title of the movie came from a quote from a Rudyard Kipling poem (1892) called "Gentleman-Rankers".
2. In the Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Rear Window" who played the role of Det. Lt. Thomas J. Doyle?

Answer: Wendell Corey

Wendell Corey (1914 - 1968) appeared on Broadway and in numerous movies over a 30 year period, until his death in 1968. He was the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1961-63.
The movie was based on a 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder" by Cornell Woolrich. James Stewart played L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries, Raymond Burr was Lars Thorwald and Broderick Crawford was not in the movie. Grace Kelly was Jeffries' girl-friend Lisa Carol Fremont.
Broderick Crawford won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1949 ("All the King's Men"). However, he is probably best remembered for his role as Chief Dan Mathews in "Highway Patrol" (TV Series 1955-59).
3. Humphrey Bogart won his only Oscar (Best Actor) for his role as Charlie Allnut in the 1951 classic "African Queen". Robert Morley and Katharine Hepburn played British Methodist missionaries. What was the relationship of Morley and Hepburn in the movie?

Answer: Brother and Sister

The movie takes place in German East Africa during WWI. Morley and Hepburn played the brother and sister roles of Samuel and Rose Sayer. Samuel is beaten by the German soldiers and soon dies. Charlie rescues Rose and, after many escapades, they eventually marry. The adventure film was based on a 1935 novel of the same name by C.S. Forester. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards but received just the one - Best Actor.
4. "High Noon" was a classic western basically filmed in real time. The film won four Academy Awards and Gary Cooper won as the Best Actor for his role as the Marshall of Hadleyville, New Mexico. What was Gary Cooper's name in the movie?

Answer: Will Kane

Will Kane had been a long-time Marshall of Hadleyville. He had just gotten married and was intending to give up his badge to be a store keeper.
This all changed when Frank Miller, who was sentenced to be hung, was pardoned on a technicality. He vowed to get even with the marshall who had put him away.
Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges) was the Deputy Marshall. Frank (Ian MacDonald) and Ben (Sheb Wooley) Miller were brothers with Jack Colby (Lee Van Cleef) and Jim Pierce (Robert J. Wilke) played the roles of the outlaws that came after Will Kane. Grace Kelly played the role of Kane's wife (Amy Fowler Kane).
5. The 1959 movie "Ben Hur" won 11 Academy Awards. The chariot race between Ben Hur and Messala (Stephen Boyd) has become a famous movie sequence which actually lasted nine minutes in the movie. Who played the role of Ben Hur?

Answer: Charlton Heston

This achievement of 11 Academy Awards was equalled by "Titanic" in 1997 and "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" in 2003.
Charlton Heston (1923 - 2008) appeared in over 100 movies in a career which spanned 60 years. He also appeared in such movies as "The Ten Commandments", "El Cid", "The Greatest Show on Earth" and "The Planet of the Apes". He was also a political activist supporting a number of Presidential candidates over the years.
It is interesting to note that quite a few actors turned down the role of Ben Hur before Charlton Heston was offered the part. Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman, Marlon Brando and Rock Hudson were some who turned down the role. Kirk Douglas wanted the role but Heston was preferred.
This inspired Douglas to star in another historical epic, "Spartacus", in 1960.
Frank Thring (Pontius Pilate in the movie) was an Australian actor who appeared in many Hollywood epics in the 1950s and 60s, usually as a bad guy.
6. Marlon Brando starred as Johnny Strabler in the 1953 outlaw biker gang movie "The Wild One" and was the leader of the Black Rebels Motorcycle Club. While in Wrightsville, California, a rival biker gang arrives. Chino (Lee Marvin) the leader, bears a grudge against Johnny as they used to be one big club before Johnny broke away. What was the name of Chino's biker gang?

Answer: The Beetles

Johnny Strabler had broken away from the Beetles to form his own club. Chino arrives in town with Johnny's trophy on his bike. Johnny wants his trophy back so he pushes Chino off his bike and then Chino explains that after Johnny broken away all The Beetles have missed him.
Outlaw biker clubs in the USA were popularised by the movie.
"The wild Angels" (1966), "The Rebel Rousers" (1967) and "The Hellcats" (1968) were names of movies released in the 1960s but never reached the fame of "The Wild One".
Brando went on to win two Academy awards for Best Actor (On the Waterfront-1954 and The Godfather - 1972). Marvin also won the award in the same category in "Cat Ballou" in 1965.
7. When the British POWs entered camp in the 1957 movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai" they whistled to the tune of a marching song. What is the name of this marching song?

Answer: Colonel Bogey March

All of these songs were military marching songs that were composed during WWI. The "Colonel Bogey March" was written in 1914 by a British army bandmaster, Lt. F. J. Ricketts and is sometimes wrongly credited as "River Kwai March". The Kings Own Calgary Regiment of the Canadian Forces still today use "Colonel Bogey" as their march past tune, which caused a diplomatic row in 1980 when played during a visit by the Japanese Prime Minister.
"Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile" is probably the most famous WWI marching song.
The movie won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor(Alec Guinness for his role as Lt. Colonel Nicholson).
8. In the movie "Some Like It Hot" Tony Curtis (Joe) and Jack Lemmon (Jerry) need to leave Chicago in a hurry as they accidently witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and are spotted by the mob. What were their occupations in the movie?

Answer: Jazz musicians

Joe played the saxophone and Jerry played the double-bass. Broke, freezing cold and in a rush to get away from the mob, they join an all-female band travelling by train to Miami, disguised as females named Josephine and Daphne. Marilyn Monroe (Sugar Kane) was the band's vocalist.
The two lads had trouble in high heels and staying away from the other members of the band. They thought that Sugar Kane walked "like Jello-O on springs".
Jack Lemmon received a nomination for Best Actor for his role as Jerry, however, the award for that year went to Charlton Heston in "Ben Hur".
9. In the 1951 movie "A Streetcar Named Desire", all the principal actors/actresses received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor/Actress or Best Supporting Actor/Actress. Who did not receive the award for which they were nominated? Hint: However, he did win the Best Actor Award three years later in "On the Waterfront".

Answer: Marlon Brando (Stanley Kowalski ) - Best Actor

The Academy Award winners were Leigh (Best Actress), Malden (Best supporting Actor) and Hunter (Best Supporting Actress). Brando was nominated for Best Actor but was beaten that year by Humphrey Bogart in "The African Queen".
Brando did go on to win two Best Actor Academy Awards in "On the Waterfront" and "The Godfather".
10. Ernest Borgnine won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1955 for his role of Marty Piletti in "Marty". He was not wealthy but was a decent, hard-working and warm-hearted man, pining for the company and love of a woman as he headed into middle age. What was Marty's occupation in the movie?

Answer: Butcher

In Borgnine's opening scene you see him serving behind the counter in his butcher shop. Marty is a single, Italian-American butcher, who still lives with his mother in The Bronx, New York city. He gets hounded by family and friends to get married. The movie won four Academy Awards in 1955. Borgnine is probably best remembered for his role as Lt. Commander Quinton McHale in the 1962-66 TV series "McHale's Navy". Borgnine actually did serve in the US Navy during WWII.
Source: Author zambesi

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor skunkee before going online.
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Related Quizzes
This quiz is part of series Movies of the 40s, 50s & 60s.:

Here are a number of quizzes about memorable movies from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Hope they bring back fond memories.

  1. Classic Movies of the 1940s - Part I Average
  2. Classic Movies of the 1940s - Part II Average
  3. Classic Movies of the 1940s - Part III Average
  4. Movies of the '50s - Part I Average
  5. Movies of the '50s - Part II Average
  6. Movies of the '50s - Part III Average
  7. Movies of the '60s - Part I Average
  8. Movies of the '60s - Part II Average
  9. Movies of the '60s - Part III Average

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