1940s Movies Trivia Questions & Answers

Answer: He had lost both hands.

Harold Russell (1914-2002) was a Canadian-American war veteran who had lost both hands in 1944. The story was based on three WWII veterans returning home to the same small town after the war and how they were going to fit back into society and civilian life. The other two veterans were played by Dana Andrews and Fredric March. Fredric March won the Best Actor Oscar for his role of veteran Al Stephenson. Russell had hooks to serve as his hands after his accident in 1944. Sadly, in 1992 he sold his Oscar for $60,500 to pay for medical expenses for his wife.

Answer: Oil working

"Tulsa" paired Susan Hayward with Robert Preston and was narrated by Chill Wills. The central plot of the film dealt with Hayward's character seeking revenge for her father's death at the Tanner Oil Company. She enlisted the assistance of an engineer and eventually their quest for revenge became a quest for wealth and power. Ed Begley, Pedro Armendária and Lloyd Gough were also cast in the film. Hayward's first credited role was with Preston in the 1939 film, "Beau Geste". Preston will be remembered for playing Professor Harold Hill in "The Music Man" (1962). Hayward won an Academy Award for her role in the 1958 film, "I Want to Live".

Answer: His Girl Friday

"The Front Page" was the title of the original play, by Ben Hecht and Charles McArthur, wherein the reporter was a man! Cary Grant played editor Walter Burns, with Roz Russell as reporter Hildy Johnson.

Answer: The Big Sleep

Now here's one I simply can't remember if I've seen or not. I probably have, simply because 'noir' and 'detective cinema' was sort of a thing I focused on for about half-a-year in university. I do know for a fact that I read "The Big Sleep" though; Raymond Chandler's first novel, it would become one of the defining texts of the era and, as the world moved from World War II and closer to the Cold War, it morphed into the perfect text to exemplify the aesthetics of film noir and hardboiled detective media. The original film starred Bogart and went into the U.S. National Film Registry; the remake, done in 1978, featured Robert Mitchum.

Answer: Danny Kaye

This was Danny Kaye's first film. It is one of the funniest films I have ever seen. Here are a few examples.

While standing in line to see a movie, Kaye sings and dances using a combination of sounds and double talk to expose a host of film clichés. You will only understand part of what he is saying but you know exactly what he means.

On board a troop ship he does an outrageous lip sync of Dinah Shore.

On the island he is captured by Japanese troops. He wildly impersonates a Japanese officer and bamboozles them to surrender.

Kaye is supported by Dinah Shore and Dana Andrews, It received two Oscar nominations for Best Musical Score and for the song "Now I Know".

Answer: Phil Greenberg

When asked to write an article about anti-Semitism in the New York City area and in the community of Darien, Connecticut, Philip Green was not very enthusiastic about the idea. He eventually decides to pose as a Jew to do his research and changes his name to Phil Greenberg. It is during this research that he experiences hatred and bigotry towards Jews. The movie received eight nominations for Academy Awards but was successful in three categories. Best Director (Elia Kazan), Best Picture, and Best Supporting Actress (Celeste Holm). The movie also starred Dorothy McGuire, John Garfield, Anne Revere, June Havoc and Dean Stockwell.

Answer: Thieves' Highway

Richard Conte and Valentina Cortese star in this tight drama about the little man against the big combine. The film also features, Lee J. Cobb, Jack Oakie and Margaret Lawrence. Valentina Cortese is brilliant as Richard Conte's girl.

Answer: Loretta Young

Loretta Young (1913-2000) was a child actress and had a long career in movies and television. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Katie Holstrom in the film "The Farmer's Daughter". From 1953-1961 she had her own half-hour anthology TV series "The Loretta Young Show". In "The Bishop's Wife", David Niven played her husband, Bishop Henry Brougham and Cary Grant was Dudley, the suave angel.
June Allyson (1917-2006), Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982) and Joan Crawford (1905-1977) were all famous actresses of the '40s and '50s.

Answer: Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas (1916) was born Issur Danielovitch Demsky. Kirk Douglas played many tough guy roles throughout his career. In this film he comes to a sticky end as his girl friend Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer) eventually kills him. Robert Mitchum plays the role of Jeff Bailey who tries to settle down in a small town but is dragged back into the world of corruption and double crossing by Sterling. Both Robinson and Cagney were not in the movie. However, they both played tough gangsters roles in other movies during their careers.

Answer: Robert Newton

Bill Sikes is a career criminal in London's Victorian underworld, an associate of Fagin, who is feared by everyone. Even his dog, Bullseye, is terrified of him. In the story, Sikes murders his girlfriend, Nancy, for daring to assist the urchin, Oliver Twist, but eventually Sikes gets his comeuppance on a warehouse roof in the dockland slums of old Victorian London.

To members of my generation (who grew up in the UK in the sixties), Robert Newton is perhaps best remembered playing the title role in the long running TV series "The Adventures of Long John Silver", loosely based on the character created by Robert Louis Stevenson in his novel "Treasure Island".

The wrong answers:
Oliver Reed played Bill Sikes in "Oliver!" (1968)
Andy Serkis played Bill Sikes in "Oliver Twist" TV series (1999)
Anthony Newley played The Artful Dodger in "Oliver Twist" (1948)

Answer: Gene Tierney

Otto Preminger directed Gene Tierney in "Laura". It was Tierney's 12th feature film role. She had worked in five Broadway productions before working in films. Her first major role was opposite Henry Fonda in "The Return of Frank James" (1940). In 1943 her co-star in "Laura", Dana Andrews, had worked with Henry Fonda in "The Ox-Bow Incident". Clifton Webb and Vincent Price also appeared in "Laura". Dana Andrews played a police officer investigating Laura's death. He became obsessed with her while learning about her during the investigation. Laura visited him one night and it was determined that the victim of the killing was actually a different woman.
Judith Anderson had the role of Laura's aunt, Ann Treadwell. Dorothy Adams played Laura's housekeeper named Bessie Clary. Josephine Hull was in "Arsenic and Old Lace" with Cary Grant in 1944.

Answer: Kitty Foyle

Ginger Rogers had the title role and won an Oscar for this somewhat soapy melodrama.

Answer: Lifeboat

The 1940s was a good decade for Hitchcock because his movies, then and now, received a great deal of critical acclaim that contributed to his general importance in the industry, if not as a prolific filmmaker, then as a creative force. "Lifeboat" was set entirely on a lifeboat at sea where nine survivors of a WWII naval attack dealt with issues of morality and tried to survive. Although the film was a bit dicey in terms of reception in the 1940s, "Lifeboat" has since become an underrated gem in the Hitchcock library. It was nominated for three Oscars.

Answer: In a large antique wooden chest

The two friends played by John Dall and Farley Granger hoped to commit the perfect crime. Some of the guests are family of the deceased and James Stewart plays the role of Rupert Cadell their former prep school housemaster and now a publisher. While at school, Cadell had taught them the art of showing superiority over others. This they thought would show their superiority of committing the perfect crime and thus used the antique wooden chest with the body inside, as the buffet table for the food. During the dinner and listening intently to the conversations of all those present Cadell concludes that the two hosts have committed a crime. The movie was edited in such a way that the movie appeared in real time as one continuous shot.

Answer: The Naked City

"There are eight million stories in The Naked City". The film was shot on location in New York City, which was used to great effect. Starring Barry Fitzgerald as the old time detective and Don Taylor as the newly promoted detective. This was a great film and the basis for the long running TV Series of the late fifties through the early sixties. "Night and the City" was filmed on location in London, "D.O.A." in Los Angeles and "The Naked and The Dead" a 1958 WW2 movie filmed in Panama to depict a Pacific Island.

Answer: Moanin' Low

"Moanin' Low" is a sentimental love song in which the singer laments a lost love. The music was written by Ralph Rainger and the lyrics by Howard Dietz and was first published in 1929. This was an excellent example of a non-musical movie using a song in a dramatic scene. Claire Trevor won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in this movie. The movie also starred Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Lionel Barrymore. "Am I Blue"," Love for Sale" and "Body and Soul" were well known songs in musicals in the late '20s and early '30s.

Answer: The Long Voyage Home

This adaptation of four of Eugene O'Neill's plays was directed by John Ford, so you will not be surprised to know that John Wayne starred and that Ward Bond and John Qualen also appeared. Eugene O'Neill's daughter, Oona, married Charlie Chaplin.

Answer: The Killers

Another early noir gem, "The Killers" is a bit interesting that the first 20 minutes is reliable as an adaptation of Hemingway's 1927 short story, following two contract killers out to kill The Swede. A famous Russian director would take the same 20 minutes in his own adaptation of the work in a 1956 short film, but the original expanded on Hemingway's work to flesh out the aftermath of the killing. A third adaptation of the story was made in 1964 by Don Siegel.
I was originally supposed to watch this film for a class on film adaptation, so it's another 'one that got away' by my lack of attendance (STAY IN SCHOOL, KIDS). But it's a movie that clearly has importance due to its critical acclaim, four Oscar nominations, and inclusion in the U.S. National Film Registry.

Answer: Chronic hay fever

Embarrassed to return home, he finds a job working in a shipyard. But he writes letters home about his military life and travels. He meets a group of marines and tells them his story. They put a marine uniform on him and trick him onto a train heading toward his hometown. And there he is greeted by the whole town as a hero. The adoration of the town is such that he finds it difficult to tell the truth for in essence they are craving for a hero.

Finally they convince him to run for mayor against the town blowhard. But he can no longer carry one the charade and confesses. The town still wants him for mayor because of his honesty.

Preston Surges received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay. Some of the sets were the same one used in "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" and a billboard advertising that film is captured in one scene. The film's assets are its patriotism and the need for role models that met the tenner of the times. Sturges followed the Hays Office production code, perhaps in part to appease them for his previous code violations such as "Miracle of Morgan's Creek".

Answer: Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn

In their careers Tracy and Hepburn co-starred in nine movies (1942-1967) together and this one was their sixth together. Spencer Tracy (1900-1967) won two Academy Awards for Best Actor (1939 and 1939). Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003) won four Academy Awards for Best Actress (1934, 1968, 1969 and 1982). Bogart and Bacall co-starred in many movies together during the 1940s and were actually married from 1945 until his death in 1957. Grant and Russell co-starred in "His Girl Friday" (1940) and Stewart and Reed co-starred in "It's A Wonderful Life" (1946).

Answer: Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth

The March sisters were Meg (Janet Leigh), Jo (June Allyson), Amy (Elizabeth Taylor) and Beth (Margaret O'Brien). Mrs. March, their mother, was played by Mary Astor. The story takes place in the small town of Concord, Massachusetts during the American Civil War. The four sisters, with the help of their mother, try to lead a normal life during these difficult times while their father, played by Leon Ames, is away fighting for the Union Army.

Answer: He played eight different characters.

In this movie set in Victorian England, Alec Guinness plays every member of the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family, both male and female, young and old!
The villain, Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price), is from the wrong branch of the family and would need eight D'Ascoynes to die before he's next in line to become the Duke, so he resolves to bring about the premature demise of all who stand in his way. During the course of the story we see him cleverly (and humorously) despatch six D'Ascoynes, one after the other, each victim played by Guinness (sometimes in drag). We see the last two D'Ascoynes perish without Mazzini's assistance, allowing the villain to inherit the title of Duke of Chalfont. Later, there's poetic justice when Mazzini ends up on trial for a murder that he didn't commit!

Alec Guinness (1914-2000) had a long career in the movie business, playing a wide variety of roles. He was a versatile performer who moved easily between Shakespeare, drama, comedy, action films and sci-fi. Younger people may only remember Guinness from the original "Star Wars" trilogy, in which he played Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Answer: Pinky

Dorothy Dandrige and Lena Horne were among the actresses considered for the lead role in "Pinky". Jeanne Crain ended up getting the role and Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters and Nina Mae McKinney were also among the the cast. The film was so controversial that a theater owner who showed the film in his Texas theater had to take his Board of Censors conviction to the Supreme Court, where a landmark ruling determined that First Amendment protection applied to films. The film depicted Pinky falling in love with a doctor, who maintained his love for her when he learned she was of black parentage. The relationship caused problems within the black side of her family. Despite the controversy, "Pinky" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Crain and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for both Ethel Barrymore and Ethel Waters.
"Unconquered" was a 1947 film starring Gary Cooper and Paulette set during the Indian wars of the mid-eighteenth century.
"Battleground" was a 1949 WW II film about the Battle of the Bulge in World War II that starred Van Johnson, Ricardo Montalban and James Whitmore.
"Hired" was a 1940 two-part film produced as a training film for sales managers.

Answer: The Mark of Zorro

Tyrone Power, one of Hollywood's most handsome, starred as Don Diego, AKA Zorro (The Fox). Linda Darnell played the lovely Lolita. Basil Rathbone, of course, played the baddest of the bad guys, Captain Pasquale.

Answer: My Little Chickadee

This was the classic pairing of W.C. Fields as Cuthbert J. Twilly and Mae West as Flower Belle Lee. They also got credit for the screenplay. This is the movie where Fields is about to be hanged and the hangman asks him if he has any last requests. Fields says, "I'd like to see Paris before I die". When the hangman continues with the execution, Fields quickly adds, "Philadelphia will do".