Disasters in Movies Trivia

1. The 1916 Danish film "Verdens Undergang" (The End of the World) drew inspiration from which 1910 event?

From Quiz Ground Zero

Answer: The passing of Halley's Comet

The amount of panic that the arrival of Halley's Comet caused in the early 1900s shouldn't be underestimated. The British took it as an omen that the Germans were about to invade London, the French were convinced that it was the reason for the flooding of the Seine and some superstitious folks even claimed that it was responsible for the death of King Edward VII. Matters were not helped when French astronomer, Camille Flammarion, declared that, with the aid of a spectroscope, he'd discovered that the tail of the comet was filled with a cyanide gas and that, when the Earth passed through the tail's path, all life on the planet would be extinguished. In the aftermath of this hysteria came August Blom's science-fiction drama "Verdens Undergang", which told the tale of a comet knocked off its course and passing close enough to Earth to cause a cornucopia of natural disasters and social disorder. The film became a massive success, feeding off the back of Halley's Comet and the great uncertainty that was being generated by the World War. Also known as "The Flaming Sword", the film was restored by the Danish Institute in 2006. Many scholars consider this to be the first of the significant apocalypse films to hit our screens. (Footnote) Halley's Comet passed the Earth on May 6, 1910, the Titanic sank in 1912, World War I is deemed to have started in 1914 and the Spanish Flu pandemic spread out in 1918.

From Quiz It Starts With an Earthquake...

Answer: Jeanette Macdonald

Often paired cinematically with Nelson Eddy, Jeanette Macdonald plays Mary Blake who becomes a singer at Blackie Norton's (Gable) gambling and drinking establishment. Spencer Tracy plays Norton's childhood friend Father Tim Mullin, and Jack Holt plays an impresario who hopes to convince Mary to leave Blackie and sing in the opera. The earthquake provides a dramatic backdrop to this story.

From Quiz Yelling Fire in a Crowded Movie Theater?

Answer: Backdraft

1991's "Backdraft" packed an all-star cast. In addition to De Niro as the grizzled arson investigator, Baldwin as the rookie firefeighter and Russell as his older experienced brother, the movie featured Scott Glenn, Donald Sutherland, Rebecca De Mornay, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jason Gedrick. The complicated plot pits firefghters and arson investgators against a deadly arsonist tied to a corrupt city official. Filled with state of the art fire/rescue sequences, the portaryal of fire as almost a living elemental force is the more interesting element of the film. The film did well at the international box office earning over $150,000,000, received three Oscar nominations for technical merit and remains a highly watchable film today. Backdrafts are a very real problem for firefighters. A backdraft is an explosion of flame that happens when a sudden source of air reaches a fire that has used up all the available oxygen. An example of a backdraft is the opening of a door to a room containing a fire. Backdrafts are dangerous for firepersons because the fire will surge to the source of the oxygen, which is often exactly where the firefighter is standing.

From Quiz Help! I'm Shipwrecked

Answer: New Guinea

The first movie entitled "The Swiss Family Robinson" hit the theatres in 1940. But we're talking here about the remake in 1960. (By the way, many other remakes have been made for movie theatres or for the little screen.) In the 1960 movie, John Mills plays the father and Dorothy McGuire plays the mother. The children are played by James MacArthur, Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran. On their route to New Guinea, the family experiences a shipwreck and strands on a tropical island. Pirates abound in the nearby sea. According to the book, the family Robinson was on their way to Australia.

From Quiz Great Movie Disasters II

Answer: Miami

Based on the novel by John D. MacDonald, "Condominium" had a star-studded cast including Barbara Eden ("I Dream of Jeannie") and Dan Haggerty ("Grizzly Adams"). The mini-series was about a luxury high-rise complex doomed by shoddy workmanship and cheap building materials.

From Quiz Great Movie Disasters

Answer: Guerrero

D.O. Guerrero (played by Van Heflin) couldn't hold down a job because of his nasty temper. Out of options, he takes a bomb on board the plane with him, thinking his wife would be able to cash in on the flight insurance.

From Quiz Yelling Fire in a Crowded Movie Theater?

Answer: Fahrenheit 451

It is often eerie to see how accurate some books and movies can be at predicitng the future. The premise of Ray Bradbury's 1953 novel, and the film version from 1966, is that a totalitarian American government has banned all books as a means to eliminate dissent and control information. Fireman are empowered to seek out and burn books. People are encouraged to receive information from giant wall sized televisions that show either government approved news or insipid "approved" programming. Expressing themes of the power of the visual media to control thought, demise of the printed word, and the negative effects of banning contrary opinion, the image of the future in "Fahrenheit 451" is maybe too real to ignore. The 1966 movie is a relatively faithful adaptation of the book starring Oskar Werner as the conflicted "fireman" Montag who comes to reject his book burning task, and Julie Christie in a dual role as his wife and a 20 year old book lover who serves as the catalyst for change in Montag. The film was the only film directed by the great French director Francois Truffaut in English and his first foray into color production. While Truffaut's direction was praised,the movie was criticized for poor choices in casting Ms. Christie and Mr. Werner as the leads.

From Quiz Dystopia in the Movies

Answer: 1984

In a world where there is no escape from a totalitarian society, something Orwell himself was very much opposed to, there is a bleakness and profound sense of hopelessness that pervades everyone and everything. Who can forget the telescreens? The manipulation of the news, a prominent theme of the movie, is especially relevant today. Many believe that Orwell alludes to Stalin's socialistic rule of Russia during the 1940s and early 1950s. The movie stars Richard Burton, who was in failing health during filming, and the excellent John Hurt.

From Quiz Great Movie Disasters II

Answer: Library Tower

At a height of 1,018 feet, Library Tower, originally known as First Interstate World Center and renamed US Bank Tower (as of 2003), was at one time the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. Though designed to withstand an 8.3 magnitude earthquake, its celluloid twin was no match for alien firepower.

From Quiz Great Movie Disasters

Answer: Lincoln International Airport

The fictional airport, somewhere in the Midwest, had to cope with a terrible snowstorm despite having outdated snow-removal equipment and short runways.

From Quiz Ground Zero

Answer: Nuclear fallout

The dropping of the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, despite hastening the end of World War II, caused massive destruction to both lives and property. While ethical questions were being raised about the use of mass casualty weapons and debate raged over whether or not the bombs should have been dropped in the first place, the public continued to be confronted with images and stories of the continued deaths and sickness and the effects of radiation, well after the war had officially concluded. This was perfect fodder for the movie industry, and it came as no surprise that there was a big explosion (pun intended) of apocalypse films during the 1950s. "On the Beach" (1959), based on a 1957 novel by Neville Shute, is the perfect example of a movie taking full advantage of that fear. This is a bleak film that is set in 1964, where the Earth has been torn apart by World War III and its profligate use of atomic weaponry. All human life in the Northern Hemisphere has been wiped out and Australia offers the world its last safe haven. Even here the residents know that it is only a matter of time before the fallout and radiation poisoning will be upon them and that they're merely counting down the days to their own extinction. That same year Ranald MacDougall would release his "The World, the Flesh and the Devil", a film that starred Harry Belafonte and Inger Stevens, as two of the few remaining survivors on a planet devastated by atomic poisoning.

From Quiz Yelling Fire in a Crowded Movie Theater?

Answer: John Travolta

"Ladder 49" is the tale of the relationship between experienced fireman Mike Kennedy played by Travolta and the younger Jack Morrison played by Joaquin Phoenix. The movie is considered one of the more accurate and realistic representations of the difficulties, dangers and sacrifices made by modern fireman in battling fires of all shapes and sizes. The film is told in flashback, as Travolta tries to save his friend and protégé, Phoenix, who is trapped inside a burning high rise building. The film was received with mixed reviews and is considered only a mild success having grossed just slightly over $100,000,000 in worldwide box office. John Travolta came to fame in the early 1970s on US television as the rather dim, perpetual high school student Vinnie Barbarino on "Welcome Back, Kotter". Roles in 1975's "Carrie" and 1976's "The Boy in The Plastic Bubble" opened the way for Travolta to become one of the 1970s and 1980s biggest movie stars, when he starred in 1977's "Saturday Night Fever" and 1978's "Grease". By the mid 1980s Travolta's star had dimmed, only to be rekindled when he played a heroin-using hit man in 1994's "Pulp Fiction".

From Quiz Dystopia in the Movies

Answer: Fahrenheit 451

One man's disillusionment, in this case a fireman whose job is to burn books, becomes a quest for survival as he tries to break free of a society where reading is a punishable offense and personal freedom is non-existent. The movie was directed by French director François Truffaut and stars Julie Christie and Oskar Werner.

From Quiz Great Movie Disasters

Answer: Houston

One of Irwin Allen's last films, "The Swarm" featured the requisite all-star cast, including Michael Caine and Katherine Ross. It was based on a 1974 novel by Arthur Herzog.

From Quiz It Starts With an Earthquake...

Answer: New Year's Eve

The passengers and crew of the ship are mostly in the ballroom, listening to a musical group perform and waiting for midnight to greet the new year when the tidal wave tips the ship completely over. The Rev. Scott (Gene Hackman) takes on the duty of leading a small group of willing survivors upwards towards the keel of the ship, which is now its highest point. After a dangerous few hours, some of them reach their goal and are rescued. The 2005 TV movie of the same name changes the way the ship is capsized to an act of terror, and 2006's "Poseidon" has a rogue wave as the culprit, but all three use New Year's Eve celebrations as the starting point.

From Quiz Yelling Fire in a Crowded Movie Theater?

Answer: Cyrano de Bergerac

Steve Martin plays C.D. Bales, the Fire Chief of a small Washington state town. While eloquent and charming, C.D. has a large nose that saps his confidence around women. A beautiful astronomer played by Darrel Hannah, Roxanne, moves into town. C.D. is attracted to Roxanne; however, he believes he is not good looking enough for her. He agrees to help a classically handsome but rather intellectually limited colleague in winning over Roxanne. C.D. creates poetry and witty conversation for the younger man to voice. Eventually, Roxanne learns who has been charming her, and amidst the dangers of a real fire, she and C.D profess their love. Roxanne is, of course, the name of the heroine from Edmund Rostand's 1897 play "Cyrano de Bergerac". Rostand's large nosed, love-struck soldier is transformed into Martin's Fire Chief. A hilarious scene has Martin recounting 20 "big nose" insults in rapid succession to humiliate a would be heckler. That scene mirrors a similar set of verse from the play. Unlike other movies about fireman, the danger level is dialed way down in "Roxanne", as romance and laughs are center stage.

From Quiz Dystopia in the Movies

Answer: Things to Come

The full title of Wells' novel is "The Shape of Things to Come". It includes Wells' vision of future events in the years 1933 through 2106. Bombings, wars, and plagues are key elements in the film. The irony of the movie as well as the novel is that the wars have gone on for so long that no one can remember the reason why they started in the first place. The image of London in ruins is prophetic of the coming Blitz.

From Quiz Great Movie Disasters II

Answer: Concorde

The stars of "Airport '79", including series regular George Kennedy, encounter danger and death as they travel in supersonic luxury from Washington, DC, to Moscow.

From Quiz Great Movie Disasters

Answer: Kansas City

Kansas City's fate is sealed due to the fact that it is so close to a major missile base. The late Jason Robards, playing a doctor who also teaches at the University of Kansas, is on his way back to the city when the Russians attack.

From Quiz It Starts With an Earthquake...

Answer: Los Angeles

This is one of many disaster movies made in the 1970s, with an all star cast interacting as people caught up in a violent earthquake that destroys much of Los Angeles, bringing out both the best and the worst in the people affected by it. Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, George Kennedy, Lorne Greene and Walter Matthau are only some of the members of that cast. The film boasts Oscar wins for sound and visual effects (special achievement award) and is one of the earliest movies to have been filmed in Sensurround, which attempts to make viewers in the theatre feel like they are really "there" experiencing what the characters are experiencing.

From Quiz Yelling Fire in a Crowded Movie Theater?

Answer: Hellfighters

"Hellfighters" is the true to life story of specialized fireman who travel the world stopping the massive and deadly fires that occur in oil fields. Wayne plays Chance Buckman, the leader of the "go-to crew" of fire daredevils. Jim Hutton plays his protégé, Greg Parker. Hutton, Wayne and fellow star Bruce Cabot also star together in 1968's "The Green Berets". Hutton was well on his way to a highly successful career when he died at the age of 45 in 1979. Hutton was the father of Academy Award winning actor Timothy Hutton. "Hellfghters" is based on the life of the famous oil field firefighter Paul "Red" Adair. Adair was so highly respected by the oil industry that he was charged with controlling the Kuwaiti oil field fires at the end of the First Gulf War. Much of the excitement in the otherwise average "Hellfighters" comes from the technical firefighting scenes choreographed by Adair and legendary stuntman/director Hal Needham. One of the firefighting sequences includes real images of Adair and his team combating a burning oil well. The owner of the real well persuaded Universal Studios to pay Adair his $100,000 fee for controlling the blaze and allowed the studio to film the action for the movie.

From Quiz Help! I'm Shipwrecked

Answer: Central Park Zoo

Marty the zebra, Alex the lion, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippopotamus were all friends from the Central Park Zoo. On celebrating his tenth birthday, Marty is suddenly impatient to see the world outside the zoo. When the animals are caught at Grand Central Station, it is decided to send them to a Kenyan reserve as they may have become too aggressive to be kept in the zoo. En-route the ship is hijacked by the penguins and the four friends find themselves unexpectedly shipwrecked on the island of Madagascar.

From Quiz Dystopia in the Movies

Answer: Soylent Green

Harry Harrison's novel, on which the movie is based, is called "Make Room! Make Room!" The significance of that title is understood once it is revealed what is contained in the crackers. New York of the future, the movie's premise, is suffering from over-population, homelessness, and food rationing. The Soylent Corporation provides what food there is, green crackers that supposedly contain ocean plankton. What is really in those crackers? The answer is grotesque. The significance of that dystopian reality is truly horrifying.

From Quiz Great Movie Disasters

Answer: Freedom and Independence

A crew of oil drillers, led by Bruce Willis, ride the two shuttles and attempt to save the world.

From Quiz It Starts With an Earthquake...

Answer: Near the Hollywood sign

People are seen in all of these places when the earthquake strikes, but the Girl Scouts are walking along the hillside in front of the Hollywood sign when it starts to topple over. Superman (Christopher Reeve) is shown to go beneath the earth's surface to repair the damage done by the missile, and the sign is seen to stop its fall, and even right itself. The bridge, which appears to be the Golden Gate, is badly damaged and a school bus carrying both boys and girls dangles over the edge, until Superman arrives and pushes it back onto the deck of the bridge.

From Quiz Yelling Fire in a Crowded Movie Theater?

Answer: The Three Stooges

The Three Stooges made over 190 short films between 1934-1958 that formed the backbone of their immense popularity. The Stooges were a slapstick comedy act that were comprised, for the most part, of brothers Moe and Curly Howard (later another brother Shemp Howard replaced Curly) and Larry Fine. The combination of disruptive pathos and cartoon violence between the Stooges was extremely popular and made the Three Stooges international stars for generations of fans. "False Alarms" was the 17th short film made by the Three Stooges and was released in 1936. The Stooges play hapless fireman who contrive to create a false fire call to get them out of the station house to attend a party with their girlfriends. By the end of the movie the Stooges have destroyed the fire chief's new car and are last seen escaping from the irate fire chief. In 1938's "Flat Foot Stooges", the 35th short film, the boys are again decked out in firefighter gear; but this time are not embarrassing the uniform. The Stooges save their beloved firehouse and the attractive daughter of the Fire Chief, both endangered by an arson attempt from a nefarious fire equipment salesman, an egg laying duck and leaky gunpowder containers.

From Quiz Dystopia in the Movies

Answer: A Clockwork Orange

The movie takes place in England of the future. While some may argue the movie isn't dystopian because it only focuses on one man, the run-down housing, gang violence, and general breakdown of society points to a much larger problem. The experimental aversion treatment of Alex, the Droog leader, is as barbaric in its own way as Alex's brutality toward fellow human beings.

From Quiz Blown Away by the Four Winds

Answer: The Wizard of Oz & Wizard of Oz

An adaptation of the book of the same name by L. Frank Baum, the movie starred Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale and was instrumental in getting her career off to a flying start. In the movie, Dorothy is unable to make it to the storm cellar in her house in time to escape the oncoming tornado. Swept away by the wind along with the house and her dog, Dorothy finds herself all alone in a strange village and must find a way to make it back 'home'. There are many windy references in the movie, Dorothy's last name of Gale, for example. But the most amazing thing by far is special effects expert, Andrew Gillespie's tornado. After numerous attempts using rigid replicas of a tornado, Gillespie came on the idea of using dark colored muslin fabric coming through a slot on the floor to imitate the movement of a real tornado. His inspiration came from his experience as a pilot and the wind socks he had seen in his flying days.

From Quiz Great Movie Disasters II

Answer: Richard Crenna

Based on another well-known novel by Martin Caidin, "Marooned" originally depicted the saga of a Mercury astronaut trapped in space when his capsule's retro-rockets fail to fire. Caidin would release a second variation of the novel, to coincide with the three-man Apollo crew portrayed in the movie.

From Quiz Great Movie Disasters

Answer: Eiffel Tower

Although "The Great Race" is not a disaster movie, all-star cast notwithstanding, the felling of the Eiffel Tower is a fitting end to a wacky race from New York to Paris.

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