Find the Best Picture Oscar in Each Sentence (1) Quiz

Answer: Pilots

You can find the film in the sentence: "I find that seWING Soothes..."
"Wings" (1927/28) won the first Academy Award for Best Picture (called "Outstanding Picture" back then) at the first Oscars ceremony. It was a silent World War I aviation epic directed by William A. Wellman who was himself a World War I Lafayette Escadrille fighter pilot. The film features real aerial 2nd Infantry Division pilots as extras simulating the dogfights.

Answer: mythological ship

You can find the film in the sentence: "A diversion is military jARGOn...." The 2012 film "Argo" is about the 1980 CIA operation, nicknamed the "Canadian Caper", in which a fake Hollywood production called "Argo" was devised in order to disguise six American diplomats as members of a Canadian film crew scouting locations in Iran, and then flying them home, away from the Iranians who wanted them.

The Argo was also the ship sailed by Jason and the Argonauts in Greek mythology on their quest for the Golden Fleece.

The title allegorically compares the CIA's rescue mission to a heroic, seemingly impossible journey.

Answer: Also had two Best Actor nominations

You can find the film in the sentence: "...the operA MADE US yell out..."
"Amadeus" won 8 of its 11 Oscar nominations, and was based on Peter Shaffer's 1979 stage play, inspired by the false legend that Antonio Salieri murdered Mozart out of jealousy. Mark Hamill played Mozart in the Broadway play and wanted very much to play him in the film, but the director worried that people would only see him as Luke Skywalker. "Amadeus" had two Best Actor nominees, with F. Murray Abraham beating out Tom Hulce-that's the 12th time that happened.

Answer: Bees do it

You can find the film in the sentence: "I don't like thaT HE STINGily..."
Going into the 1974 Oscars, "The Exorcist" was considered the favorite as it was a cultural phenomenon as well as a box office juggernaut, but "The Sting" managed to win Best Picture and six other of its 10 nominations. It was a Depression-era period piece about con men, and had a very popular ragtime score. It was Robert Redford's only acting nomination ever, and he lost. He would win Best Director seven years later though, for "Ordinary People."

Answer: Western

You can find the film in the sentence: "...di ceCI MAR RONzoni's..."
The epic early Hollywood western, "Cimarron" won Best Picture (then called "Outstanding Production") at the 4th Academy Awards in 1931. It is based on Edna Ferber's 1929 novel following the Cravat family over 40 years of Oklahoma history, beginning with the 1889 Land Rush, filmed with thousands of extras, a major technical achievement for its time and the film's most famous scene. It would be another 59 years before another Western would win Best Picture-"Dances with Wolves" in 1990.

Answer: Biblical person in the title

You can find the film in the sentence: "In a ValhALLA BOUT EVEry fighter..." The razor sharp-witted film is all about Bette Davis's Margo Channing actually, not really Eve Harrington, who is played by Anne Baxter. But that's clever because the film is about the ambitious nature of the theatrical world and how there's always going to be a new star replacing the current star at some point when their career has run its course, and sometimes that replacement is hastened by connivance and stealth. In this film, Eve Harrington enters Margo's life, and embarks on the manipulation of Broadway star Margo and her theatre circle of friends.

The film was based on Mary Orr's 1946 short story, "The Wisdom of Eve," inspired by an anecdote told to Mary by her close friend, Elisabeth Bergner, regarding her understudy. Ms. Bergner recounted how the young woman made up a story about being a war widow, so Bergner and her producer husband helped the woman out, with clothes, money, and a small part in their show.

The understudy then became demanding and attempted to manipulate her way into larger roles.

Answer: European locale

You can find the film in the sentence: "...the O.R. scruB RAVE, 'HEART attack victims..."
Set in 13th-century Scotland, "Braveheart" (1995) follows commoner turned freedom fighter William Wallace, played by Mel Gibson, who won Best Director for this film. Wallace leads a rebellion against English King Edward I ("Longshanks") after Wallace's wife is murdered by English soldiers. The battle cry "They may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!" has become an iconic movie line.

Answer: Set in England

You can find the film in the sentence: "...a Miss or MRS. MINI VERsions of titles At the 15th Academy Awards, held 1943, "Mrs. Miniver" won half of its 12 Oscar nominations including Best Picture. It's set in a small English village in the early days of World War II; Kay Miniver (played by Greer Garson who won Best Actress), is middle-class wife and mother keeping her family together, through bombing raids, rationing, and seeing her son join the Royal Air Force. Director William Wyler (who also won the Oscar), later joined the U.S. Air Force to make documentaries for the war effort. Greer Garson's Oscar acceptance speech is one of the longest on record (over six minutes).

Answer: Woman director

You can find the film in the sentence: "...the bird guaNO, MAD LAND owners..." "Nomadland's" Best Picture win at the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021 was the first time a woman of color, Chloé Zhao, won the Oscar for Best Director. She was the second woman (after Kathryn Bigelow in 2010) to win Best Director. Frances McDormand won her third Best Actress Oscar, playing a widow in her sixties who journeys through the American West, living out of her van, after losing her job.

The film mixes professional actors with amateurs playing fictionalized versions of themselves, creating a documentary-like feel to the film.

Answer: The first film not financed by the US or UK to win

You can find the film in the sentence: "...made as subPAR A SIT 'Em or start 'em decision..."
The first non-English-language film ever to win the Best Picture Oscar was "Parasite" directed by Bong Joon-ho, winning at the 92nd Academy Awards, held February 2020.
Its financing came from a consortium of Korean financial institutions and a small hedge fund, that invested half a million dollars. The dark comedy thriller also won Best International Feature Film which used to be called "Foreign Language Film", the first time a movie won that AND Best Picture. Bong Joon-ho tied Walt Disney's 1954 record of an individual person winning four Oscars in one night. It was the first South Korean film to win any Academy Award, one of very few films to win both the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the Best Picture Oscar.