Popcorn Crunchers, Reel 161 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Richard Greene

Sir Ronald Burton, played by screen heartthrob Richard Green, adopts an alias to visit the creepy Austrian castle of Count von Bruno. Calling himself Richard Beckett, he travels there seeking his friends, Sterling and Brown, who the count has murdered. Green, who had been acting since 1933, was defined by his leading role as Robin of Locksley in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" on British TV (1955-1959).

Answer: Attack of the Cosmic Worms

In "The Cosmic Man" (1959), John Carradine plays an alien visitor to Earth. In "The Cosmic Monsters" (1958), rapacious giant insects appear after a scientist's magnetism experiment produces a hole in the ionosphere. In "Space Master X-7" (1958), a fungus from outer space hitches a ride on a space probe returning to Earth. When this fungus mixes with human blood, it produces "space rust" which threatens to infect the whole world.

There was R. L. Stine's "Attack of the Vampire Worms" in 1998. There was Jeffrey Kipnis' "Cosmic Redshifted Anthrocentric Worms: The Adventures of Lightning" in 2004. There was Robert Alexander's "Attack of the Terror Worms" in 2013. There was M.T. Weber's "Attack of the Giant Mutant Worms" in 2021. Despite all of these similar books, there does not appear to have been a movie called "Attack of the Cosmic Worms" in the 1950s.

Answer: Impaled on a broken wooden mine prop

Upon arriving in Carleton, California, the vampire, posing as the artist Bellac Gordal, locates an abandoned mine and sets up a coffin there in which to sleep during the hours of daylight. He lures Rachel into this lair but Tim rescues her. Holding Jennie's crucifix in front of himself, he backs Dracula up until the vampire falls into a vertical mine shaft. Among the litter at the bottom of that shaft is a fractured wooden mine prop pointing upwards.

The vampire falls on it, such that it penetrates his back and comes out his chest (presumably piercing his heart) which causes him to decompose. Nothing is left but his clothing draped loosely around his stark white skeleton.

Answer: Boris Karloff

Boris Karloff signed a three-movie deal with producer Howard W. Koch and Bel-Air Productions; "Voodoo Island" was the first of those films. Karloff is cast as Phillip Knight, an author with his own television programme who debunks mysterious people, places and things. Critic Dave Sindelar called Karloff's performance "clumsy." Critic Jeff Stafford called it "[n]ot one of Karloff's stellar efforts." Reginald Le Borg directed the film. Murvyn Vye played Barney Finch. Richard H. Landau wrote the screenplay.

Answer: He is electrocuted by his own booby trap

Investigators Lane Carson and Carol Richards pursue and thwart the Phantom Ruler at every turn. As law enforcement closes in on the super-criminal's secret base of operations, he trips on a high-power electrical cable which his men had laid across the floor to electrocute Carson, Richards, and the police, should they enter. The Phantom Ruler is killed by his own lethal snare.

Answer: An 1898 novel by H. G. Wells

One of H. G. Wells' most popular novels, the 1898 story is set in and around London, England. The 1953 George Pal adaptation to the screen was reset to Southern California to make it easier for American audiences to imagine themselves in it. Orson Welles' 1938 radio adaptation for his Mercury Theatre of the Air was set in Grover's Mill, New Jersey. Steven Spielberg's 2005 remake motion picture was set in New Jersey and Massachusetts. A European television series called "War of the Worlds" (2019-2023) was set in Britain and France.

Answer: True

Maxwell Shane, the director of "Nightmare," adapted a novel by William Irish (true name: Cornell Woolrich) to make the 1947 movie "Fear in the Night," which Shane also directed. Shane subsequently adapted Woolrich's short story "And So to Death" to make "Nightmare.

Answer: Acting

Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (1892-1967) was born in Johannesburg, South African Republic, and became well known in England as a Shakespearean actor. He frequently played villains, but often of the attractive sort. Between 1939 and 1946, he played Sherlock Holmes in fourteen motion pictures, as well as in a long radio series.

He appeared in over seventy motion pictures, a few of them horror films, for example: "Son of Frankenstein" (1939), "The Mad Doctor" (1941), "The Black Cat" (1941), "The Black Sleep" (1956), "Tales of Terror" (1962), "The Comedy of Terrors" (1963), "Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet" (1965), "Queen of Blood" (1966), "The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini" (1956), and "Hillbillys in a Haunted House" (1967). An interesting read is "The Films of Basil Rathbone: His Life and His Films" by Michael B. Druxman (A. S. Barnes, 1975).

Answer: Ambrose Castle in England

Ambrose Castle is a fictional castle in England. The other three castles -- Kilkenny, Glamis, and Pembroke -- are real. "The Headless Ghost" was shot back-to-back with "Horrors of the Black Museum" (1959) utilising the same interior sets. Additional location shots were made at Burntisland Castle (also known as Rossend Castle) in Fife, Scotland.

The film's use of the toponym Ambrose Castle is entirely made up.

Answer: The Three Stooges

The original Three Stooges were Moe Howard, Larry Fine, and Shemp Howard. The third position was variously filled by Shemp, Curly Howard, Joe Besser, and "Curly Joe" DeRita. While the others had made previous feature films and numerous shorts, "Have Rocket, Will Travel" was Joe DeRita's inaugural screen appearance with the Stooges.

The Stooges had made space-related shorts: "Space Ship Sappy" (1957), "Outer Space Jitters" (1957), and "Flying Saucer Daffy" (1958). This was the last Stooges film to include their almost-patented eye poke.

The poker could be thwarted by the pokee holding one hand up vertically in front of his nose, thereby thwarting the manoeuvre. At the request of many upset parents, the eye poke was thereafter dropped.