The Master of Suspense Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Alfred Hitchcock (1899 -1980) was a British movie director. He left us over fifty feature films, and was nominated five times for an Oscar as Best Director - although he never won. I've listed here ten of the sixteen Hitchcock movies that were nominated for at least one Oscar.

"Rebecca" (1940) won the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Cinematography, and was nominated (among others) in the categories Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Actress in a Supporting Role. It told how a shy au pair (Joan Fontaine) fell in love with Maxim de Winter, a rich widower (Laurence Oliver). She married him and gradually discovered the secrets surrounding the death of the former Mrs. De Winter. Ben Wheatley directed a remake in 2020, but did not obtain the appreciation for the original movie.

"Foreign Correspondent" (1940) was nominated as Best Picture. John Jones, an American journalist (Joel McCrea) was sent to Europe in search for the backdrop of a secret treaty to prevent war. Jones met a lovely lady named Carol Fisher (played by Laraine Day), and together they got involved in an espionage affair.

"Shadow of a Doubt" (1943) was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Writing category. Teresa Wright played the role of Charlie Newton, a teenager who looked forward eagerly to the visit of her uncle Charlie Oakley (Joseph Cotton). Meanwhile the FBI was intent on apprehending the lady killer nicknamed "the Merry Widow Murderer". Could it be Charlie Oakley was the suspect?

"Spellbound" (1945) won an Oscar for Best Music. It also was nominated five times, among others for Best Picture and Best Director. The story started in a psychiatric clinic, where the leading psychiatrist Dr. Murchison (Leo G. Carrol) was just replaced by Dr. Anthony Edwardes (Gregory Peck). But Dr. Constance Petersen (Ingrid Bergman) found out Dr. Edwardes might not be who he claims...
Other movies with the title "Spellbound" have been made in 2002, in 2011 and in 2024, but they are not related to this story.

"Rear Window" (1954) was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Director. It starred James Stewart as the photographer L.B. Jefferies, confined to his apartment because he broke a leg. So he spied on the neighbouring apartments, and told his girlfriend Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) his suspicions about something that was amiss in an apartment on the other side of the backyard. The husband (Raymond Burr) behaved peculiarly, and the wife (Irene Winston) suddenly disappeared... A Japanese erotic thriller of 1972 with the same title has a quite different story.

"To Catch a Thief" (1955) won an Oscar for Best Cinematography. John Robie (Cary Grant) was before the Second World War a very successful cat burglar, stealing valuable jewellery from sleeping victims. But he left his life behind, and after the war someone else copied his modus operandi. The only way to prove his innocence was to catch the thief himself, and he was helped in this adventure by Francie Stevens (Grace Kelly), top of the list of potential victims. A British comedy of 1936 and a Chinese comedy of 1991 share the title, but are unrelated.

"Vertigo" (1958) received two minor Oscar nominations. Detective Inspector John Ferguson (James Stewart) was sent on early retirement, because during a chase on high roofs he had a spell of vertigo, which probably caused the death of a colleague. Then Ferguson's college acquaintance Gavin Elster hired him as a private detective to follow Gavin's wife Madeleine (Kim Novak), who might be troubled by some psychotic condition and might be prone to commit suicide. Ferguson followed Madeleine and witnesses her falling out of a tower. But later he met the same girl again...

"North by Northwest" (1959) was nominated for three Oscars, including Best Screenplay. Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) was an advertising executive, but in a curious misunderstanding was identified by a spy gang as George Kaplan, an undercover police agent. He was set up to be incriminated with the murder of a diplomat, and to prove his innocence he had to assume the false identity of Kaplan again. And then he met Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint). What was her role in the story?

"Psycho" (1960) was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Director and Best Actress. Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), secretary to a real estate company, drove of with 40,000 dollars to visit her boyfriend. But on the route from Phoenix, Arizona to California (where Marion's boyfriend lived), she took the unwise decision to rent a motel room at the Bates Motel, owned by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins).

"The Birds" (1963) was nominated for the Oscar of Best Special Effects. Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) decided to deliver a pair of love birds to the lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) as a birthday gift to Mitch's younger sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). But then various species of birds became quite aggressive for no apparent reason...

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Incorrect options

"Nosferatu" (1922) was directed by F.W. Murnau, while Robert Eggers directed a remake with the same title in 2024.
William Friedkin directed "The Exorcist" (1973).
Jonathan Demme directed "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991).
Ridley Scott directed "Alien" (1979).
Roman Polanski directed "Rosemary's Baby" (1968).
Adrian Lyne directed "Fatal Attraction" (1987).
Stanley Kubrick was responsible for two of the red herrings: "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) and "The Shining" (1980).
And Steven Spielberg was also listed twice: "Jaws" (1975) and "Jurassic Park" (1993).