Oscars - Best Picture Trivia

1. The 1935 version of "Mutiny on the Bounty" won Best Picture, beating off perhaps the best and certainly the most commercially successful collaboration by the immortal Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Which movie was that?

From Quiz Best Picture Winners and Some They Beat: 1935-1964

Answer: Top Hat

"Mutiny on the Bounty" was based on a true story from the late eighteenth century. It starred Charles Laughton as Captain William Bligh of the Royal Navy, whose ship, The Bounty, was subject to a mutiny led by Fletcher Christian (played by Clark Gable). In the middle was Midshipman Roger Byam, played by Franchot Tone. All three were nominated for Best Actor, but missed out to Victor McLaglen in "The Informer". Also nominated that year, "Top Hat"'s plot of mistaken identity and confusion was a perfect vehicle for Astaire and Rogers' song and dance numbers such as "Isn't This a Lovely Day?" and "Cheek to Cheek" by the great Irving Berlin. Other movies nominated in 1935 included "David Copperfield", starring W. C. Fields, and "Captain Blood", starring Errol Flynn, who had appeared in an earlier film treatment of the story of The Bounty in 1933.

From Quiz Oscar Winning Films - The First Decade

Answer: The Broadway Melody

Although primitive even by the standards of a couple of years later, "The Broadway Melody" is important in the history of the Oscars, not only for being the first musical, but also for being the first sound film to win for Best Picture. Bessie Love and Anita Page play sisters who have a vaudeville act, and come to Broadway to appear in Eddie's (Charles King's) act. Harriet (Love) is in love with Eddie (King), but he is in love with Queenie (Page). The songs were by Nacio Herb Brown, and Arthur Freed, who went on to produce some of the greatest musicals in Hollywood history: "The Band Wagon", "Singin' In the Rain", "Meet Me In St Louis", "Gigi" - the list speaks for itself.

From Quiz Oscars by the Decade

Answer: The King's Speech

Colin Firth plays King George VI, Helena Bonham Carter is Queen Elizabeth and Geoffrey Rush is the speech therapist who helps the King overcome his problem.

From Quiz The Oscars: Best Picture Winners

Answer: The Godfather, Part II

"The Godfather Part II" was the first second instalment of a series to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. "The Godfather, Part II" follows the life of a young Vito Corleone, growing up to become the Godfather, as well as showing the family after his son Michael takes over in the 1950s. Director Francis Ford Coppola also directed 1973 Best Picture nominee "The Conversation".

From Quiz Oscar's Best Pictures: 2000s

Answer: American Beauty

Kevin Spacey won for Best Lead Actor and Annette Bening was nominated for Best Lead Actress. It was also the first feature film for Best Director Sam Mendes. "American Beauty" (1999) was about a middle-aged married couple trying to survive suburbia. The supporting cast featured Thora Birch as Spacey and Bening's daughter, Mena Suvari as her friend, and Wes Bentley as the mysterious neighbour.

From Quiz Best Picture Winners in the 1970s

Answer: Patton

"Patton" was directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and starred George C. Scott. "Patton" is a biographical war film about George S. Patton.

From Quiz Oscar's Best Pictures

Answer: it was a silent film

"Wings" was a WWI story about two fighter pilots who are both in love with the same woman. It stars Clara Bow and "Buddy" Rogers with Gary Cooper. It won a total of two Oscars: Best Picture (called Best Production in 1927) and Best Engineering Effects. The score was written and composed with a Wurlitzer Pipe Organ. Modern revival showings often seek to use the same instrument for realism. This was Edith Head's first film as a costume designer. She went on to win eight Oscars for her work in films like "All About Eve" and "The Sting". Edith was also parodied with her trademark horn-rimmed glasses in "The Incredibles".

From Quiz Best Picture Upsets

Answer: Shakespeare in Love

The 1998 winner "Shakespeare in Love" beat Spielberg's war movie "Saving Private Ryan". The film detailed Shakespeare's inspiration to write "Romeo and Juliet" after falling in love with his beautiful muse Viola.

From Quiz Academy Awards: Best Picture

Answer: Wings

William Wellman directed "Wings", and it tells the story of World War One aerial battles. The effects used in "Wings" were state-of-the-art for the time, and it received good reviews. The movie itself had a famous cast including Gary Cooper and (with a change from her role as a gossip columnist) Hedda Hopper.

From Quiz Best Picture Non-Winners

Answer: Moulin Rouge!

Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor in a acid-trip movie that rivaled "The Wall". Not for all tastes, but the critics almost universally loved it.

From Quiz Who Beat It?

Answer: The Goodbye Girl

In 1977, "The Goodbye Girl" beat "Annie Hall" in the Best Actor category. "Annie Hall" won in the Picture, Director, Original Screenplay and Actress categories.

From Quiz Best Picture Quotes

Answer: All About Eve

Bette Davis' sensual Margo Channing getting ready for her date with new beau Addison Dewitt in 1950's "All About Eve".

From Quiz Best Pictures of the '60s

Answer: The Apartment

Billy Wilder got Best Director for this movie. Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon were nominated for Best Actor and Actress, but did not win. It got best art and set direction, story and screenplay awards.

From Quiz Best Pictures Of The 50's

Answer: All About Eve

Joseph L. Mankiewicz won Best Director for this movie. Best Supporting Actor was George Sanders. This movie also won Best Costumes. Marilyn Monroe was in this movie too.

From Quiz Best Pictures of the 1940s

Answer: Rebecca

This was Hitchcock's first American film and his only for directing. Joan Fontaine was nominated for Best Actress and Laurence Olivier was nominated for Best Actor as well.

From Quiz Oscar Jeopardy

Answer: The Green Mile

'The Green Mile', nominated for Best Picture for 1999, was the second adaptation of a Stephen King story that was directed by Frank Darabont. The first was 'The Shawshank Redemption', another Best Picture nominee.

From Quiz Best Picture Winners and Some They Beat: 1935-1964

Answer: The Awful Truth

"The Life of Emile Zola" was a film biography of the great nineteenth century French novelist and campaigner. Paul Muni played the title role and the movie was directed by William Dieterle. It told the story of Zola's life from struggling in a garret with Paul Cezanne, through to his hard-hitting stories of the underbelly of French society. It featured Zola's brave campaign to clear the name of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French Army, who had been convicted of treason and imprisoned on Devil's Island. Despite this being a notorious example in the history of antisemitism, it is noticeable that no reference was made to Dreyfus's Jewishness in the movie. "The Awful Truth" is a screwball comedy about a married couple set on divorce due to mutual distrust, who proceed to sabotage each other's attempts to find romance elsewhere, and end up reconciling in the nick of time. Director Leo McCarey won an Academy Award. Irene Dunne, some say Grant's best movie partner, with whom he made two further movies, as the wife, and Ralph Bellamy as her new love interest, were both nominated for Oscars. Cary Grant, the husband, missed out on Academy recognition. Mind you, the competition that year was fierce: Spencer Tracy ("Captains Courageous") won ahead of Paul Muni ("The Life of Emile Zola"), Fredric March ("A Star Is Born"), Charles Boyer ("Conquest") and Robert Montgomery ("Night Must Fall"). Other 1937 Best Picture nominations included: "Lost Horizon" and "A Star is Born".

From Quiz Best Picture Omissions

Answer: The Westerner

"The Westerner" is about the complex relationship between a drifter (Gary Cooper) and "the hanging judge", Judge Roy Bean (Walter Brennan). In awarding Best Supporting Actor to Brennan, the Academy was recognizing a truly outstanding performance. The film, however, was not nominated for any other top award. Walter Brennan also won Best Supporting Actor for "Come and Get It" (1936) and "Kentucky" (1938). Also for 1940, James Stewart won Best Actor for "The Philadelphia Story", and Ginger Rogers was Best Actress for her role in "Kitty Foyle".

From Quiz Oscar Winning Films - The Second Decade

Answer: How Green Was My Valley

"How Green Was My Valley" starred Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood and Roddy McDowell. The story is told largely from the point of view of Huw Morgan, the youngest son of a large mining family, and played by Roddy McDowell. The climax and highlight of the film is the mine disaster in which young Huw loses not only his father but his innocence. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and won in four categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp) and Best Black and White Cinematography. There are those today who consider it somewhat of a scandal that it won Best Picture ahead of "Citizen Kane", "The Maltese Falcon", "Suspicion" and "Sergeant York", all of which have certainly stood the test of time better than this.

From Quiz Oscar Winning Films - The First Decade

Answer: Warner Baxter

Directed by Raoul Walsh and Irving Cummings, and starring Warner Baxter, Edmund Lowe and Dorothy Burgess, "In Old Arizona" is also of historical importance for being the first sound film to be largely shot on location outside of a studio. Warner Baxter began his career in films in 1914, playing uncredited bit parts in a number of films before working up to leading roles by the mid 1920s. Apart from his role as the Cisco Kid, he is best known today for his role as the producer Julian Marsh in "42nd Street". He worked right up to his death in 1951, at age 62.

From Quiz Oscars by the Decade

Answer: A Beautiful Mind

Directed by Ron Howard, starring Russell Crowe and featuring Christopher Plummer, this film traces the life of schizophrenic genius and Nobel prize winner John Nash. It also won Best Director and Best Screenplay Oscars.

From Quiz Oscar's Best Pictures: 2000s

Answer: Gladiator

Russell Crowe won the Best Actor Oscar; however, it was widely reputed that he was difficult to work with. He was also not the first choice for the role - Mel Gibson and Antonio Banderas were both considered but turned down the role of Maximus. In "Gladiator" (2000), Russell Crowe played a Roman gladiator who returned to Rome to seek revenge for the murder of his family.

From Quiz Best Picture Winners in the 1970s

Answer: The French Connection

"The French Connection" was directed by William Friedkin and is a crime film in which the two main detectives' real life counterparts also appeared in the film. Gene Hackman played the lead role and won Best Actor; he also won Best Supporting Actor for "Unforgiven" in 1992.

From Quiz Oscar's Best Pictures

Answer: New York Police Department

Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) and his partner Cloudy (Roy Scheider) play good cop/bad cop with a dealer they have chased down near the beginning of the movie. Popeye is dressed in a Santa suit as he loudly accuses the terrified suspect of sticking his finger between his toes and picking his feet. Popeye used this nonsensical questioning to confuse the suspect into giving up information. The filmmakers didn't get permission to film the car chase scenes under the El in New York City. Many of the dangerous scenes were completed without the public being aware that filming was happening.

From Quiz Oscar Best Picture Nominees 1991 - 2006

Answer: Cate Blanchett

Blanchett was in all three "Lord of the Rings" pictures plus "Elizabeth" (99) and "The Aviator" (04). Thompson was in four: "Howards End" (93), "Remains of the Day" (94), "In the Name of the Father" (94), and "Sense and Sensibility" (96). Winslet ("Sense and Sensibility", "Titanic", "Finding Neverland") and Thomas ("Four Weddings and a Funeral", "The English Patient" and "Gosford Park") were in three each.

From Quiz Best Picture Upsets

Answer: Jack Nicholson

The sound of the word "Crash" made the movie's entire cast and crew jump into the air like bloodhounds, as everyone expected to hear "Brokeback Mountain". The Academy obviously preferred a film demonstrating multi-layered racial conflicts in Los Angeles, over a western about two gay cowboys hiding their love affair from a homophobic 1960s society.

From Quiz Academy Awards: Best Picture

Answer: Mutiny on the Bounty

"Mutiny on the Bounty" beat odds-on favourites "The Informer", "David Copperfield", "Ruggles of Red Gap", "Alice Adams" and "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" to win the Best Picture award. It starred Charles Laughton and was directed by Frank Lloyd. Both of these were nominated for Oscars themselves but failed to win. All in all, "Mutiny on the Bounty" was nominated for six Academy Awards.

From Quiz Best Picture Non-Winners

Answer: Erin Brockovich

Julia Roberts won the Best Actress award for her part as the trashy but very endearing Brockovich.

From Quiz Who Beat It?

Answer: Both of These

In 1972, "Cabaret" beat "The Godfather" in the Best Director, Supporting Actor, Sound and Film Editing categories; "Travels With My Aunt" beat it in the Best Costume Design category. "The Godfather" also won in the Picture, Adapted Screenplay and Actor categories.

From Quiz Best Picture Quotes

Answer: Midnight Cowboy

Dustin Hoffman's crippled Rizzo Ratso nearly getting run over on the mean New York streets in 1969's "Midnight Cowboy".

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