Classic Movies of the 1940s - Part II Quiz

Answer: C. K. Dexter Haven

C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant) was Tracy Lord's ex-husband. She had planned to marry George Kittredge (John Howard) but remarried C.K. Dexter Haven at the last moment. Mike Connors (James Stewart) was a reporter sent to the wedding to cover the story by Sidney Kidd (Henry Daniell) the publisher of "Spy" magazine. James Stewart won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in this movie.

The film was remade in 1956 and renamed "High Society" starring Grace Kelly (Tracy Lord), Bing Crosby (C.K. Dexter Haven) and Frank Sinatra (Mike Connors).

Answer: Sydney Greenstreet

Sydney Greenstreet (1879-1954) was an accomplished and versatile English stage actor and made his film debut in this movie. In the movie he was also known as the sinister "Fat Man" Kasper Gutman. Greenstreet weighed between 280-300 pounds. He had a successful movie career in the following years until his death in 1954.

He also appeared in such movies as "Casablanca", "The Verdict", and "Three Strangers". Peter Lorre, Ward Bond and Barton MacLane also appeared in "The Maltese Falcon".

Answer: George M. Cohan

George M. Cohan (1878-1942) was an entertainer, composer, singer, dancer, actor, playwright and producer. He started his acting career as a child and prior to WWI he was known as "the man who owned Broadway". There is a statue of him in Times Square, New York. W.C. Fields (1880-1946) was a vaudeville actor, juggler, comedian and writer. Eddie Cantor (1892-1964) was a songwriter, actor, dancer and singer. Al Jolson (1886-1950) was a singer, comedian and actor. Jolson is best remembered as the star of the first talking movie "The Jazz Singer" (1927).

Answer: Anthony Quinn

Anthony Quinn (1915-2001) played the role of Juan Martinez/Francisco Morez in the movie. Although born in Mexico he spent most of his life in the USA. He started in movies in 1936 and was active in the industry until his death in 2001. He won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor in "Viva Zapata!" (1952) and "Lust for Life" (1956).

He fathered 12 children during three marriages and one partnership. Before his acting career he won an architectural design contest and for a time studied under Frank Lloyd Wright. Surprisingly, it was Wright who encouraged him to take up acting. Henry Fonda (1905-1982) played Gil Carter and Dana Andrews (1909-1992) played one of the lynched men Donald Martin.

Henry Fonda portrayed a similar role as Juror #8 in "12 Angry Men" (1957). Eli Wallach(1915-2014) did not appear in the movie but did play Mexicans and baddies in a career spanning six decades.

Answer: Double Indemnity

"Double Indemnity" starred Fred MacMurray (1908-1991) as Walter Neff, a successful insurance agent who helps Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) kill her husband. Although claiming the death as an accident they are hunted down by a claims adjuster, Barton Keyes played by Edward G. Robinson.
"Dial M for Murder" was made in 1954 starring Ray Milland and Grace Kelly. "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968) starred Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway and "Sleuth" (1972) starred Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine.

Answer: A railway station

Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) meets Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) at a railway station tea shop. Both are in their late 30s early 40s and are married with children. They meet secretly and then openly but eventually realise they cannot have a future together. Alec accepts a job abroad and Laura goes back to her husband.

Their final meeting occurs in the railway station refreshment room. Celia Johnson was nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards but lost out to Olivia de Havilland in "To Each His Own". David Lean was nominated for Best Director but lost out to William Wyler for "The Best Years of Our Lives".

Answer: Victor Mature

Victor Mature (1913-1999), born in Kentucky, was a stage, film and television actor. He appeared in many westerns and a number of biblical movies such as "The Robe" , "Demetrius and the Gladiators", "Samson and Delilah" and "The Egyptian". He also starred with Esther Williams in the musical "Million Dollar Mermaid".

Henry Fonda played Wyatt Earp in "My Darling Clementine" and in the 1957 movie "The Gunfight at the OK Corral", Burt Lancaster played Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas played Doc Holliday. The western ballad "Oh! My Darling, Clementine" was sung in parts over the opening and closing credits of this 1946 movie.

Answer: Loretta Young

Loretta Young (1913-2000) was a child actress and had a long career in movies and television. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Katie Holstrom in the film "The Farmer's Daughter". From 1953-1961 she had her own half-hour anthology TV series "The Loretta Young Show". In "The Bishop's Wife", David Niven played her husband, Bishop Henry Brougham and Cary Grant was Dudley, the suave angel.
June Allyson (1917-2006), Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982) and Joan Crawford (1905-1977) were all famous actresses of the '40s and '50s.

Answer: Moanin' Low

"Moanin' Low" is a sentimental love song in which the singer laments a lost love. The music was written by Ralph Rainger and the lyrics by Howard Dietz and was first published in 1929. This was an excellent example of a non-musical movie using a song in a dramatic scene. Claire Trevor won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in this movie.

The movie also starred Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Lionel Barrymore. "Am I Blue"," Love for Sale" and "Body and Soul" were well known songs in musicals in the late '20s and early '30s.

Answer: Joseph Cotten

Joseph Cotten (1905-1994) was a stage,film and television actor. His acting career spanned six decades to 1981. He first came to prominence in the industry with his role as Jedediah Leland, Kane's best friend in the Orson Welles movie "Citizen Kane" (1941).

He became one of Hollywood's leading actors in the 1940s with roles in "Shadow of a Doubt" (1943), "Love Letters" (1945), "Duel in the Sun" (1946), "Portrait of Jennie" (1948). One of his last movies was "Heaven's Gate" (1980). The other three actors all appeared in "The Third Man". Orson Welles (Harry Lime), Trevor Howard (Major Calloway) and Bernard Lee (Sergeant Paine).