Hitchcock's Stars Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Lady Vanishes

This was one of Hitchcock's last films before moving to Hollywood. It's a classic espionage thriller set largely on a train, and involves kidnapping, a secret code, double agents, a beautiful young heroine in peril, a chase and multiple killings, all done at a breakneck pace and with Hitch's trademark tongue-in-cheek humour.
As well as the two stars, it also featured Paul Lukas, May Whitty, Cecil Parker, Linden Travers and Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne as Charters and Caldicott.
The film was adapted from the story "The Wheel Spins" by Ethel Lina White, and the screenplay was by Frank Launder and Sydney Gilliat.
The characters of Charters and Caldicott were so popular that they were brought back in Carol Reed's classic "Night Train To Munich".

Answer: North By Northwest

This was the only film which Hitchcock made for MGM.
Cary Grant plays an advertising executive who is mistaken for a CIA agent, and ends up being framed for murder and pursued across country by both the spies responsible and the police.
The film also starred James Mason, Martin Landau and Jessie Royce Landis (who played Cary Grant's mother, despite being only eight years his senior).
Highlights include the crop dusting sequence and the finale on Mount Rushmore. It was Cary Grant's fourth and final film with Hitch.

Answer: The 39 Steps

"The 39 Steps" was adapted from the novel by John Buchan, and featured a classic Hitchcock situation of an innocent man being accused of murder and pursued by both the police and the real murderers, in this case a group of enemy agents who are attempting to smuggle vital defence secrets out of the country.
As well as Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll, "The 39 Steps" also starred Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle, Peggy Ashcroft, John Laurie and Helen Haye.
The film is virtually one long chase sequence, a mixture of both suspense and humour. It has been remade a number of times to much less effect.

Answer: The Secret Agent

"The Secret Agent" is based on two of the 'Ashenden' stories by W. Somerset Maugham. It starred John Gielgud, Madeleine Carroll (her second film for Hitchcock after "The 39 Steps"), Peter Lorre and Robert Young.
During World War I, Gielgud's character is recruited into the Secret Service and sent on a mission to Switzerland to track down and kill a German spy. Helped by a young woman who poses as his wife, and a mysterious and rather sinister character known as The General, the three track down a man and kill him, only to find out that they have killed the wrong man. The real spy is eventually discovered.
Rather more graphically violent and downbeat than one would expect, nevertheless it is generally considered to be one of the best of Hitch's British films, and was a considerable world-wide success.

Answer: The Man Who Knew Too Much

A young British couple and their daughter are on holiday in Switzerland, where the wife participates in a clay pigeon shooting contest. Later that evening at a dance, a friend of theirs is shot and, before dying, gives them information about a plot to assassinate a world leader. The couple's daughter is kidnapped in order to ensure their silence.
The film starred Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre, Nova Pilbeam and Pierre Fresnay.
Hitchcock remade the film in 1956, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. Film buffs still argue over which of the two versions is the better one.
Peter Lorre, who had recently fled Nazi Germany, could not speak English and learned his lines phonetically.
The "Storm Clouds Cantata" played during the Albert Hall sequence was used again in the remake.

Answer: Strangers On A Train

"Strangers On A Train" was adapted by Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde from the novel by Patricia Highsmith.
Guy Haines is a professional tennis player who wants to divorce his unfaithful wife and marry the daughter of a senator. Bruno Antony is a psychotic young man who would like nothing more than to be rid of his hated father. The two meet on a train, and Bruno suggests that they 'swap murders'. Guy laughs off the idea, but Bruno takes it seriously and murders Guy's wife, threatening to frame Guy for the murder unless he kills Bruno's father.
The finale on the merry-go-round is one of Hitch's finest and most suspenseful sequences.
The film starred Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll and Patricia Hitchcock.

Answer: Spellbound

"Spellbound" deals with the subject of psychoanalysis, hitherto a topic rarely touched upon in film. Ingrid Bergman plays a psychiatrist at a mental hospital whose director (Leo G. Carroll) has been forced to retire and make way for a much younger man (Gregory Peck).

It soon becomes obvious that the new director has serious mental issues of his own. Much was made of the fact that the dream sequences in the film were designed by Salvador Dali, although producer David O. Selznick disliked them so much that he cut all but a few minutes from the film.

The score by Miklos Rozsa was also a bone of contention (Hitchcock hated it), however it won an Academy Award. "Spellbound" was the last of the three films which Hitch made for Selznick.

Answer: The Trouble With Harry

The trouble with Harry is, of course, that he is dead, and no-one knows how or why, resulting in his being buried and dug up again three times before the truth is finally revealed. Shirley MacLaine made her screen debut in this delightful black comedy, which also starred Mildred Natwick, Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe and Mildred Dunnock.

The film was not a success on its initial release, but has built up a considerable cult following over the years.

Answer: Rebecca

"Rebecca" is the only Hitchcock film to have won a Best Picture Academy Award. It was adapted from the novel by Daphne Du Maurier, and also starred George Sanders, Judith Anderson and Gladys Cooper.
Joan Fontaine plays a shy young woman who meets and marries a rich widower, Maxim DeWinter, played by Laurence Olivier. She is constantly made to feel inadequate in comparison with Maxim's previous wife and mistakenly comes to feel that he still loves her, when in reality he hated her.
A favourite trick question in film quizzes is 'Who played the title role in "Rebecca"?' The answer is, of course, no-one as the character is dead before the story begins.

Answer: Stage Fright

A young acting student tries to help a young man whom she believes is being framed for the murder of the husband of a famous actress. She becomes attracted to the police inspector who is investigating the case, while at the same time posing as a lady's maid in order to gain evidence of the actress' guilt, and also involving her parents in helping to hide the young man from the police.
"Stage Fright" starred Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding, Richard Todd, Sybil Thorndike and Alistair Sim.
The song, "The Laziest Gal In Town" was written by Cole Porter specifically for Marlene Dietrich to sing in the film.