Tricky Movie Trivia I Movie Reviews I Famous Movie Quotes

_When it comes to spring movie trivia questions, films about teenagers and spring break are no-brainers. Not all movies with spring themes are that obvious, however. Admittedly, we’ve gone for a few easy shots here by including some spring break movies. But there also are a few you might not have thought of that feature spring as their main theme.

So spring into action and see how many answers you can get right on this tricky movie trivia quiz about spring movies:

1. When the famous politically incorrect song Springtime for Hitler was sung in the 1968 rendition of The Producers, the singing voice was dubbed. Whose voice was heard singing the song in the film?

2. Mel Brooks had another name in mind for The Producers but the studio wouldn’t let him use it. What was that name?

3. Name the famous English actress whose character in Enchanted April said, “In my day husbands and beds were very seldom mentioned in the same breath. Husbands were taken seriously, as the only true obstacle to sin.”

4. Elizabeth von Arnim wrote the novel Enchanted April, on which the movie was based. What other famous movie was made from one of her novels? (Hint: It was released in 1944.)

5. In the Secret Garden, which celebrates the renewal brought by spring, main character Mary’s parents passed on. How did they die?

6. What is the name of the Secret Garden character played by Andrew Knott who said, “The animals tell me all their secrets.”

7. The quintessential spring break movie Where the Boys Are marked the movie debut of which female actress who also was in What’s New Pussycat and the 1975 version of The Stepford Wives?

8. In the Elvis spring break movie Girl Happy, some of the Fort Lauderdale beach crowd scenes were borrowed from which other spring break movie that was released in 1960?

9. Elvis’ co-star in Girl Happy is the only woman who was Elvis’ love interest in three different films. What is her name?

10. A famous porn star was featured in Lauderdale. What is his name?

Scroll down for the answers.

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Answers

1. Mel Brooks sang Springtime for Hitler in the original version of The Producers.

2. Springtime for Hitler was the name Brooks wanted to use. For obvious reasons, MGM frowned on that idea. Even with the watered-down title, The Producers didn’t play in Germany until it was included in a film festival featuring the works of Jewish filmmakers.

3. Joan Plowright (as Mrs. Fisher) spoke the lines, “In my day husbands and beds were very seldom mentioned in the same breath. Husbands were taken seriously, as the only true obstacle to sin.” Joan Plowright became Lady Olivier in 1961, after Sir Laurence Olivier divorced Vivien Leigh and married her. They became Baron and Baroness Olivier in 1970.

4. Elizabeth von Arnim’s novel Mrs. Skeffington was made into a 1944 movie of the same name that starred Bette Davis and Claude Rains. It was Bette Davis’ final Oscar-nominated performance while she was under contract to Warner Bros.

5. Mary’s parents died in an earthquake in India, leaving her to be shipped off to England to live with her reclusive uncle and discover the secret garden where magic was commonplace.

6. The character who said “The animals tell me all their secrets” was Dickon, played by Andrew Knott. The Secret Garden was Knott’s first film. He has since been active in British television.

7. Paula Prentiss is the actress who had her film debut in 1960′s Where the Boys Are. She continues to act in movies and has been married to director Richard Benjamin since 1961.

8. Some of the Fort Lauderdale beach crowd scenes Girl Happy were lifted from Where the Boys Are.

9. Shelley Fabares, whose real name is Michele Marie Fabares, is the only woman who was Elvis’ love interest in three different films.

10. Porn veteran Ron Jeremy was featured in Lauderdale, which is a double-spring movie because it also goes by the names Spring Break USA and Spring Fever USA!

We hope you enjoyed answering these spring trivia questions!

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If you like religious or animated children’s movies, you’re in luck at Eastertime. If not, it’s slim film pickings. It’s hard to believe that a holiday that combines cute little bunnies, colored eggs and someone rising from the grave doesn’t have more secular movies to commemorate it. But since that’s the case, this Easter movie trivia quiz is going to be mini-sized. It will still be tricky, though, so see how well you can do!

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1. Judy Garland’s husband was slated to direct Easter Parade but her psychiatrist advised them not to work together. What was her husband’s name?

2. A famous hoofer was supposed to play Fred Astaire’s part in Easter Parade but he broke his ankle when he stomped his foot in anger after losing a volleyball game. Who was that famous dancer/actor?

3. For the second time in Judy Garland’s film career, someone spoke the scripted line, “Why didn’t you tell me I was in love with you?” to her in a film. The second time was in Easter Parade. Who asked her that question the first time and in what movie? (Hint: The actor is the same as in question number 2.)

4. The movie Holiday Inn featured songs dedicated to many holidays, hence the movie’s name. Although the film included a lovely song about Easter, a song about another holiday from the film went on to be the biggest-selling music single of all time, according to 2007 statistics. What is that song?

5. The song mentioned in number 4 won an Oscar for Holiday Inn. The song’s writer was the first artist to ever present himself with an Academy Award. Who was he?

6. The set of Holiday Inn was reused 12 years later to film another movie starring Bing Crosby. What was the movie?

Scroll down to see the answers.

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Answers

1. Vincente Minnelli was Judy Garland’s husband.

2. Gene Kelly was the angry hoofer who lost the Easter Parade role due to a broken ankle.

3. Gene Kelly spoke the line, “Why didn’t you tell me I was in love with you?” to Judy Garland in 1942’s Me and My Gal.

4. The biggest-selling music single of all time is White Christmas.

5. Irving Berlin was the writer of White Christmas and the artist who presented himself with an Oscar.

6. The Holiday Inn set was reused 12 years later by Paramount Studios for White Christmas, which also starred Bing Crosby and had music composed by Irving Berlin.
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We hope you enjoyed this movie trivia quiz about Easter classic movies!

You might also enjoy these other Tricky Movie Trivia holiday-related posts:

Irish Movies for St. Patrick’s Day
Movies About Moms for Mother’s Day
Romantic Movies for Valentine’s Day
Memorial Day War Movies Trivia Quiz
Father’s Day Movie Trivia Quiz

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The Enchanted Cottage is probably one of the best romantic movies you’ve never seen.

Set in 1942 and released in 1945, the film uses WWII as the backdrop for a fairy-tale-like story of two ugly ducklings who find love. Even if you don’t like fantasy movies, you’ll probably like this one. And if you like romantic classic movies, this is one you won’t want to miss.

Beautiful Dorothy McGuire (Claudia in Gentleman’s Agreement) plays Laura Pennington, who’s considered homely by just about everyone she runs across in the movie. It’s a testament to McGuire’s acting skill (with a little credit thrown in for the make-up man) that she pulls off being so unattractive. And speaking of the make-up man, he worked overtime turning Robert Young’s (Father Knows Best, Marcus Welby, M.D.) Oliver Bradford into a character who could have been right at home in an episode of The Twilight Zone.

What makes this film so special is its power to evoke emotion. If you’ve ever been on the outside of anything, you’ll feel a kindred spirit with Laura Pennington as she sits in the war-time canteen while everyone dances but her. The same holds true for Oliver Bradford’s struggle with his war injury and resulting disfigurement. Young makes you understand just how frustrated his character must be.

The two unfortunates are joined by Herbert Marshall as blind composer and piano player Major John Hillgrove. It’s through his metaphorical eyes that we’re given clues on how to view the film, and maybe even life itself. When his character explains how he only truly learned to see after he lost his actual sight, you begin to understand the depth of the story.

Hillgrove’s blindness isn’t the only reference to sight in the movie. In fact, the idea that sight is relative is at the heart of the story. Although they retain their physical sight, Oliver and Laura begin to see each other through new eyes, which is a revelation for both of them. This new vision — created by love — is then challenged by the outside world. Oliver and Laura almost succumb to other people’s vision of them, but in the end, they decide that the only view of life that matters to them is their own.

This movie has not been released on DVD, but it’s available on VHS. Also, occasionally American Movie Classics (AMC) plays it, along with an introductory conversation by Robert Osborn and Whoopi Goldberg. If your cable system has On Demand, you also might be able to find it there.

The Enchanted Cottage cast

• Dorothy McGuire: Laura Pennington

• Robert Young: Oliver Bradford

• Herbert Marshall: Major John Hillgrove

• Mildred Natwick: Mrs. Abigail Minnett

• Spring Byington: Violet Price

• Hillary Brooke: Beatrice Alexander

• Richard Gaines: Frederick “Freddy” Price

• Alec Englander: Danny “Taxi” Stanton

• Robert Clarke: Marine Corporal

• Eden Nicholas: Soldier

Movie trivia

• Composer Roy Webb was nominated for the “Best Score, Comedy or Drama” Academy Award for The Enchanted Cottage, but didn’t win. In addition to the score, he wrote the piano concerto Herbert Marshall plays in the film, which was also played at a live Hollywood Bowl concert in 1945.

• Dorothy McGuire died of heart disease on September 13, 2001 at the age of 85. She leaves behind a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is located at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard.

I hope you enjoyed this classic movie review! To be updated whenever there’s a new movie review or movie trivia quiz, please subscribe using the free subscription options in the sidebar.

More Tricky Movie Trivia classic movie reviews:

• To Kill a Mockingbird
• My Man Godfrey
• Now, Voyager
• All About Eve
• Born Yesterday

Source: Wikipedia
I can’t help but think of Now, Voyager as one of the original chick flicks. It has all the components that make Lifetime movies so popular: forbidden romance, an ugly duckling who turns into an elegant swan, an oppressive mother who is eventually put in her place and a backdrop of the high-class world of wealth.

But Now, Voyager is a world apart from the chick flicks of today. It set the bar high when it came out in 1942. Part of the reason for that was its star, Bette Davis. Never better, she fully embodied the character of the bespectacled, caterpillar-browed Charlotte Vale who appeared early in the film. Many beautiful actresses have allowed themselves to be made ugly for movie roles, but few have achieved the transformation as well as Bette Davis did in this movie.

But looks are only part of the story. Our ugly duckling is so oppressed, you can’t help but squirm a little as you watch her. This causes you to root for her right from the start. Her transformation is amazing to watch, because she changes more than just her external appearance — that’s the easy part. You actually watch her become a full person as the film moves on. As is often the case in real life, that doesn’t come easily. And when a man and his troubled child come along who are struggling, too, their effort to preserve the strip of territory that belongs just to them is believable and compelling. The realistic way this mutual effort survives against all obstacles is what keeps the movie from sinking into being maudlin. You don’t actually stand up and cheer at the end; the experience is more low-key and satisfying than that. Instead, you’re left with the quiet feeling that with determination, strength and love; anything is possible.

Movie trivia from Now, Voyager

• Max Steiner and Now, Voyager won the 1943 Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture. Bette Davis was nominated for the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar, but lost to Greer Garson for Mrs. Miniver. Gladys Cooper was nominated as Best Actress in a Supporting Role but lost to Teresa Wright for Mrs. Miniver.

• The movie title is based on these two lines from the Walt Whitman poem, “The Untold Want” from Songs of Parting: “The untold want, by life and land ne’er granted. Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.

• Claude Rains turned down the role of Dr. Jaquith because he said it was too small. So, the part was increased to lure him and he was paid the princely sum of $5,000 a week for six weeks’ work.

• When Voyager was released in October 1942, the critics’ movie reviews were mixed but the public loved it. In fact, it was the biggest box office hit of Bette Davis’s career.

• The movie was based on the book by Olive Higgins Prouty, which was the third of four books about the wealthy Vale family. The screenplay stuck pretty close to the story in the novel, except that in the book Charlotte goes to the Mediterranean on her cruise, not to South America.

• Director Hall B. Wallis made five other films besides Now, Voyager in 1942:
  • Casablanca
  • Air Force
  • Desperate Journey
  • Princess O’Rourke
  • Watch on the Rhine.

I hope you enjoyed this movie review! To be updated whenever there’s a new movie review or movie trivia quiz, please subscribe using the free subscription options in the sidebar.

More Tricky Movie Trivia classic movie reviews:

• To Kill a Mockingbird
• My Man Godfrey
• The Enchanted Cottage
• All About Eve
• Born Yesterday

You might also be interested in our trivia quiz about famous movie quotes from Bette Davis movies.

See the My Man Godfrey trailer and view Carole Lombard home movies. They’re free!

Leave it to Carol Lombard to make the Great Depression so funny. Set in 1936, My Man Godfrey contrasts the hard times most Americans were experiencing with the wealthy and privileged world of socialite dingbat Irene Bullock, played to perfection by Lombard.

Irene happens upon Godfrey, played by William Powell, in the city dump, when she and her too-rich friends are in the midst of finding a forgotten man as one of the items in a scavenger hunt. Seeing that her rude and hateful sister Cornelia, played by Gail Patrick, also wants to bring Godfrey back only makes Irene more determined to have him as her prize.

Once Irene spends a little time with Godfrey, she decides she wants him to be her protege. There’s precedent for this, as her mother also has a protege — the useless but hilarious musician Carlo, played by Mischa Auer. (His imitation of a gorilla alone is worth watching the movie for.) So she makes Godfrey the family’s butler, because the last butler in a long line had just quit the day before. It seems no one wants to live with the nutty Bullock family.

But Godfrey is unphased by the lunacy that surrounds him, even though Irene and Cornelia fight over him, the family matriarch sees pixies, the father is a gruff but ultimately reasonable man who often yells with a booming voice, and police officers have come to find out which one of the crazy family members stole a policeman’s horse and rode it up the front steps of the Bullock mansion.

The more sturdy Godfrey behaves, the more the women fall in love with him. Not only is Irene smitten but the maid falls hard for him too. Hilarity ensues as they — especially Irene — fall all over themselves to be with him. Little do they know that Godfrey is hiding a secret, one that will change everything when revealed.

Movie trivia and goofs from My Man Godfrey

• My Man Godfrey is the only film to ever win Oscar nominations for directing, writing and all four acting awards without also being nominated for Best Picture. It’s also the only film to get those six nominations and lose them all.

• This was the first movie to receive four acting Oscar nominations. It did so in the year that supporting categories were introduced.

• William Powell and Carol Lombard had been married and divorced before this movie was shot. Powell, however, insisted that Lombard play Irene, knowing she would be the best person for the part. He was right. I can’t imagine anyone else playing that role but her.

• My Man Godfrey was voted one of “The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time” in 2006 by Premiere.

• When Irene first goes into Godfrey’s room, the door opens in the direction of the kitchen, where we see Molly in the background. In the next shot, the door opens in the direction of the bedroom.

• In one scene, Godfrey is placing roses in a vase while ignoring Irene. In one shot we see that there are already five stems in the vase. When the camera cuts away to the rest of the cast and Godfrey is seen again, there is only one rose in the vase.
• While Irene is talking to Charlie Van Rumple at the tea party, you see Godfrey in the background serving Cornelia with a tray, and she takes one item in each hand. A few seconds later, we see Cornelia close up as Godfrey serves her and she takes the same two items again.

Versions

My Man Godfrey is available on DVD in the original black and white form, as well as in a computer colorized version.

I hope you enjoyed this movie review! To be updated whenever there’s a new movie review or movie trivia quiz, please subscribe using the free subscription options in the sidebar.

More Tricky Movie Trivia classic movie reviews:

• To Kill a Mockingbird
• The Enchanted Cottage
• Now, Voyager
• All About Eve
• 
• Born Yesterday

Posted January 18, 2008 Comments(1)