Tricky Movie Trivia I Movie Reviews I Famous Movie Quotes

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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.

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More Tricky Movie Trivia classic movie reviews:

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

Which type of movie trivia quiz do you find more entertaining, one about celebrity gossip or classic movies?

I don’t think it’s fair to say that people who are looking for movie information and movie trivia are divided into two camps: those who like celebrity gossip and those who like classic black and white movies. I’m sure there are fans of Gregory Peck movies who also like Lindsay Lohan pics. Yet, you have to admit, there is a bit of a generation gap when it comes to movie fans.

If you’re 20, you’re probably much more likely to watch one of the many Lindsay Lohan movies than one of the old romantic stories starring Dorothy McGuire. On the other hand, if you’re 50, watching My Man Godfrey, To Kill a Mockingbird, Now Voyager and The Enchanted Cottage might be much more up your alley. If that’s the case, you probably wouldn’t even care about all the Tinseltown gossip about celebrities in rehab. Conversely, it probably would be hard for a Lindsay Lohan fan to have enough movie facts under his belt to take our movie trivia quiz about Gregory Peck.

If you’re firmly in either camp, it’s easy to think the other is wrong. But both categories have something to offer. For example, new movies, while not always up to the moral standards that many older people would prefer, have a lot of special effects that make for fun movie viewing and great movie trivia questions. On the other hand, while black and white movies sometimes lack production value, they often provide a heartwarming look at another era. Trivia questions about these classic movies are also sometimes easier to answer, because information about them has been around longer.

So, take your pick, the changing world of celebrity gossip or the ever-constant universe that exists in classic movies. Either way, I’m sure you’ll be entertained.

When I came up with the idea of a movie trivia quiz site, I wondered what people were really interested in so I could write about it. I know Lindsay Lohan pics (along with those of other celebrities) is a popular subject, but not necessarily because people think she’s a good actress. (Even though I believe she is.) But I didn’t know if anyone would ever find Lindsay trivia with all the other celebrity gossip sites and blogs competing to talk about her ongoing misspent youth. It made me wonder whether quizzes about Tinseltown classic movies might be better.

But I know people like modern celebrities, so I thought maybe it would be best to start with current movie trivia questions. I began with a 2007 movie trivia quiz — and I made it good and hard. Everyone who took it said they had to struggle to getting even one question correct. So, that made me realize I needed to give people a fighting chance, even though I saw in my Web statistics that someone had been looking for a “hard superbad quiz.” Hard is a relative term I guess, because I had a question in the 2007 trivia quiz about Superbad and I don’t think that’s the question that people got right. That person who was searching might have been looking for a hard trivia question, but was probably unprepared for the gauntlet he would have to run on the Tricky Movie Trivia blog! Or, maybe he was really just searching for a super-bad, hard quiz and I just misinterpreted.

When I checked my Web statistics, I also found that people also were interested in fake names movies are shipped under. Now, I consider this category of questions especially hard to get right. How would you know the names, unless you were a movie insider (or a reader of Tricky Movie Trivia who cheated by looking at the quiz answers)? But, as I said before, people like to challenge themselves. When they’re not looking for celebrity gossip or movie facts, they sometimes want to prove to themselves that they really do have a lot of insider movie information at their fingertips.

In my search to write about topics people want, I posted one movie trivia quiz each about a variety of movies. I touched quite a bit on the teenage genre by writing about these Lindsay Lohan pics: Freaky Friday, Mean Girls, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Herbie Fully Loaded and Just My Luck. But let’s not forget the teenage boys, who can generate their own share of Hollywood gossip. The 2007 Movies Trivia Quiz contained a question about Superbad, as of course did the Superbad and Seth Rogen Trivia Quiz post. That post also contained some questions about two other funny movies, Knocked Up and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Stars of classic movies vs. trendy celebrities

All of this was well and good, but I wondered if people are interested in more than just movie trivia and Hollywood gossip about celebrities. For example, I wonder if people still care about black and white movies. I’ve written several reviews of To Kill a Mockingbird, which I consider brilliant. (The movie, not the reviews.) Writing about Gregory Peck is a pleasure, because he was every bit as as good a man as the sterling Atticus Finch, the character he played in To Kill a Mockingbird. But do people care about Gregory Peck any more? I hope so. I know the book from which the classic movie was made is still very popular because it was labeled as the Book of the Century by a national association of librarians. But have we become more obsessed with celebrity gossip about who people are sleeping with instead of the content of people’s hearts and minds? Are great ideas dead? Let’s hope not, for all our sakes.

Besides To Kill a Mockingbird, other black and white movies also exemplify the past focus on substance over flash. One of my favorites is The Enchanted Cottage. This romantic movie stars Dorothy McGuire and Robert Young, and teaches the true meaning of love without being preachy. The production value is a little spotty in some places, but the timeless story shines through both the limitations of the medium of black and white film and the haze of each characters’ perceptions. Another example in the romantic movies genre is The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, which takes the concept of a love story beyond the grave. It’s truly one of the most romantic movies I’ve ever seen. The storytelling was strong, which made it transcend its being told in black and white.

Classic movies without color are particularly effective for dark, moody romantic stories with ultimate happy endings, but they also work well for comedies. A great example of this is My Man Godfrey. Screwball comedy was never more zany than in this farce that had Carol Lombard and William Powell first at odds, and then, in good old-time Hollywood fashion, in accord. I can’t imagine this movie in color. A certain elegance and Tinseltown glamor was imparted through the colorless medium. When you can shine through black and white, you know you’re a star. It was easy to imagine Carol Lombard and William Powell together at the Copa Cabana or the Brown Derby (before their divorce, of course), because they seemed born to radiate old fashioned Hollywood glamor.

Does it really matter what Lindsay Lohan is doing?

So, why am I going on and on about this? There are several reasons. The first is that I want to know whether people would be more interested in a movie trivia quiz about modern celebrities or if they would prefer movie trivia questions about classic movies. Maybe I should do both. Time will tell.

Over time, I hope to find out whether people really care more about Lindsay Lohan pics and celebrity gossip than how characters in classic movies have modeled good behavior. In the meantime, I plan on having fun writing about what I love: movie trivia. I hope to see you around as I explore the medium I love and meet people who feel the same way.