Tricky Movie Trivia and Movie Reviews

Plenty of romantic movies can help you get in the mood for Valentine’s Day, but these 10 are among our favorites. The V-Day film-watching formula is simple: grab the chocolate ice cream, a box of Kleenex (depending on the movie) and the remote control. Then, fire up one of these movies on DVD and enjoy:

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
1947
Starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison
104 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“You’ll forgive me if I take a minute to get accustomed to you.”

Hannah and Her Sisters
1986
Starring Woody Allen, Diane Wiest, Carrie Fisher, Michael Caine, Mia Farrow, Barbara Hershey
103 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“And Nietzsche, with his theory of eternal recurrence. He said that the life we lived we’re gonna live over again the exact same way for eternity. Great. That means I’ll have to sit through the Ice Capades again.”

The Enchanted Cottage
1945
Starring Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Herbert Marshall, Mildred Natwick
91 minutes
Also, read our movie review

Memorable quote from the movie:
Oliver Bradford (Robert Young): “Well, apparently you don’t complain!”
Major John Hillgrove (Herbert Marshall): “You haven’t given me a chance.”

When Harry Met Sally
1989
Starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby
96 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“Had my dream again where I’m making love, and the Olympic judges are watching. I’d nailed the compulsories, so this is it, the finals. I got a 9.8 from the Canadians, a perfect 10 from the Americans, and my mother, disguised as an East German judge, gave me a 5.6. Must have been the dismount.”

Moonstruck
1987
Starring Cher, Nicholas Cage, Olympia Dukakis
102 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“Pardon me folks. That was just a very attractive mental patient.”

The Lake House
2006
Starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves
Rated PG, 105 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“Even though this is clearly impossible, it’s amazing.“

You’ve Got Mail
1998
Starring Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Greg Kinnear, Parker Posey
119 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“It was a perfect blend of poetry and meanness.”

Gone With the Wind
1939
Starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard
226 min (copyright length), 238 min (restored U.S. DVD version)

Memorable quote from the movie:
“No, I don’t think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That’s what’s wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how.”

Chasing Amy
1997
Starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee
113 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams): “So, you’ve never been curious about men?”
Holden (Ben Affleck): “Curious about men? Well, I always wondered why my father watched Hee Haw.”

Four Weddings and a Funeral
1994
Starring Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell
117 minutes

Memorable quote from the movie:
“That’s the great advantage of having a reputation for being stupid; people are less suspicious of you.”

I hope you enjoyed these romantic movie recommendations.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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

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

Posted February 10, 2008 Comments(2)

_

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)

Can you guess the answers to this movie trivia quiz about chick flicks?

Also, check out part 1 and part 2 of the chick flicks movie trivia quiz series.

1. You probably know that Lindsay Lohan starred in the 2005 movie featuring Herbie the Volkswagen, called Herbie Fully Loaded. But can you name the six other Herbie movies? (You don’t have to include the TV version made in 1997, which had the same name as the original 1968 theatrical release.)

2. The 1983 movie Valley Girl starred Francis Ford Coppola’s nephew. What is his name?

3. As part of the initiation to the Ya-Ya Sisterhood club in Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Sandra Bullock’s character Siddalee Walker has the palm of her hand cut. In which other movie did a character played by Sandra Bullock cut the palm of her hand?

4. In Dirty Dancing, Jennifer Grey was older than her 17-year-old character Baby. How old was Jennifer when she filmed the movie?
a. 23
b. 25
c. 27
d. 29

5. Evening co-starred Meryl Streep’s daughter, who played the younger version of Streep’s character in the movie. What is Streep’s daughter’s name in real life?

6. Which other famous mother and daughter starred in Evening?

7. Which English actress was originally considered for Miranda, the role that Meryl
Streep played in The Devil Wears Prada?

8. Which teenaged actor turned down the role of Ducky in the 1989 release of Pretty in Pink? (Jon Cryer played the role instead.)

9. The line “Can I borrow your underpants for ten minutes?” was voted #86 of “The 100 Greatest Movie Lines” by Premiere in 2007. Which movie was it from?

10. A famous brother and sister had supporting roles in Sixteen Candles. What are their names?

Scroll down to see the answers.

_________

__________________

_________

_________

________________

_________

Answers

1. There are six Herbie movies, all of which were made before Herbie Fully Loaded star Lindsay Lohan was even born:

• The Love Bug (1968)
• Herbie Rides Again (1974)
• Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977)
• Herbie Goes Bananas (1980)
• Herbie the Matchmaker (1981)
• Herbie, the Love Bug (1982)

2. Francis Ford Coppola’s nephew’s name is Nicholas Cage. He changed it from Nicholas Coppola in the 1980s. Valley Girl was the first movie credit he had that used the new name.

3. Sandra Bullock’s character Sally Owens cuts the palm of her hand in the movie Practical Magic.

4. Jennifer Grey was 27 when she filmed Dirty Dancing.

5. Meryl Streep’s daughter and Evening co-star’s name is Mamie Gummer.

6. Natasha Richardson plays the daughter of the character played by her real-life mother Vanessa Redgrave in Evening.

7. Helen Mirren was originally considered for the role Meryl Streep played in The Devil Wears Prada.

8. Anthony Michael Hall turned down the role of Ducky in Pretty in Pink. Jon Cryer played the part instead.

9. The line “Can I borrow your underpants for ten minutes?” came from Sixteen Candles and was said by Anthony Michael Hall’s character.

10. Brother and sister John and Joan Cusack were in Sixteen Candles. John Cusack played Bryce, one of Anthony Michael Hall’s geeky friends, and Joan was the girl in the neck brace on the bus and who had trouble sipping water from a drinking fountain.

How did you do on this movie trivia quiz about teenage chick flicks? If you didn’t get the answers to most of these questions, don’t worry; you’re not alone. A lot of them were hard!

If you enjoyed this quiz, why not subscribe via RSS or e-mail to get free updates? See the sidebar for easy subscription options.

Posted January 16, 2008 Comments(1)