Tricky Movie Trivia I Movie Reviews I Famous Movie Quotes

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.

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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)

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.

Image via Wikipedia*
Of all the stars of classic movies, Gregory Peck is among the classiest. See how many of these movie trivia quiz questions about his films you can get right. And make sure to read our movie review of one of his best films, To Kill a Mockingbird.

1. What was his first movie?

2. In which 1944 film was Gregory Peck nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role but didn’t win?

3. There were two movies in which Peck played a sea captain that were released in the 1950s. Can you name them?

4. Which actress made her movie debut in Roman Holiday, starring opposite Gregory Peck?

5. Of all Peck’s film roles, which did he publicly say was his favorite?

6. which Gregory Peck movie thriller released in 1962 was also re-released in 1991 and featured Peck in a cameo role?

7. Which two movies did Peck produce in the 1970s?

8. Other than producing, Gregory Peck’s film career was on the wane in the 1970s. What film was considered his comeback picture as an actor?

9. Which former co-star’s housekeeper and dog did Peck take into his after the co-star’s death in 1990?

10. What was Gregory Peck’s final movie in which he was not the subject? (He starred in several projects that either focused on him or for which he was narrator.)

Scroll down to see the answers.

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Answers

1. Gregory Peck’s first movie was Days of Glory, which was set during the 1941 Nazi invasion of Russia and released in 1944 by RKO Radio Pictures.

2. He was nominated for the Best Actor category for The Keys of the Kingdom, in which he played a young priest sent to China to build a Catholic parish.

3. The two classic movies in which Gregory Peck played sea captains were Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951) and Moby Dick (1956).

4. Audrey Hepburn made her movie debut in the classic movie Roman Holiday.

5. Gregory Peck’s favorite movie role was To Kill a Mockingbird. He lit up Tinseltown with his performance in this movie, for which he won an Academy Award.

6. Cape Fear was the thriller that was released both in 1962 and 1991. In the second version, Nick Nolte played Sam Bowden, the character Gregory Peck played in the 1962 release. Gregory Peck played the attorney of villain Max Cady (Robert De Niro).

7. He produced The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1972) and The Dove (1974).

8. His comeback picture in the 1970s was The Omen (1976).

9. Gregory Peck took in Ava Gardner’s housekeeper and dog after Ava died in 1990.

10. Gregory Peck’s final movie in which he was not the subject was a remake of Moby Dick.

How did you do on this movie trivia quiz about classic Gregory Peck movies? If you didn’t get the answers to most of the questions, don’t worry; you’re not alone. Some 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. We’ll be doing many more movie trivia quizzes about classic movies, as well as modern films!

Related post: To Kill a Mockingbird movie review

Posted January 9, 2008 Comments(2)

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.

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Can you answer the following movie trivia questions about 2007 movies and the celebrities who starred in them?

1. Dame Helen Mirren was invited to meet Queen Elizabeth II because of her role in The Queen. She had to turn down the opportunity because she was in South Dakota filming which movie that was released in 2007?

2. Will Smith left the set of I Am Legend for a couple of days to attend the wedding of which famous couple?

3. In which 2007 movie did a special effects assistant receive critical injuries when a hand-held mock-up of a stinger missile exploded as it was being prepared for a scene aboard a helicopter?

4. Which two famous men were originally supposed to direct and play the lead in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street?

5. What was the name of the U.K. version of the book published by Phillip Pullman that became the American book and movie The Golden Compass?

6. Who was the famous rock and roller who taught Jeffrey Dean Morgan to play guitar for his part in P.S. I Love You?

7. What was the fake name used for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story when movie prints were shipped to theaters?

8. Which of these non-alcoholic substances was used instead of hard liquor in Superbad?
(a.) apple juice
(b.) iced tea
(c.) water with food coloring added

9. Julie Andrews narrated which movie in the romantic movies category, which released in 2007?

10. In which Harry Potter movie did a box of cereal with the name Cheeri-Owls with a color scheme similar to that of a Cheerios box appear during a breakfast scene in the Great Hall?

Scroll down to see the answers.

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Answers

Now it’s time to see whether you’re a movie star. Check your answers below, and then see the ratings chart at the bottom of this post:

1. Dame Helen Mirren turned down Queen Elizabeth because she was filming National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

2. Will Smith attended the wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in Rome.

3. The special effects assistant received the injuries on the set of Charlie Wilson’s War.

4. Sam Mendes was originally supposed to direct and Russell Crowe was supposed to have the title role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

5. The book The Golden Compass was published in the U.K. as Northern Lights.

6. Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s guitar instructor on P.S. I Love You was Nancy Wilson of the band Heart. Morgan said he was thrilled to take lessons from her because, “I had such a crush on her as a kid.”

7. The fake title used for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story was Long Way Up.

8. (a.) Apple juice was used to portray hard liquor in Superbad.

9. Julie Andrews narrated Enchanted.

10. The Cheeri-Owls box appeared in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

So, how did you do with this test of your movie trivia knowledge? If you didn’t get most of the answers correct, don’t worry; you’re not alone. They were hard!

Posted December 31, 2007 Comments(2)