Question Time # 008: HITCHCOCK !!!!!

Alfred Hitchcock, known as the master of suspense, was one of the greatest film directors ever. He started his career during the silent era, and completed it towards the end of the hippie era, even working, close to his demise. From Silent movies to talkies, from British films to Hollywood, from eerie love stories to crime, from classy film noir to B-movie horror, he’s done it all (Sometimes even blending all the genres into one). Nobody can dispute the fact he was a true genius, and one of the most talented and versatile (yet unique) personalities to have ever existed. And no doubt, nobody can call themselves a true film buff, if they lack Hitchcockian knowledge.

So here is my Hitchcockian Questionnaire. Play along and enjoy.

Q.1 1940 Film

Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine & Reginald Denny in a scene from this haunting classic from 1940.

(i) From which film; and based on which novel, by which author; is the above still from?

(ii) This was a ‘First’, in more than one category, for Alfred Hitchcock. Which three lines from below are correct :-

(a) This was Hitchcock’ s first Silent Movie.
(b) This was Hitchcock’s first Talkie.
(c) This was Hitchcock’s first Musical.
(d) This was Hitchcock’s first British film.
(e) This was Hitchcock’s first Oscar nomination, for ‘Best Director’.
(f) This was Hitchcock’s first film as an actor.
(g) This was Hitchcock’s first Bollywood movie.
(h) This was Hitchcock’s first Hollywood movie.
(i) This was Hitchcock’s first directorial venture.
(j) This was Hitchcock’s first Oscar winning film, for ‘Best Picture’.

*Remember, only three, of the above ten, statements, is correct.

(iii) Which one, of the three actors, pictured in the still, plays a nameless character, in this movie? Who plays the icy ‘Mrs. Danvers’ (not pictured)?

(iv) Which actor, from the still, was given a knighthood, in 1947?

(v) Which actor, from the trio pictured, was born in Japan, and died on 15th of December, 2013, aged 96?

Q.2 Film 46’

Cary Grant & Ingrid Bergman’s 2½ minute kiss.

(i) Which Hitchcockian film, pictured above, contains the longest notorious kiss (2½ minutes), in history of cinema? (HINT: Clue in the question itself)

(ii) Which of the two actors, in the picture above, plays a modern day, post World War – II, Mata Hari?

(iii) Which one, of the two characters shown, is slowly poisoned, through his/her coffee, daily, in the film, and by whom?

Q.3 British Original & Hollywood Remake

Peter Lorre (in the 1934 British Original), Doris Day & James Stewart (in the 1956 Hollywood Re-make)

(i) What’s the title of the two movies (pictured here), which was originally made by Hitchcock in the United Kingdom, and released in 1934; and later re-made by Hitchcock again, in the United States, and released in 1956.

(ii) Which film version, 1934 or 1956, was the song Que Sera Sera from?

(iii) Did the Doris Day song, from the 1956 version, win the Oscar for ‘Best Song’  in 1957?

(iv) In which country, are the family on vacation, in the 1934 film? Is the family holiday, in the Hollywood re-make, set in the same country as well?

(v) What’s the gender of the child that gets kidnapped in the :-
(a) 1934 version
(b) 1956 version

Q.4 Young Alfred Hitchcock & the Silent era
(i) Who is the young girl standing behind Hitchcock, in this picture? What is her relationship to him?

(ii) What was the very first, completed, feature film, made by Alfred Hitchcock, and which year was it released?

(iii) Hitchcock made only one light-hearted Romantic/Screwball comedy in America, what was it called?

(iv) What’s the name of the film that would have been the last film release of Alfred Hitchcock, but was cancelled in 1979, due to his ill health?

Q.5 Colour & Hitchcoerotism

Farley Granger & John Dall play partners in life & crime, in this homoerotic 1948 classic.

(i) From which movie, is the above picture from? One of Hitchcock’s most experimental films, set in real time, was it also his first colour film?

(ii) This 1948 movie, was Alfred Hitchcock’s first depiction of Homosexuality, though only hinted on the subject matter, which real-life notorious scandal was this movie based on?

Q.6 Hitchcock & the surrealist artist
(i) From which film, is this surreal dream sequence from, and who was the famous artist, who created these sets?

(ii) Who are the two lead stars of this psychological thriller, set in a mental asylum, who play two psychoanalysts? Which one is suffering from a phobia?

Q.7 Hitchcock 007

Tippi Hedren & Sean Connery (in a film from 1964)

(i) In which Hitchcockian film, did Sean Connery, act in?

(ii) Did Connery appear in this film, before or after, he started acting in the James Bond franchise?

Q.8 Hitchcockian Train Journey’s

TOP: Dame May Whitty, Margaret Lockwood & Michael Redgrave in the 1938 noir classic.
BELOW: Farley Granger & Robert Walker in the 1951 noir Highsmith adaptation.

(i) From which two films, where the train is significant to the plot, are the two above stills from?

(ii) Which of them is a British film, and which, a Hollywood venture?

(iii) Which of them was based on a Patricia Highsmith novel?

Q.9 Which is your favourite Hitchcock film, and why?

Q.10 Which of these, from Hitchcock’s two B-movie Horror films, Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963), is your favourite?  

Nuwan Sen n’ Film Noir
Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense
Nuwan Sen’s Hitchcockian Sense

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