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290 Literary Movies Trivia Questions, Answers, and Fun Facts

How much do you know about Literary Movies? This category is for trivia questions and answers related to Literary Movies (Movies). Each one is filled with fun facts and interesting information.
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1 E.M. Forster's "A Passage to India" is one of the 20th century's milestone novels. Which legendary, Oscar-winning English director - famous for his epic movies - directed the 1984 film based on it?
Answer: David Lean

"A Passage to India" was David Lean's last film, released after a 14-year break following the fiasco of "Ryan's Daughter". The movie starred Peggy Ashcroft (who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress), Judy Davis, Victor Banerjee, James Fox and Alec Guinness; Maurice Jarre's original score also won an Academy Award. Forster's 1924 novel, based upon the author's own experiences in India, detailed the tensions between the country's British rulers and the native population. Lean directed a number of iconic literary adaptations, such as "Doctor Zhivago", "Great Expectations" and "Oliver Twist", as well as the epic "Lawrence of Arabia" and "The Bridge on the River Kwai".

The other three options are all award-winning English directors.
    Your options: [ Alfred Hitchcock ] [ David Lean ] [ Stanley Kubrick ] [ John Schlesinger ]
  From Quiz: Reading the Silver Screen
2 'Fried Green Tomatoes' is about the friendship of two girls who run a café. What are their names?
Answer: Idgie and Ruth

This is based on the novel 'Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café' by Fanny Flagg. Cathy Bates plays a dissatisfied middle aged housewife who meets an elderly lady who tells her the story of the two girls at the café, and helps her to live her own life. Idgie is a tomboy and Ruth is an ultra feminine girl. Idgie is a support for Ruth who has an abusive husband. They grow closer and closer, and eventually Ruth leaves her husband and moves in with Idgie. A gay relationship is hinted at but it is not overt.
  From Quiz: Movies Based on Novels
3 The first film adaptation of a Christie book was released in 1928. It was based on the first story in a collection of short stories involving an enigmatic Harlequin-inspired figure. Which was it?
Answer: The Passing of Mr. Quin

This 1928 British silent film starred Clifford Heatherley, Mary Brough, and Ursula Jeans. It is based on the short story "The Coming of Mr. Quin" but deviates radically from the original plot (most notably, in the character of Mr. Quin himself).
    Your options: [ The Passing of Mr. Quin ] [ The Man in the Brown Suit ] [ The Secret Adversary ] [ Alibi ]
  From Quiz: Agatha Christie Adaptations
4 This was the first Shakespeare play adapted for film. Name it.
Answer: King John

This 1899 silent short presents King John's death scene. A British film, it stars the great Herbert Beerbohm Tree in the title role.
    Your options: [ King John ] [ Romeo and Juliet ] [ Hamlet ] [ Cymbeline ]
  From Quiz: Shakespeare at the Movies
5 Name the Hemingway adapted movie in which Santiago goes for 84 days without making a catch.
Answer: The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway's novel "The Old Man and the Sea" was cast as a film at least three times, in 1958, 1990 (a miniseries) and 1999. The 1958 version featured Spencer Tracy as the Old Man, a fisher called Santiago. The screenplay was adapted nearly word-for-word by Peter Viertel. The film won Best Original Score, Best Color Cinematography, and Tracy was nominated for his performance. Hemingway's fourth wife Mary played a tourist. Despite his arguments with Tracy, Hemingway liked this film. Some critics said watching the Old Man, then a struggling marlin, Old Man, then marlin, was not good movie material. The 1990 miniseries starred Anthony Quinn. The 1999 animated film won an Oscar for Animated Short Film, and many other awards.
    Your options: [ The Perfect Storm ] [ All is Lost ] [ The Old Man and the Sea ] [ The Hunger Games ]
  From Quiz: Ernest "Papa" Hemingway Movies
6 In 1996, director Lloyd Kaufman gave us "Tromeo and Juliet," probably the strangest version of the Verona love story ever filmed. What is one of the key plot points in "Tromeo and Juliet"?
Answer: Juliet becomes a cow monster

Juliet becoming a cow monster may be the strangest point in a film that includes dismemberment by motor vehicle, along with gratuitous amounts of nudity, sex and violence. The film does have a "happier" ending than the play: Tromeo and Juliet discover they are siblings, but they get married and have kids anyway. What is truly disturbing is that this one of the more normal films directed by Kaufman.
Toxic waste is a key element in the "Toxic Avenger" series by Kaufman. Radioactive marijuana is central to "The Class of Nuke Em High" (1986). And the kabuki superhero is from "Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD" (1990). If you are looking for a good version of "Romeo and Juliet" try either Franco Zeffirelli (1968) or Baz Luhrmann (1996).
  From Quiz: An Earthquake in Stratford
7 "Die Monster Die", which starred Boris Karloff and told of a scientist who uses a strange meteorite in experiments to enhance growth, was based on which short story by Lovecraft?
Answer: The Colour Out of Space

Instead of the meteorite landing on a remote American farm, this movie had it working its deadly mutating magic in England, and made farmer Nahum Gardner into scientist Nahum Witley (played by Karloff).
    Your options: [ The Thing On the Doorstep ] [ The Colour Out of Space ] [ The Outsider ] [ The Shadow Out of Time ]
  From Quiz: Lovecraft Through the Lens
8 Who played Lily in the movie adaptation of "The Secret Life of Bees"?
Answer: Dakota Fanning

Dakota had been widely known for being in movies like "War of the Worlds" and "Dreamer", and she got one of the lead roles in "The Secret Life of Bees". The original novel was by Sue Monk Kidd. The movie also starred Queen Latifah and Jennifer Hudson.
  From Quiz: Books Transformed Into Movies
9 Dick's novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" was the first work of his adapted into a film. What was the movie's name?
Answer: Blade Runner

The film noticeably avoids two of the main themes in the book, namely social status based upon ownership of live animals, and the fictional religion of Mercerism.
  From Quiz: Films Inspired by Philip K. Dick
10 Which Walt Disney movie, based on the Conrad Richter book, told the story of a kidnapped child raised by Mohawks who, at age 14, had to return to his birth family?
Answer: The Light in the Forest

The movie starred a very young James MacArthur, Carol Lynley, Jessica Tandy and Fess Parker. MacArthur, son of famed actress Helen Hayes, later became better known for his role in "Hawaii Five-O" - "Book 'em Danno".

Question by MargW
    Your options: [ Burning Light ] [ Mohawk Valley ] [ True Son ] [ The Light in the Forest ]
  From Quiz: Why Read When You Can Watch?
11 Which teen flick about a matchmaking high school student was based on Jane Austen's 'Emma'?
Answer: Clueless

The 1995 story of Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), an over-indulged and ostensibly shallow student in Beverley Hills, is a modern re-telling of Jane Austen's Emma Woodford. Like Austen's heroine, Cher uses her wit and charm to arrange relationships between people in her life, without realising that her own true love is closer than she thinks.
    Your options: [ Clueless ] [ Mean Girls ] [ Raise Your Voice ] [ Hairspray ]
  From Quiz: Classic Literature Rehashed in Films
12 "The Taming of the Shrew" is a story about a younger daughter who can't marry until her shrewish older sister does. What 1999 film updates this classic, even keeping many character names the same?
Answer: 10 Things I Hate About You

Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik) can't date until her sister Kat (Julia Stiles) does. Cameron (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) wants to date Bianca and arranges to have Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger) date the "mean" Kat. The movie also stars David Krumholtz, Susan May Pratt, Andrew Keegan and Larry Miller.
  From Quiz: Modernizing Shakespeare
13 Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy. Boy leaves girl. Boy dies. Girl gets engaged to different man. Girl gets kidnapped. Boy rescues girl. Boy dies again. Boy rescues girl. What 1987 movie is this?
Answer: The Princess Bride

"The Princess Bride" by William Goldman is a wonderful novel and an excellent movie. Some parts are better in the book (read the lightning sand scene or the Pit of Despair.) But the movie has such great performances, excellent sword-fighting, etc. Both book and movie are worth your time. The movie stars Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Christopher Guest, Andre the Giant, Wallace Shawn, Chris Sarandon, Fred Savage and Peter Falk.
  From Quiz: Movies From Books
14 The year is 1912 and Thomas Bentley is making a film of a Dickens novel at the Hepworth Studios at Walton-on-Thames. What is the name of this, the very first, feature film to be produced in the United Kingdom?
Answer: Oliver Twist

'Oliver Twist' was released in August 1912, just two months after Vitagraph's version in America which was the first US film release to last more than one hour. An ex-beauty queen, Ivy Millais, starred in the title role.
  From Quiz: A Dickens of a Film
15 John D. MacDonald's 1958 novel, "The Executioners," was the basis for this 1962 film with a different title.
Answer: Cape Fear

The 1962 version was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and starred Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Another version was made in 1991, directed by Martin Scorsese, and starring Nick Nolte and Robert de Niro.
  From Quiz: Book Titles Changed For The Movie
16 In the book, the heroine prides herself in having made a match for her governess. In the movie, she fixes up two of her high school teachers, saying, "Old people can be so sweet."
Answer: Austen, "Clueless"

The movie "Clueless" is a modernization of Jane Austen's novel "Emma." This clever update makes the heroine's love interest her step brother, rather than her brother-in-law.
    Your options: [ Bronte, "The Professor" ] [ Shaw, "My Fair Lady" ] [ Shakespeare, "Ten Things I Hate About You" ] [ Austen, "Clueless" ]
  From Quiz: Author, Movie
17 In which version of "Jurassic Park" (the 1993 movie directed by Steven Spielberg, or the 1990 novel by Michael Crichton) does Robert Muldoon die?
Answer: Movie

Muldoon, the game warden of Jurassic Park, was killed by velociraptors in the movie, but managed to survive until the end of the book. People who perished in the book but lived in the movie included John Hammond and Ian Malcolm, who was magically brought back to life for "The Lost World."
    Your options: [ Neither ] [ Book ] [ Movie ] [ Both ]
  From Quiz: Book or Movie?
18 Graham Greene, Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles.
Answer: The Third Man

Post-war Vienna and zither music make this a memorable movie mystery.
  From Quiz: From Book to Film
19 Who wrote the Novel that the Movie 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' was based on ?
Answer: Ian Fleming

Yes, the same person who created James Bond.
  From Quiz: Novels Into Movies
20 In the opening scene of "All About Eve", Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) manages to get backstage to meet her idol, Broadway star Margo Channing (Bette Davis) after her performance in this fictional drama. What is the play?
Answer: Aged in Wood

"All About Eve" may be the ultimate backstage film. Great performances by Bette Davis and Anne Baxter have much to do with the movie's success and longevity. Nominated for a record 14 Oscars, it won six, including a best supporting actor award for George Sanders.

Bette Davis, a brilliant actress, appeared on Broadway numerous times before and after achieving movie stardom. Her Broadway debut came in a long-forgotten play entitled "The Earth Between" in 1929. In 1961-62, she appeared in the original production of Tennessee Williams' classic "Night of the Iguana."

Please note that the three alternate answers are all Davis films based on Broadway plays.
  From Quiz: Plays in Movies That Have Plays in Them
21 Another E.M. Forster novel, "A Room With a View", was adapted into a film that earned Helena Bonham-Carter widespread recognition. Where is the first part of the movie (which includes the titular window) set?
Answer: Italy

Directed by James Ivory in 1985, "A Room With a View" is a delightful romantic movie starring a veritable who's-who of British cinema: besides Bonham-Carter in her breakthrough role as Lucy Honeychurch, the cast includes Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Denholm Elliot, Simon Callow, Julian Sands and Daniel Day-Lewis. Ruth Prawer-Jhabwala won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The first half and the ending of the film are set in Florence (Italy) and the surrounding countryside. Forster's 1908 novel is a critique of early 20th-century English society, whose staid, repressed mores are contrasted with the warmth and spontaneity of Italy.
    Your options: [ France ] [ Italy ] [ Russia ] [ Sweden ]
  From Quiz: Reading the Silver Screen
22 Colin Firth played a fanatical football/soccer fan in the movie 'Fever Pitch'. Which London team did he support?
Answer: Arsenal

This is based on Nick Hornby's best selling book of the same name. It is a very funny film about a fanatical soccer supporter and his on/off girlfriend who is definitely NOT a fan. The character Paul, played by Colin Firth is a teacher and his students know that he is an Arsenal supporter, and there is a lot of banter about that in the classroom. In the last scene Arsenal have won the cup final and there are a mass of fans celebrating outside their ground.
    Your options: [ West Ham ] [ Chelsea ] [ Tottenham Hotspurs ] [ Arsenal ]
  From Quiz: Movies Based on Novels
23 The first foreign Christie film adaptation was based on "The Secret Adversary" and was titled "Die Abenteurer G.m.b.H.". Which country released this film in 1929?
Answer: Germany

"Die Abenteurer G.m.b.H." is the literal translation of "Adventurers, Inc.". The German title of the novel is "Ein gefährlicher Gegener" ("A Dangerous Foe"). This book, Christie's second, introduces Tommy and Tuppence, who (lamentably) only appear in four novels and one collection of short stories.
    Your options: [ Germany ] [ Denmark ] [ Belgium ] [ Italy ]
  From Quiz: Agatha Christie Adaptations
24 1935's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" featured the screen debut of what future-famous actress?
Answer: Olivia de Havilland

Born in Tokyo to British parents, two-time Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland is most famous for her role as Melanie Hamilton in "Gone with the Wind". The sister of actor Joan Fontaine, she plays Hermia in "Midsummer", which also features James Cagney, Mickey Rooney, Joe E. Brown, and Victor Jory.
  From Quiz: Shakespeare at the Movies
25 The 1943 movie adaptation of Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is set in which country's 1930s civil war?
Answer: Spain

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1943) was an elaborate and grand film, set in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Hemingway chose a stoic Gary Cooper (Robert Jordan) to play an American who is set on blowing up a bridge. Ingrid Bergman (Maria) was Jordan's love interest, living in the hills with Gypsies who had rescued her. The movie was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Outstanding Motion Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress. Katina Paxinous (Pilar) debuted as a strong female Gypsy, and won Best Supporting Actress. The camera makes haunting use of shadow and bold close-up on war-torn faces. John Donne penned the title in 1624: "...and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee".
    Your options: [ Uganda ] [ Ireland ] [ Spain ] [ Canada ]
  From Quiz: Ernest "Papa" Hemingway Movies
26 What Academy Award winner played the Juliet role in the 1996 romantic comedy "Love Is All There Is"?
Answer: Angelina Jolie

Ms Jolie played Gina Malacici, who falls in love with Rosario Capomezzo, played by Nathaniel Marston. The film is a "Romeo and Juliet" remake set in the present day Bronx. It was directed by acting couple Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor (Fran's mom on "The Nanny"). It is one of Jolie's very first film roles, and probably the sweetest and most innocent character she has ever played on screen. "Love Is All There Is" received mixed reviews, and while it isn't the worst remake of "Romeo and Juliet", there are numerous better ones.
  From Quiz: An Earthquake in Stratford
27 Who played Robert Langdon in the film adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code"?
Answer: Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks had already been known worldwide for being in movies like "Big" and "Toy Story". In "Big", he was Josh Baskin as an adult, and in "Toy Story", he was Woody, a drawstring cowboy. Robert Langdon is the protagonist of "The Da Vinci Code". The original novel "The Da Vinci Code" was written by Dan Brown.
  From Quiz: Books Transformed Into Movies
28 'O Brother Where Art Thou?', a comedy about three escaped convicts on the run in 1930s Mississippi, was loosely based on which classic poem from ancient times?
Answer: The Odyssey

With a blind prophet, sirens who lure the intrepid travelers onto the rocks, and a devious one-eyed giant, this hilarious film stars George Clooney as a latter-day Odysseus in his attempts to get to his wife and stop her from re-marrying because she has told everyone he's dead!
    Your options: [ The Odyssey ] [ The Iliad ] [ The Aeneid ] [ Metamorphoses ]
  From Quiz: Classic Literature Rehashed in Films
29 This titular Shakespeare character was portrayed on the big screen by Laurence Olivier in 1948, Mel Gibson in 1990, Kenneth Branagh in 1996, and Ethan Hawke in 2000. Who is this melancholy fellow?
Answer: Hamlet

Olivier was the oldest of the four actors to take on the role, at 41. He is the only one of the four who won an Oscar for his portrayal of the Danish prince.

Mel Gibson suffered his slings and arrows in Franco Zeffireli's 1990 'Hamlet'. This version is perhaps the most well-known adaptation, even garnering a mention in the 1996 comedy 'Clueless'.

Branagh's 'Hamlet' is notable for being the first unabridged version of the play on film. It also featured an almost literal all-star cast, with stars appearing in everything from supporting parts to cameos and flashbacks.

The 2000 'Hamlet' starring Ethan Hawke modernized the play, but was criticized for some of the choices being too commercial, such as placing the famous "to be or not to be" soliloquy in the action section of a Blockbuster Video.
  From Quiz: Shakespearean Movie Madness
30 "War of the Worlds" was a book originally written by H.G. Wells, about a man on the run from deadly aliens planning to take over the world. In 2005, which director directed this movie?
Answer: Steven Spielberg

"War of the Worlds" stars Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning. Both of these stars have previously worked with Steven Spielberg. Tom Cruise has worked with Spielberg in the film, "Minority Report", and Dakota Fanning has worked with Spielberg in a mini-series called "Taken".
    Your options: [ Steven Spielberg ] [ Martin Scorsese ] [ George Lucas ] [ Tim Burton ]
  From Quiz: From Books to the Big Screen in 2005
31 In the modern version of "Taming of the Shrew", what is the name of the high school the main stars attend?
Answer: Padua High School

Padua is, of course, the city where "The Taming of the Shrew" takes place. For a more traditional movie, check out the 1967 version starring Elizabeth Taylor. For a more comical version, try to get your hands on the episode of TV show "Moonlighting" entitled "Atomic Shakespeare".
  From Quiz: Modernizing Shakespeare
32 Boy is unlucky. Boy is arrested. Boy goes to camp. Boy digs. Boy makes friend. Boy and friend run away. Boy fulfills family debt. Boy and friend find treasure. Boy is cleared of charges. What 2003 film is this?
Answer: Holes

The book "Holes" by Louis Sachar won the Newberry Award for writing in 1999. The book was very interesting and turned out to be a great novel to be made into a movie. Few movies are so exact to the book, but "Holes" did a masterful job. It starred John Voight, Sigourney Weaver and Shea Labeouf.
  From Quiz: Movies From Books
33 It's the 17th December 1912 and a film called 'The Virtue of Rags' is released in America in time for Christmas. From which Dickens novel is this film adapted?
Answer: A Christmas Carol

Francis X. Bushman stars in this early production, directed by Theodore Wharton. The film tells the story of a grouchy landlord who dismisses a kind hearted rent collector when he fails to collect the rent from an impoverished widow.
    Your options: [ A Christmas Carol ] [ The Old Curiosity Shop ] [ Oliver Twist ] [ Barnaby Rudge ]
  From Quiz: A Dickens of a Film
34 Director Stanley Kubrick based which of his movies on "Red Alert," by Peter George?
Answer: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb

"Red Alert" was the US title. It was published in Britain as "Two Hours To Doom," with George using the name Peter Bryant. Unlike the movie, which is almost completely tongue in cheek, "Red Alert" is very serious. "Full Metal Jacket" was based on "The Short Timers" by Gustav Hasford. "Lolita" and "A Clockwork Orange" were based on novels of the same name, by Vladimir Nabokov and Anthony Burgess, respectively.
    Your options: [ Full Metal Jacket ] [ Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb ] [ A Clockwork Orange ] [ Lolita ]
  From Quiz: Book Titles Changed For The Movie
35 The original play was set in 15th century England, but the movie takes place in 1930's Britain. The language, however, is not modernized for the film.
Answer: Shakespeare, "Richard III"

Sir Ian McKellen delivers a powerful performance as Richard III in this 1995 production. Romeo and Juliet is another Shakespeare play that was updated to the 20th century while retaining the original language.
    Your options: [ Miller, "Death of a Salesman" ] [ Shakespeare, "West Side Story" ] [ Shaw, "My Fair Lady" ] [ Shakespeare, "Richard III" ]
  From Quiz: Author, Movie
36 Victor Hugo, Tom Hulce and Demi Moore.
Answer: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The 1939 live-action version starred Charles Laughton.
  From Quiz: From Book to Film
37 What is the last name of the Author who wrote 'The Bonfires of the Vanities'?
Answer: Wolfe

it was Thomas Wolfe.
  From Quiz: Novels Into Movies
38 Based on John Fowles' 1969 novel of the same name, "The French Lieutenant's Woman" was the first leading role for which iconic American actress?
Answer: Meryl Streep

"The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981), directed by Karel Reisz, starred Meryl Streep in the title role, and Jeremy Irons as her lover. Like the novel it is based on, the film tells two parallel stories, one set in the Victorian era, and the other in modern times, with different outcomes. Streep, who had won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1980 for her role in "Kramer vs Kramer", was nominated for Best Actress; British playwright Harold Pinter was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

All the other choices are American actresses who won an Academy Award.
    Your options: [ Glenn Close ] [ Meryl Streep ] [ Kathy Bates ] [ Holly Hunter ]
  From Quiz: Reading the Silver Screen
39 'Sense and Sensibility' is our next movie. The story is mainly about the two older sisters and their romances, but can you remember the name of the youngest sister?
Answer: Margaret

This is a dramatization of the wonderful novel by Jane Austen. The two older sisters, Elinor and Marianne, were played by Emma Thompson and Kate Winslett. Emma Thompson also wrote the screenplay. Margaret is a typical girl of about 12 or 13, and often says the wrong thing at the wrong time. Urged on by her mother and sister she climbs up into a tree house to report on developments while her sister Elinor's suitor is proposing.
  From Quiz: Movies Based on Novels
40 Howard Hawks, the director of "To Have and Have Not", wanted very much to collaborate with which master writer? (No trick question here!)
Answer: Ernest Hemingway

For this 1944 adaptation of Hemingway's "To Have and Have Not" director Howard Hawks hoped he and Hemingway could make this film together. Hemingway declined, so Hawks enlisted author William Faulkner and co-writer Jules Furthman. Humphrey Bogart and Walter Brennan starred, with Lauren Bacall making her film debut. The movie was true to the first chapter of the novel, then varied extensively, such as moving the setting from Florida to France. Harry Morgan (Bogart) is a small boat owner (a "have not") who reluctantly transports French Resistance members, and falls in love with Slim (Bacall). There are moody nautical scenes, and sharp dialogue. Bogart and Bacall fell in love on set, and married in 1945.
    Your options: [ John Steinbeck ] [ Truman Capote ] [ Ernest Hemingway ] [ Margaret Atwood ]
  From Quiz: Ernest "Papa" Hemingway Movies
The rest of the questions and answers can be found in our quizzes here:
Literary Movies Quizzes