Missing in the Movies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Bette Davis

In "Bureau of Missing Persons", Davis played Norma Roberts. The police department assigned the case to Butch Saunders (role by Pat O'Brien), who fell head over heels for Norma. But then he discovered Norma Roberts was in fact Norma Williams, the prime suspect of having murdered the man she came looking for. Saunders then organized a fake funeral to trap both Norma and her allegedly missing husband or murdered boss.
Bette Davis (1908-1989) started her career in "Bad Sister" (1931). She was nominated eleven times for the Oscar as Best Actress, and won twice: for "Dangerous" (1935) and "Jezebel" (1938). She may be best known for having "lovely eyes", as once a cinematographer remarked.
The role for which most movie buffs will remember Bette Davis, is that of Margo Channing in "All About Eve" (1950) - an ageing actress stalked by Eve Harrington (role by Anne Baxter).

Answer: Peter Lorre

The plot of "Nancy Steele is Missing!" of course revolved around Nancy Steele, a very young girl kidnapped by Dannie O'Neill. Seventeen years after the abduction, Nancy met Dannie and presumed he was her father. But in fact Nancy (role by June Lang) was the daughter of an arms manufacturer, and both Danny and his prison companion Dr. Sturm (role by Peter Lorre) devised plans to blackmail Nancy's real father.
Peter Lorre (1904-1964) was an American actor of Hungarian descent. He was frequently typecast as a foreigner with a threatening appearance. Highlights in his career were his roles as a serial killer in Fritz Lang's "M" (1931) and as the cunning plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein in "Arsenic and Old Lace" (1944).
None of the three red herrings was already active in 1937. Bronson (1921-2003) was active between 1950 and 1999. Mel Brooks (born 1926) started his career in 1949. And Clint Eastwood (born 1930) debuted in 1954.

Answer: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Pressburger (1902-1988) was born in Austria-Hungary but emigrated to the UK in 1935, because of the rise of the Nazi party. Michael Powell (1905-1990) and Emeric Pressburger started their collaboration in 1939 with "The Spy in Black". Powell and Pressburger would work together on twenty-odd movies.
"One of Our Aircraft is Missing" told the story of a British bomber crew shot down over Nazi-occupied Netherlands, and how they managed to escape thanks to many members of the Dutch resistance. The main stars were Godfrey Tearle and Eric Portman. This movie was also the first full-feature movie in which Peter Ustinov played a part.
Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957) were a famous acting couple, known for their comedies such as "Fra Diavolo" (1933). Bud Abbott (1897-1974) and Lou Costello (1906-1959) acted together in over 30 movies, and are best known for their radio comedy gag "Who's on First?". Joel Coen (born 1954) and his brother Ethan (born 1957) wrote, directed and produced several movies together, including the acclaimed "No Country for Old Men" (2007) and "Fargo" (1996).

Answer: Nuclear physics

This short movie in black and white has gained very little interest on the internet, but you can check it out for yourself: there is a DVD available on at least two websites. The story is about two renowned nuclear physicists who suddenly disappeared from their work.

As the movie was made in full Cold War, one can expect a political thriller to ensue. But the story seemed not that important to the director: he liked to collect some random street views and pasted them together with a flimsy plot. Jackie Collins (1937-2015), a famous British author, played the wife of the Italian scientist Gio Manfredi (role by Friedrich Joloff), and Irene Papas (born 1929) played Gina, the fiancée to the other scientist. The red herrings point to more famous movies and movie series. Religious symbols are the specialty of Robert Langdon, portrayed by Tom Hanks in such movies as "The Da Vinci Code" (2006) and "Angels and Demons" (2009). Harrison Ford played the archaeologist Indiana Jones in several movies, and Angelina Jolie portrayed the female archaeologist Lara Croft in several movies. Virtual reality is one of the focus points in (among others) "The Matrix" series (1999-2003) and "Ready Player One" (2018).

Answer: Bunny Lake Is Missing

Of all the movies offered as an option, the only one from the sixties is "Bunny Lake Is Missing". You could have picked the right one by paying close attention to the title and intro to this quiz: all of the movies about which the questions revolve, have the word "Missing" in the title.
Carol Lynley played Ann Lake, an American woman who went to England with her daughter Bunny. But after Bunny's first school day, Bunny was missing, and every trace of her existence was wiped out. Sir Laurence Olivier played superintendent Newhouse, the police officer charged with the affair. Newhouse had every reason to doubt Ann Lake's sanity of mind, for her imaginary friend from childhood was also named Bunny. But the plot thickened...
The same premise was also the basis to "Flightplan" (2005) with Jodie Foster as the panicking mother. But this movie dealt with a child disappearing from an airplane on a Transatlantic flight.
"The Lady Vanishes" (1938) was a Hitchcock movie about the alleged disappearance of an older lady from a train.
"Picnic at Hanging Rock" (1975) dealt with the disappearance of three schoolgirls and their teacher in Australia in 1900.
"The Searchers" (1956) starred John Wayne trying to retrieve his niece, who was abducted by a Comanche tribe.

Answer: Yugoslavia

The story involved Izabela, a telephone switchboard operator from Hungarian ancestors, and Ahmed, a Muslim rat catcher. Izabela (played by Eva Ras) and Ahmed (role by Slobodan Aligrudic) fell in love, and Ahmed moved in to Izabela's apartment. But when Ahmed went away for a month, Izabela made love to the postman Mica (played by Miodrag Andric).

After her infidelity, Izabela had a fight with Ahmed, and this led to her sad demise. This film noir was produced in Yugoslavia and debuted at the Pula Film Festival in Croatia.

It was also shown at the New York Film festival in 1967, and hit the theatres in France in 1967 and the USA, Denmark, Finland and Italy in 1968.

Answer: Helen Hayes

The plot of this absurd comedy may seem hard to relate. The movie starts with Lord Southmere (role by Derek Nimmo) escaping in London from a gang of Chinese spies and hiding a secret formula in the skeleton of a large dinosaur in the British National Museum. Lord Southmere supposed the formula could be used in warfare, but at the end this turned out quite otherwise. After Lord Southmere informed his former nanny Hettie (played by Helen Hayes), the absurd fun just starts. At one moment, three nannies stole a lorry with a dinosaur skeleton, only to be pursued through London and the countryside by the Chinese gangsters.
Helen Hayes (1900-1993) was an American actress. She was one of the first people to receive at least one Emmy, one Grammy, one Oscar and one Tony (together called an EGOT) in her career. Richard Rodgers (part of the famous duo Rodgers and Hammerstein) was the first to do so in 1962, and Rita Moreno and Helen Hayes won their EGOT in 1977. Hayes won Oscars for "The Sin of Madelon Claudet" (1931, leading actress) and "Airport" (1970), an Emmy for "Schlitz Playhouse of the Stars" (1953), a Grammy for one of the "Great American Documents", and Tony Awards for "Happy Birthday" (1947), "Time Remembered" (1958) and a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 1980.
Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) was already dead when the filming for "One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing" started. At that same moment, Greta Garbo (1905-1990) was already retired: she made her last feature film in 1941. Lindsay Lohan on the other hand was born in 1986, several years after the premiere to this comedy.

Answer: Picha

"Le Chaînon Manquant" (original title) was broadcast worldwide under the English title "The Missing Link", but the USA distributor chose the title "B.C. Rock". The main character is O, born to a caveman family in 196.303 BC. Because O was different, he was banished, and brought up by dinosaurs. After inventing fire and other basic necessities for cavemen, O reunited with his family, but his brother Ah decided to use O's inventions to win wars with neighbouring tribes.
The director of this adult fun was Picha (born in Brussels in 1942 as Jean-Paul Walravens). Picha is also known for some other X-rated animation movies.
"Tarzoon, the Shame of the Jungle" (1975) is vaguely based upon Edgar Rice Burroughs' characters Tarzan and Jane, but mixed with humour that doesn't belong on a family site like this one. "The Big Bang" (1987) is an awkward animation based upon the assumption that after World War III, only two countries remain: one with only male inhabitants and one with only female inhabitants, and a would-be superhero was sent to mediate between them in order to prevent World War IV.
In 2007 Picha also released his sequel to Disney's "Snow White" - but as with the other movies by Picha, "Blanche-Neige: la Suite" is only suitable for an adult audience.
Tibet (real name Gilbert Gascard, 1931-2010) was the illustrator of the detective comic strip series "Ric Hochet" and the comic strip western parody "Chick Bill". Jean Graton (born 1923) illustrated the comic strips series "Michel Vaillant", situated in the world of Formula One racing. Albert Uderzo (born 1927 as Alberto Uderzo) was the illustrator of the famous comic strip series "Asterix" - about some Gaul people resisting the Romans in Caesar's time. All these comic strips are suitable for children.

Answer: Costa-Gavras

The movie "Missing" (1982) is set in Chile 1973, shortly after the coup by Augusto Pinochet against the democratically elected Salvador Allende. It told the story of an American journalist arrested by the military police and executed. Jack Lemmon played the father of the missing journalist, and Sissy Spacek played the journalist's wife. These characters tried to uncover the truth.
"Missing" was directed by the Greek Costa-Gavras (born in 1933 as Konstantinos Gavras), who already had gained international acclaim for his movies such as "Z" (1969) and "L'Aveu" (1970, international title "The Confession").
Costa-Gavras migrated to France in 1951 and debuted with the French mystery movie "Compartiment tueurs" (known in the USA and in Ireland under the title "The Sleeping Car Murder"). This first movie has a premise similar to Agatha Christie's story "Murder on the Orient Express": a murder was discovered in a night train, and several of the passengers were suspects.
In "Z" Costa-Gavras told the story of a democratic candidate in an unnamed country, victim to a hit-and-run driver. But the collision was no accident.
"Missing" was the first movie Costa-Gavras directed in English. It won an Oscar for Best Screenplay and was nominated for Best Movie, Best Actor and Best Actress.
Hitchcock (1899-1980), Mankiewicz (1909-1993) and Wyler (1902-1981) were some random great directors who ended their career in the 1970s.

Answer: Missing In Action

"Missing in Action" (1984), "Missing in Action 2: the Beginning" (1985) and "Braddock: Missing in Action III" (1988) all feature Chuck Norris as a fearless warrior back in Vietnam to settle some scores - although the Vietnam War was already over according to the stories. These movies did not get great scores by the critics, for similar movies released in the eighties ("Rambo", "Delta Force") had better plots.
Chuck Norris (born 1940) started his movie career in 1969 with a small part in "The Wrecking Crew". He went on to star as Bruce Lee's antagonist in "The Way of the Dragon" (1972) and is perhaps best known for his title role in the TV series "Walker, Texas Ranger" (1993-2001).
As Colonel Braddock, Chuck Norris played more or less a one-man army, as Sylvester Stallone did in the similar movie series "Rambo" and Bruce Willis in the detective movie series "Die Hard".
In the 2010s a movie series "The Expendables" united many actors of hard-boiled action, including Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and Jet Li. Chuck Norris played a part in the second installment.