Pastime with Numerical Movie Titles Quiz

Answer: 355/113

After the enormous success of "Jaws" (1975) and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977), many would agree that Steven Spielberg tried to bite more than he could chew in his war comedy "1941" (1979). My favourite actor, Toshiro Mifune, plays a Japanese submarine commander who allies with a German commander to inflict panic on L.A. after the Pearl Harbor attack.

Blake Edwards' romantic comedy "10" (1979) introduced Bo Derek to the audience. Memorable roles were given by Julie Andrews and the late Dudley Moore.

"8½" (1963) is Federico Fellini's masterpiece starring Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale and Anouk Aimée.

355/113 is the made up title. It is one of the most common and ancient rational approximations of pi: 355/113=3.14159292... whereas pi=3.14159265...
Of course, a movie named "Pi" exists. Released in 1998 and directed by Darren Aronofsky, "Pi" is an intriguing collage of number theory, psychology and Jewish mysticism set in the NY urban landscape.

Answer: All won Oscars

"Apollo 13" (1995) was directed by Ron Howard and won Oscars for best film editing and best sound.

"Stalag 17" (1953) was directed by Billy Wilder and won an Oscar for best actor in a leading role (William Holden).

"U-571" (2000) was directed by Jonathan Mostow and won an Oscar for best sound editing.

"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) was directed Stanley Kubrick and won an Oscar for best effects/special visual effects. Note that 2001 is not a prime number - its sum of digits equals 3 which means it's divisible by 3.

Answer: The Fifth Element

B is the symbol of Boron, the fifth element of the periodic table.

In Luc Besson's futuristic movie "The Fifth Element" (1997), humanity relies on Bruce Willis to save the day, yet again. Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis) is a cab driver who stumbles upon a mysterious woman (Leeloo, played by Milla Jovovich). Together they endeavour to locate the fifth element which is the key to Earth's salvation from the destructive plans of Evil and Zorg.

Answer: Three Colours: Green

The colours in the trilogy are the 'tricolor' of the French flag. Each movie can be interpreted as dealing with one of the three mottos of the French revolution - liberty, equality and fraternity.

Kieslowski once commented that the major reason for this "French connection" was that the trilogy was funded mostly by French production companies...

Answer: The Magnificent Seven

"The Magnificent Seven" (1960) directed by John Sturges is an adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's timeless masterpiece "Seven Samurai" (1954). Kurosawa's used and abused Japanese village becomes a Mexican one, and the assembly of seven samurai who defend it becomes a group of seven gunmen.

Shift ciphers are the most primitive encryption algorithms (named after Julius Caesar who used a 3-letter shift). They are very easy to crack - one can always apply the "brute force attack", because there are only 25 possible shifts which can be scanned very quickly.

Cracking time can be further shortened: using the hint that the value of the shift is one of the words in movie title, deduce that we are looking for a number smaller than 26, consisting of a single word with 3, 11 or 5 letters;
11 letters are ruled out.
Three letters leave the possibility of "one", "two", "six" and "ten". Apply these shifts on the encrypted word "AOL" - you get nothing meaningful.
Five letters leave "three", "seven" and "eight". But, noticing the 2 L's in the encrypted word "ZLCLU", it can only match the word "SEVEN".
Indeed, applying a 7-letter down shift to the cipher text gives "The Magnificent Seven".

Answer: A is smaller than (B+C)

"47 Ronin" (1962, remade by Kon Ichikawa in 1994) spans the Chushingura, a major Japanese epic on the war between the loyal ronin of the Asano clan and Lord Kira, the killer of their lord. The figure of the ronin - a masterless samurai - has been pivotal in the development of Japanese cinema. The ronin ("wave man") is a man set to react on the dissolution of the strongest of bonds - the bond between master and samurai.

"The 39 Steps" (1935) is Hitchcock at his very best. A perfect mixture of thrill, suspense, espionage and the feeble human nature.

In "8½ Women" (1999), Peter Greenaway offshoots from Fellini's "8½" which we met in the first question. As usual with Greenaway, the "offshoot" is extreme to the point of the grotesque.

So we have: A=47. B=39. C=8.5. (B+C)=47.5. A is smaller than (B+C).

Answer: True

"The 400 Blows" (crime), "Fahrenheit 451" (sci-fi) and "Two English Girls and the Continent" (romance) demonstrate the versatility and strength of Truffaut (1932-1984).

"The 400 Blows" was Truffaut's debut movie. Said to kickstart the New Wave Movement in French cinema, it instantly won him the Best Director award in the Cannes Film Festival. In that he paved the way for cinematographers, enabling them to create personal and humanistic movies. For me, the interaction which he maintained with the world of literature is a wonderful source for cultural enrichment.

Answer: 21 Grams

In "21 Grams" (2003), an ailing Mathematician and his wife cross paths with a reformed ex-con through a horrendous accident which changes not only the course of their lives, but also the way they perceive life.

The question depicted the Fibonacci sequence: the first two values are 0 and 1 and each subsequent number is the sum of its two predecessors.

The sequence as portrayed in the question body: 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13.
The next value is 8+13=21, hence the correct answer is "21 Grams".
We can go on, next comes 13+21=34 for which we have the movie "Miracle on 34th Street"... and on, the next sequel is 21+34=55 with "55 Days in Peking".
Now it's the turn of 34+55=89 - ideas for a movie anyone?

Answer: "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" - Milos Forman

Milos Forman's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) featured Jack Nicholson as a mental patient leading a rebellion against the mental institution authorities.

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) was Steven Spielberg's third feature film. The mystery of extraterrestrial life is revisited, and the famous tagline sums up the conclusion: "WE ARE NOT ALONE".

"Much Ado About Nothing" (1993) is Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of the Shakespeare play.

In Lewis Gilbert's "You Only Live Twice" (1967), adapted from Ian Fleming's book of the same name, agent 007 (Sean Connery) allies with the Japanese secret service to thwart a plot leading towards a nuclear Armageddon.

Answer: American physicist Richard Feynman

Matthew Broderick also played the role of Richard Feynman in this movie based on Feynman's autobiography "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!". Feynman was a true eccentric and a true genius who always seemed to be one step ahead of the field. For example, his quantum electrodynamics research which won him a joint Nobel prize for physics in 1965. He is also considered as one of the pioneers of nanotechnology. It is safe to say that every physics student in the world will remember him, through his textbooks, as a unique advocate of elucidating complex physical theories and phenomena, always giving an intuitive insight to the world behind the formulas.

When Gus van Sant's "Good Will Hunting" (1997) was released, many pointed out its relative resemblance to the extraordinary story of Srinivasa Ramanujan. Come to think of it, Ramanujan deserves a quiz of his own.

Paul Erdõs, another eccentric figure and one of the most prolific mathematicians ever, definitely deserves a movie to his name. Until someone lifts the glove, I recommend Paul Hoffman's book "The Man Who Loved Only Numbers".

That's it, hope this pastime was worth your while, and hope to see you in my other quizzes. Cheers!