12 Months a Movie Trivia Quiz

Answer: July

In "Born on the Fourth of July", Oliver Stone has created one of Hollywood's best biographical anti-war films. Written by Stone and Ron Kovic, it focusses on the latter's life from childhood through to his paralysis from injury during the Vietnam War and his ascension into anti-war activism.

The film, which stars Tom Cruise as Kovic is the second instalment in Stone's Vietnam War trilogy, following "Platoon" in 1986 and finalizing with "Heaven and Earth" in 1993.

Answer: November

"Sweet November" (2001) is not one of the films that will be listed among the best that Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron have put their names to. A loose remake of the 1968 film of the same name, it involves an advertiser named Nelson (Reeves) being the cause of Sara (Theron) failing a driving test.

After screaming abuse at Nelson, Sara invites him to live with her for a month promising that she will change his life. Nelson refuses but, when he loses his job, decides it might not be such a bad idea after all.

Answer: May

Frederic March plays the role of the most unpopular President in the history of the United States in this 1964 political thriller. One of the items that is causing him grief is a nuclear disarmament treaty that he's managed to get across the line and then sign with the Soviets.

Burt Lancaster is General Scott, an extremely popular war veteran and the man most likely to be the next President, when the election is held in two years time. Problem is, Scott doesn't want to wait that long. Using the treaty as a means of persuasion (the Russians can't be trusted) and under the guise of a training exercise, he brings a cohort of troops into the White House, seeking to stage a coup.

Written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer, the film also stars Kirk Douglas, Ava Gardner and Martin Balsam.

Answer: August

A wealthy industrialist named George Stark (Teodoro Cora) has invited five colleagues to a remote island to have some fun and do a little business. The little business is a revolutionary new chemical process discovered by the esteemed Professor Farrell (William Bolger) that is likely to make them filthy rich. Unfortunately, one of the guests decides they want it all to themselves and starts eliminating the guests one at a time.

This is a 1970 Italian film that was directed by the great Mario Bava, a man frequently referred to as The Master of Italian Horror and spoken of in the same breath as the late Alfred Hitchcock.

Answer: June

Based on Lionel Davidson's 1960 novel "The Night of Wenceslas", this 1964 film was re-titled for its US release to "Agent 8 + Three Quarters". The story is built around Nicholas Whistler (Dirk Bogarde), an unemployed Czech speaking writer, who is unwittingly recruited into British Intelligence to do a spot of industrial espionage behind the Iron Curtin.

In Czechoslovakia he is assigned a driver, the beautiful Vlasta Simenova (Sylvia Koscina, making her English feature debut) but, unknown to Whistler, Vlasta is working for the other side.

Answer: April

OK, shoot me now as I am about to confess that I do not enjoy watching films with Doris Day in them. You can bet your bottom dollar that, if Doris is involved, there will be a lot of singing, dancing and shiny white teeth on show... and, in this 1952 romantic comedy, there is.

Then there's Ray Bolger who plays the part of S. Winthrop Putnum, the Assistant Secretary to the Under Secretary of State. But wait, he tells us, that's not all... he used to be the Assistant Assistant Secretary to the Assistant to the Under Secretary of State (perhaps shooting me would be deemed a mercy).

Long story short, Winthrop is supposed to deliver the news to Ethel Barrymore that she is to be the American representative at an art expo in Paris. He mucks it all up and, instead, delivers the message to a chorus girl named Ethel "Dynamite" Jackson (you guessed it, it's Doris). He falls in love with Ethel (the Doris one), but he cannot marry Ethel because he's engaged to his bosses daughter, yadda yadda yadda, love finds a way.

Answer: December

This delightful Australian drama is a little bit of a coming-of-age story that centres on four orphans, all born in December (hence the title), who are treated to a holiday, which turns into a contest as to who will be adopted by the family that is treating them.

Released in 2007, the star of the movie is a young Daniel Radcliffe in only his second non-"Harry Potter" role since making his debut in "The Tailor of Panama" (2001).

Answer: September

This 2006 film is a French-Italian production that was the directorial debut for Santiago Amigorena.

It's the 1st of September in 2001 and CIA agent Elliot (Nick Nolte) is trying to unite with his son and his estranged daughter when he gets his hands on some explosive intelligence that is going to rock the world. Suddenly he's on the run from a psychotic gunman (John Turturro), with an unusual penchant for poetry. Aided by Irene (Juliette Binoche), a French agent, the children manage to track down their father... the date is September 11, 2001.

Answer: January

"The January Man" (1989) features Kevin Kline as the gifted but disgraced former detective of the New York Police Department, Nick Starkey. He is called back into the force to help track down a serial killer that has been terrorizing the city for just under a year. Nick uncovers the killer's patterns to the murders, which are linked to (a) prime numbers (b) the constellation of Virgo and (c) the musical notes to the chorus of the 1959 song "Calendar Girl".

This neo-noir thriller comedy is also blessed with the acting talents of Susan Sarandon, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Harvey Keitel, Rod Steiger and Alan Rickman.

Answer: March

"March of the Penguins" won an Oscar in 2006 for Best Documentary Feature. Taking over a year to film, this 2005 movie details the annual journey that the Emperor penguins make from their natural habitat, the ocean, inland on the Antarctic surface, to their ancestral breeding grounds.

It showcases the bird's courtship rituals, the birth of a new chick and the many arduous journeys they make to the ocean to collect food.

Answer: February

Emily Browning and Dominic Cooper star in this 2013 British romantic comedy. Played out against the backdrop of the impending arrival of World War I, this film is based on a true story, focusing on the artist Alfred Munnings (Cooper), whose works are now one of Britain's most sought after.

The storyline features a complex love triangle that Munnings becomes involved in between he, his friend Gilbert Evans (Dan Stevens) and the lovely Florence Carter-Wood (Browning).

Answer: October

Released in 1990, "The Hunt for Red October" is an adaptation of Tom Clancy's top selling 1984 novel of the same name and features Jack Ryan as the main protagonist.

Set during the Cold War era the film follows the journey of a rogue Soviet naval captain (played by Sean Connery), looking to defect to the United States. To help him get there, he's stolen his country's most up-to-date ballistic missile submarine. Tension mounts as the US feel they are under attack and are set to blow the submarine out of the water and it's up to their young analyst Dr. Ryan (Alec Baldwin) to deduce what the Russian's real intentions are. Suddenly, it's a race against time to avoid a potentially violent confrontation.