Hitchcock Cameo Match Trivia Quiz

Answer: Easy Virtue

"Easy Virtue" is one of Hitchcock's earliest films. It was released in 1928. This film is a silent one about a divorcée who moves to the south of France after the scandal of her divorce. There, she is hit in the face by a tennis ball at a match. The man who has hit the ball apologizes and takes her for care. They fall in love and marry, but when they return to London, his family plots against the pair and she ends up divorced again. This film was restored in 2012 in an attempt to save all of Hitchcock's surviving silent films.

In "Easy Virtue", Hitchcock can be seen at the tennis match, walking by with a cane. This cameo occurs about twenty-one minutes into the movie.

Answer: Frenzy

"Frenzy" is Hitchcock's penultimate film. It was released in 1972. The plot centres on a serial killer who is active in London, and the ex-RAF officer that he attempts to blame for his crimes. The serial killer sets up the ex-RAF officer who is blamed for raping and killing a number of women. The ex-officer is found guilty and sent to prison. However, knowing that he is innocent, he escapes and he goes to the serial killer's apartment to confront him. He finds a dead woman, but no killer. The police chief has suspected that an innocent man was convicted, so he is still investigating the crimes. He arrives at the killer's apartment just as the killer returns with a large trunk for the woman's body. When confronted by the ex-officer, the killer confesses.

Hitchcock is a busy guy in this movie. About two-and-a-half minutes into the movie, he can be seen just at the end of the credits in an overhead shot, wearing a bowler hat and leaning on a wall next to a river. About one minute later, he can be seen in the centre of a crowd, the only person who isn't clapping for the speaker. Finally, about another minute along, he can be seen standing next to a man with grey hair and a grey beard just after a victim of the killer washes ashore at the river's edge.

Answer: The Lady Vanishes

"The Lady Vanishes" was released in 1938. It was developed in London because Hitchcock hadn't yet moved to America. In the film, a young woman is travelling by train in Europe. She has an elderly woman who shares her compartment. Unfortunately, there is a delay that is caused by an avalanche. During the delay, the older woman disappears, but when the younger woman goes so search for her, none of the other passengers claim to remember seeing the older woman. There are lots of murders and spies in this film that has been voted the 35th best British film of the 20th century by the British Film Institute.

In "The Lady Vanishes", Hitchcock can be seen as the train pulls in to Victoria Station. A group of travellers walks by from right to left. Hitchcock has a cigar in his mouth and is holding a very small bag. He is making a strange movement with his head while at least two other passengers, a woman and a small girl, look at him. This cameo happens towards the end of the movie, at about the one-hour, thirty-second minute mark.

Answer: Marnie

"Marnie" was released in 1964 and stars Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery. As with most of Hitchcock's movies, the plot is quite complicated. It revolves around Hedren's character who steals a large sum of money from her boss, then flees. She gets another job at a publishing company. Her boss there falls in love with her even though he knows what she has done. He makes reparations on her behalf to previous employers from whom she has stolen money. Throughout the movie, she has panic attacks that are set off by thunder and the colour red. It is not until near the end of the movie that you find out that she was involved in a murder during a thunderstorm when she was very young.

In "Marnie", Hitchcock makes his cameo at the five-minute mark. After Hedren leaves her hotel room with a porter, she walks past Hitchcock in the hall who enters the frame on the left. He turns and stares into the camera. This breaks the "fourth wall", an imaginary wall used in film-making. It is supposed to be a break between characters in the film who interact on sets made of three walls, and the audience, suggesting that the actors are unaware that they are fictional characters.

Answer: Under Capricorn

"Under Capricorn" was released in 1949. It is set in 1831 in Sydney, Australia, and is not a typical Hitchcock thriller. Instead, it is a love-triangle mystery. In this movie, the new Governor and his cousin arrive in the rough old penal colony from Ireland. One of the citizens, Sam, is a former prisoner. He has purchased his limit of government land, but he wishes to swindle more land by making a shady deal with the cousin. When the cousin arrives at the Sam's house, he realizes that he knows Sam's wife, Lady Henrietta, from back in Ireland. She is now an alcoholic, thanks to the housekeeper who ensures her supply of alcohol is constant. The Governor's cousin helps Lady Henrietta, but this causes problems because the housekeeper is secretly in love with Sam. Although no one is murdered in the movie, you learn about a murder that took place in Ireland that caused Sam to be sent to Australia.

The title of this movie, "Under Capricorn" refers to the Tropic of Capricorn that bisects Australia. In this movie, Hitchcock makes two cameos. The first one occurs at about the two-minute mark. He can be seen in the town square, listening to the new Governor's speech while wearing a blue coat and brown top hat. Then, just after the twelve-minute mark, he can be seen again with two other men on the steps of Government House.

Answer: Topaz

"Topaz" was released in 1969. It is a complicated thriller involving espionage and murder. It starts with a Soviet official defecting to the West. When this happens, he divulges that Russian missiles will soon be placed in Cuba. The Americans then involve a French agent in an attempt to get proof that missiles are in Cuba. The French agent has a Cuban mistress, so he goes to Cuba to get the proof. Once he goes back to Paris, the leader of the spy ring is confronted. Here, the story has two different plots. In the American and French versions, the leader of the French spy ring commits suicide. In the British version, he flees to Russia.

In "Topaz", Hitchcock makes his cameo about thirty-four minutes into the film. He appears at LaGuardia International Airport in New York. Initially, he is in a wheelchair being pushed by a nurse. Suddenly, he stands up, greets a traveler with a handshake, and walks off the screen to the right.

Answer: Young and Innocent-UK (The Girl was Young-US)

"Young and Innocent" was released in the UK in 1937. The same movie was released as "The Girl was Young" in the US in 1938. It is the story a murder and the ensuing search for the guilty party. The victim is found strangled with the belt of a raincoat. The man who discovers the body runs from the scene to get help, but is suspected in the death because he is leaving the scene. Witnesses report that the murderer has "twitchy eyes". The innocent suspect searches for the guilty man with the help of the daughter of the local Police Chief. They end up finding him playing the drums in an orchestra where he passes out due to the drugs that he takes to control his "twitchy eyes".

In "Young and Innocent", Hitchcock makes his cameo about fifteen minutes into the movie. He is seen at the public entrance of the courthouse holding a small camera with a colleague, supposedly journalists who are waiting for the innocent suspect to leave. A police officer is seen in the frames talking with them.

Answer: Torn Curtain

"Torn Curtain", starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, was released in 1966. In this movie, a scientist (Newman) defects to East Germany during the Cold War. His secretary secretly follows him and soon realizes that his defection is a ruse to get the East German government to believe that he is sincere in his intentions to contribute to their anti-American activities. Instead, he is a double agent who is interested in learning about the Soviets' anti-missile capabilities. The two are eventually discovered, but escape when he shouts "fire" while at a ballet, giving them time to hide in costume trunks that are then shipped out of the country.

Hitchcock's cameo appears at the eight minute mark in "Torn Curtain". He can be seen in a hotel lobby during a physicist's conference, holding a baby on his knees. The baby appears to be a few months old (old enough to sit up on its own), and given the way he is holding it, some suggest that it may have just had an "accident".

Answer: Stage Fright

"Stage Fright" was released in 1950. Besides having a number of big stars in the movie, it also featured Hitchcock's daughter, Pat Hitchcock, in her film debut. "Stage Fright" is a typical Hitchcock movie - complicated murder plots, blackmail, and even romance. It is the story of an actress (Jane Wyman) who has a crush on an actor named Jonathan at the beginning of the movie. He is accused of killing another actress's husband, but claims innocence. Wyman's character at first hides him, but she becomes suspicious, ends up becoming romantically friendly with a police inspector, and sets up Jonathan to be caught by police. He is caught at the theatre, but is killed by a falling curtain.

In "Stage Fright", Hitchcock makes his cameo at about thirty-nine minutes into the film. He passes across the screen behind Jane Wyman's character and turns to give her a weird look.

Answer: The 39 Steps

"The 39 Steps" was released in 1935. It is a story of espionage that takes place in England and Scotland. It starts off with a man who is at a London show featuring "Mr. Memory" who has an ability to memorize detailed information. During the show, gunshots are heard and the theatre is evacuated. It is here that he meets a woman who tells him that she fired the gun to cause a disturbance and escape spy assassins. He takes her to his apartment, but she is killed that night while he sleeps. He sneaks out and heads to Scotland where he is chased by spies. He leads them back to London when he realizes that "The 39 Steps" is the name connected to the spy group. Attending another Mr. Memory show, he realizes that there is no document for the Steps, but the man with the memory has it memorized. Mr. Memory is killed just as he reveals details of the Steps.

In "The 39 Steps", Hitchcock makes his cameo about seven minutes into the movie. As the star and the woman leave the first "Mr. Memory" show after it is evacuated, Hitchcock and his screenwriter (Chris Bennett) walk in front of them. Hitchcock litters by throwing away a cigarette package.