Popcorn Crunchers, Reel 35 Trivia Quiz

Answer: a transparent dome

The Mysterians Earth-base appears to have broken through the Earth's surface from below. It is covered by a transparent dome which is impervious to the Japanese military's weapons. To this impregnable outpost, near Mount Fuji, the Mysterians invite five scientists to express to them their demands.

Answer: The Earth Will Be Destroyed

"The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) features Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, and a really cool robot named Gort. In "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" (1956), the aliens wear protective suits made of solidified electricity. In "Earth vs. the Spider" (1958), one small town stands in for the whole Earth in a battle with a giant tarantula.

In "Magnetic" (2015), the Earth would be destroyed on 31 December. In "When Worlds Collide" (1951), the Earth would be destroyed when the planets hit each other. In "Independence Day" (1996), the aliens are intent on destroying the Earth.

There was not, apparently, a movie named "The Earth Will Be Destroyed" ... which is very reassuring.

Answer: a human brain transplanted into a robot

Brilliant humanitarian scientist Jeremy Spensser is killed in an automobile accident. His father, brain surgeon William Spensser, transplants his brain into a robot built by his brother, Henry Spensser, an automation expert. The result is an overlarge robot with a cape and eyes that can shoot lethal rays at people. While not at all based on the Mary Shelley novel, the themes in this motion picture are very similar to those in "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" (1818).

Answer: Peter Cushing

The Dutch vampire hunter in "Horror of Dracula" was played by Peter Cushing, one of many times he played that role in Hammer Productions and other films. He became synonymous with the role. In the motion picture "Dusk till Dawn" (1996), one character says "We got crosses all over the place. All you gotta do is put two sticks together and you got a cross" and the other replies "Yeah, he's right. Peter Cushing does that all the time." In a 1984 episode of the British TV series "Young Ones," Mike says, about the vampire they have locked in a closet, "I've got it! Peter Cushing! We've got to drive a stake through his heart!"

Answer: black-and-white with one scene in colour

"The Tingler" was filmed in black-and-white. A short colour sequence appears in the motion picture. In it, a sink (shot in what appears to be black-and-white) is filled with bright red blood which is also pouring out of the hot and cold faucets. A hand, covered in blood, rises from the blood in the sink. To achieve this effect, the set was painted black, white and grey and Judith Evelyn's make-up was done in grey to portray Martha Higgins, the deaf-mute who dies of fright because of her inability to scream.

Answer: a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" has been adapted to many stage plays, radio plays, television programmes and motion pictures. Several of the films were silent; one of the most memorable was the Fredric March portrayal of 1931.

The Abbott and Costello take on the classic was only tenuously connected to the original. The review in the Los Angeles Times said of it, "If Robert Louis Stevenson is turning over in his grave, it's probably only so he can get in a more comfortable position for a belly laugh."

Answer: He is crushed in a waterwheel.

Alain confines Edmond, Blanche and Denis to a cell, the stone walls of which are moved inexorably inward by a waterwheel, in order to crush the residents. The servant Voltan fights with Alain and tosses him into the water wheel, crushing the life out of him and causing it to pause long enough to free the people from the cell.

Answer: directing

There were few parts of movie-making in which William Castle (1914-1977) did not participate: he directed, produced, acted and wrote screenplays. He was a promoter who used gimmicks to stir interest in his films. He gave each patron a $1000 life insurance certificate, should they die of fright while watching "Macabre" (1958).

In "House on Haunted Hill" (1959) a luminous skeleton floated on a wire over the theater patrons. The theatre seats were rigged with vibrators in showings of "The Tingler" (1959).

He also directed "13 Ghosts" (1960) and produced "Rosemary's Baby" (1968) and "Bug" (1975). His autobiography is "Step Right Up!: I'm Gonna Scare the Pants off America" (1976). See also John Law, "Scare Tactic: The Life & Films of William Castle" (2000).

Answer: Munich, Germany

The motion picture "The Head" was set in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, where it was shot. It was a West German production and was filmed in the German language. The German title was "Die Nackte und der Satan" which directly translates "The Naked and Satan." The German-language original was released in Germany in 1959; an English-language dubbed version was released in the United States in 1961.

Answer: "The Thing From Another World" (1951)

Bill Warren wrote the definitive comprehensive history of 1950s American science-fiction films in 1982. He titled it "Keep Watching the Skies!: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties." A second larger companion volume was published in 1986. In 1997, McFarland, the original publisher, reissued the combined work in three volumes. A "21st Century" edition was published in 2009 which included extensive interviews conducted by Tom Weaver and numerous still photographs and movie posters.

The title is derived from newspaperman Ned "Scotty" Scott's radio broadcast from the North Pole once the Thing in "The Thing From Another World" (1951) has been defeated. He sends his recap of events to waiting newsmen in Anchorage and then concludes "Tell the world. Tell this to everybody, wherever they are. Watch the skies everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies!"