"Shining Through" Pt. I Trivia Quiz

Answer: Michael Douglas and Melanie Griffith

"Shining Through" featured two mega-stars working together for the first time. Melanie Griffith played another beautiful, bright, "don't push me around" woman, a bit like Tess in "Working Girl," a role for which she won the Best Actress Oscar. (Unfortunately, Melanie won the "Razzie" -- Golden Raspberry Foundation Award -- for "the Worst Performance by an Actress" for "Shining Through.") Michael Douglas' Ed Leland was brilliant, focused, secretive, and humorless, a far cry from his portrayal of the charismatic Andrew Shepherd ("The American President") and macho Jack Colton ("Romancing the Stone" and "Jewel of the Nile").

Answer: Vassar

The Personnel Director initially rejected Linda for an interview because she hadn't gone to Vassar. ("Almost all of our legal secretaries come to us from Vassar.") As she stood to leave, Linda Voss told the personnel director, "I wouldn't want you to have to work with someone who's had to get her hands dirty." Talk about burning your bridges...

Answer: as a narrative, in an interview of Linda, filmed to air on the BBC

The series for the BBC was titled "Hitler's Germany, Part 5: Women in the War". "Shining Through" opened on a BBC television set, where an aging woman (Griffith) was brought in and seated under the lights, 'mic'ed' and then run through a voice check. (Griffith was "aged" to appear to be in her 60s-70s when the interview took place.) At various times during the movie, the audience returned to that television stage, which reminded us that the entire story, covering her experience some 40 years earlier, was a flashback.

The end credits showed that Clement von Franckenstein played the BBC interviewer. I didn't believe there was actually an actor by that name, so I "Googled" him, and sure enough -- he's for real. Apparently he is also the son of an ambassador to the Court of St. James!

Answer: The personnel director overheard Linda speaking fluent German.

When the German cleaning lady accidentally knocked over the water cooler in the waiting area -- splashing water on all of the job applicants and all over the floor -- Linda consoled her in German and the personnel director was impressed. She said, "Oh, Miss Voss, you failed to mention that you speak a second language."

Answer: Charlie Chaplin's

Ed was known as "The Pallbearer" at the office, as he rarely smiled. Surprised that a man his age had never seen a Chaplin film, Linda quoted Charlie Chaplin to Ed: "A day without laughter is a wasted day."

Answer: all of these

Linda was not easily intimidated. At the end of her interview for a job with Ed, she declined to take his test. ("Stand up and turn around for me, please." "I'll take it sitting down.") Ed said he was going to ask her to stand up, turn around, close her eyes, and describe what she saw in his office. Staring him straight in the eyes and seated, she calmly replied, "Pictures of sailboats and polo ponies. Fancy books and diplomas. Stuffed fish on the wall. Calendar set to the wrong date. Bookcases that need dusting; carpets that need cleaning. And a couple of guys from Harvard who are surprised that a girl who needs a job won't be treated like a slave." Earlier she had passed a translation test with Ed's partner. And when Linda told Ed she was half Jewish and asked him if that would be a problem in his firm, Ed smiled (!) and said, "That only means we're half sure you can be trusted."

Answer: Joely Richardson

Joely played Margrete von Eberstein, daughter of Hitler's favorite pianist, Olga Leiner, a Nazi. Margrete, Linda's contact and an agent for the Allied forces, became Linda's best friend upon her arrival in Berlin. When Linda confided to her new friend and supposed ally that she was half Jewish, Margrete couldn't wait to introduce Linda to her mother. ("I want to see her kiss a Jew!") Margrete lied to her mother and said that she and Linda went to university together. That introduction later led to a very suspenseful scene; Olga recognized Linda at the symphony and blew Linda's background story.

Joely Richardson was born in 1965 to British actress Vanessa Redgrave and director Tony Richardson, which makes her the granddaughter of acclaimed actor Michael Redgrave, the niece of actors Lynn and Corin Redgrave, and sister to actress Natasha Richardson. Some genes!

Answer: She baked German strudel for him.

Ed was in a pinch as he needed to replace his operative who had been caught and hanged. He didn't want to send Linda, but he relented when she shared her baked apple strudel with him ("just the way my German grandmother taught me"). Linda convinced him she could go in as a domestic (cook) at the last minute without having to go through the routine background check. He reluctantly agreed.

Answer: a Berlin butcher's wife

The partner said this to Ed in front of Linda, who took a bit of offense. Linda said she learned German from her grandmother, who wasn't a butcher's wife. Her grandfather owned a button factory "until it burned down." Sunflower (Sir John Gielgud), the inside agent in Berlin, was also horrified at Linda's accent, but Margrete disagreed and found it charming.

Answer: Irish

Ed was surprised at Linda's gumption during the interview. She responded, "I forgot to tell you, my other half is Irish." Ed replied, "A lethal combination."