And the Oscar Goes To... Trivia Quiz

Answer: The King's Speech

'The King's Speech' is based on the true story of King George VI, his ascension to the throne in 1936 and his battle to overcome a bad stammer. Colin Firth played the role of George VI and Geoffrey Rush his speech therapist, Lionel Logue.

The movie was a box office success and it followed through to the Oscars. Apart from winning the Best Picture gong, Tom Hooper won Best Director and Colin Firth won Best Actor. Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham-Carter were both nominated for best supporting gongs.

Answer: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

"One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" was so good it took the rare Big Five Academy Awards in 1976; including the Best Actor for Jack Nicholson, Best Actress for Louise Fletcher, Best Direction for Forman, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman.

The movie was based on a 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey. Mr Kesey had a role in the script development but he withdrew before it was complete and sued successfully for damages. A major point of difference was that the book's narrator was Chief Bromden who was a supposedly deaf mute native American. In the movie, he is not the narrator but when he speaks in the last third of the movie, the audience is stunned. The story concerns the placement of a sane prisoner in mental hospital to escape the hard labour of a routine prison. There he battles with a cold, tyrant head nurse for control over the inmates. For authenticity, the movie was set in a real mental hospital in Salem Oregon in 1962 to mirror the book.

Answer: Mutiny on the Bounty

Although criticised for historical inaccuracies, 'Mutiny on the Bounty' is based on the real life story of the build up of tension in the crew of the cruel Captain William Bligh (Laughton), commander of HMS Bounty in 1787. This tension resulted in a mutiny, led by the ship's lieutenant, Fletcher Christian (Gable). As a result of the mutiny, Bligh and some sailors who remained loyal to him are set adrift in a long boat but are saved by Bligh's outstanding seamanship. Christian and many of the remaining crew take The Bounty to Pitcairn Island where the ship is wrecked.

In addition to the Academy Award for Best Picture, Lloyd (director), Laughton (actor), Gable (actor), and Franchot Tone (actor) were all nominated for their respective awards. This film was also nominated for best writing (screen play), best music scoring and best film editing.

Answer: A Beautiful Mind

"A Beautiful Mind" is a biographical drama based on the life of Nobel Laureate in Economics, John Nash, and adapted from the Pulitzer-Prize nominated book by Sylvia Nasar. The story follows Nash's secret work decoding encrypted enemy messages, while he descends into paranoid schizophrenia.

This Best Picture winner also scored the Best Director Award (Ron Howard), while Russell Crowe was nominated for Best Actor.

Answer: The Sting

"The Sting" was a very popular movie with audiences and critics. The plot was convoluted and based on the two stars playing grifters who wanted a big score on corrupt banker Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). this was the second time that Mr Newman and Mr Redford played together and was their second collaboration with Director George Roy Hill after 1969's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".

The movie was nominated for ten Oscars winning seven (but not for either of the two stars though Mr Redford was nominated). It won the big three of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay. Another Oscar Winner, Marvin Hamlisch won for Best Music Score despite the turn of the 20th Century ragtime music being anachronistic when the movie was set in 1936 in Chicago.

Answer: The Shape of Water

The plot of this movie sounds bizarre: A mute cleaner at a highly secret government laboratory falls in love with a captured humanoid amphibian creature, in a tribute to "The Creature from the Black Lagoon". Set in Baltimore in 1962, the fact that the movie comes across to the audience as totally credible is a credit to those involved in making this delightful movie.

"The Shape of Water" was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Production Design, and Best Original Score.

Answer: Casablanca

"Casablanca" tells the story of Rick Blaine (Bogart), a cynical American expatriate who runs a nightclub in Casablanca, French Morocco early in World War 2. Blaine must decide between his feelings for the lovely Ilsa Lund (Bergman) or helping Ilsa and her husband (Paul Henried) escape the Vichy-controlled region to then continue the battle against the Germans.

This film, which was regarded as fairly unspectacular at the time of release, also won Academy Awards for Curtiz (director) and Best Writing, Screenplay. It was also nominated for best actor (Bogart), best supporting actor (Claude Rains), best cinematography, best film editing and best original music score.

Answer: Driving Miss Daisy

Set in the American South in 1948 an elderly Jewish woman (Tandy) is forced by her son to use a chauffeur (Freeman). The movie explores the change from distrust and racial divide to acceptance and friendship.

Jessica Tandy won the Best Actress Award, while Freeman was nominated for Best Actor.

Answer: Green Book

"Green Book" was based on a musical tour of the American South by African American classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley and his Italian American driver/bouncer Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga. In essence it is a road movie where two unlikely people from widely different backgrounds become friends. The movie is named after "The Negro Motorist Green Book", a 1950s guidebook for African-American tourists.

The movie was nominated for five Oscars winning three for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali. Mr Mortensen was nominated for Best Actor.

Answer: Titanic

"Titanic" almost needs no introduction, it was a blockbuster movie which won 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for James Cameron. Kate Winslet was nominated for, but didn't win, Best Supporting actress. DiCaprio failed to get a nod, this time.

The movie follows the relationship between two passengers from different social classes - upper class Rose (Winslet) and third class passenger Jack (DiCaprio). The sinking of the Titanic serves as a backdrop to their unlikely romance.