Classic Film Noir Quiz | Classic Movies

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Otto Preminger directed this film about a New York City cop - Dana Andrews - who kills a man while investigating a homicide, and tries to cover up his guilt while continuing the search for the killer.

Answer: Where the Sidewalk Ends

"While the City Sleeps" was directed by Fritz Lang, and starred Dana Andrews, Ida Lupino and George Sanders.
"Night and the City" was directed by Jules Dassin, and starred Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers and Herbert Lom.
"Force of Evil" was directed by Abraham Polonsky, and starred John Garfield.
"Where The Sidewalk Ends" co-starred Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill and Karl Malden.

2. Directed by George Marshall from an original screenplay by Raymond Chandler - his only one. An ex soldier, played by Alan Ladd, returns home to find that his wife has been unfaithful to him. She's murdered, and he's the prime suspect.

Answer: The Blue Dahlia

"The Big Clock" was directed by John Farrow, and starred Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan, George Macready and Elsa Lanchester.
"Kiss of Death" was directed by Henry Hathaway, and starred Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Colleen Gray and Richard Widmark in his screen debut.
"The Big Sleep" was a Howard Hawks film which starred Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and was adapted from the novel by Raymond Chandler.
"The Blue Dahlia" co-starred Veronica Lake, William Bendix and Howard DaSilva.

3. Directed by Norman Foster, and scripted by Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten from a novel by Eric Ambler, this is a World War II spy drama, concerning the smuggling of munitions into Turkey.

Answer: Journey Into Fear

"Ministry of Fear" was adapted from a novel by Graham Greene, and was directed by Fritz Lang. It starred Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Carl Esmond, Dan Duryea and Hillary Brooke.
"Clash by Night" was also by Fritz Lang, and starred Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Paul Douglas and Marilyn Monroe in a very early role.
"The Mask of Demetrios", directed by Jean Negulesco, starred Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Zachary Scott and Faye Emerson.
"Jouney Into Fear" starred Welles and Cotten, along with Dolores Del Rio, Ruth Warwick and Agnes Moorehead.

4. Written and directed by, and starring, Orson Welles, this offbeat - often bizarre - murder mystery is about an Irish drifter who becomes involved in murder and double cross when he goes to work for a wealthy man and his seductive wife. The climax, a shootout in a mirror maze, is justly famous.

Answer: The Lady from Shanghai

"Angel Face", directed by Otto Preminger, starred Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Herbert Marshall and Mona Freeman.
"Gilda" was directed by Charles Vidor, and starred Rita Hayworth in the title role, along with Glenn Ford, George Macready and Joseph Calleia.
"Touch of Evil", also written and directed by, and starring Orson Welles, co-starred Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia and Marlene Dietrich.
"The Lady from Shanghai" also starred Rita Hayworth and Everett Sloane.

5. Frank Tuttle directed this film adapted from a novel by Graham Greene, and starring Alan Ladd as a contract killer seeking revenge on the man who hired and then double crossed him.

Answer: This Gun for Hire

"Brighton Rock", directed by Roy Boulting, was a British-made noir starring Richard Attenborough, Carol Marsh, Hermione Baddeley and William Hartnell.
"Odds Against Tomorrow" was directed by Robert Wise and starred Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters and Ed Begley.
"Red Circle" ("Le Cercle Rouge") was a French noir written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, and starring Alain Delon, Yves Montand and Gian Maria Volonte.
"This Gun for Hire" also starred Veronica Lake (her first film with Ladd), Robert Preston and Laird Cregar.

6. Directed by Billy Wilder and adapted from a novel by James M. Cain, this film stars Fred MacMurray as an insurance salesman who becomes obsessed with a woman and plots with her to murder her husband for the insurance money.

Answer: Double Indemnity

"The Postman Always Rings Twice", also from a James M. Cain novel, was directed by Tay Garnett and starred Lana Turner, John Garfield and Cecil Kellaway. There was an inferior remake starring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange.
"The Big Heat" was a Fritz Lang film, and starred Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Lee Marvin and Jocelyn Brando.
"The Killers", from a short story by Ernest Hemingway, was directed by Robert Siodmak and starred Burt Lancaster in his screen debut with Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien and Albert Dekker.
"Double Indemnity", my favourite film noir, co-starred Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson.

7. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the film centres around a young woman in a small American town who slowly comes to realize that her beloved Uncle Charley is in reality the notorious Merry Widow murderer.

Answer: Shadow of a Doubt

"Strangers on a Train" was also a Hitchcock film, starring Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman and Patricia Hitchcock. The finale on the merry go round is one of The Master's finest sequences.
"Out of the Past" was directed by Jacques Tourneur, and starred Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas and Rhonda Fleming.
"Fallen Angel" was an Otto Preminger film, which starred Alice Faye (cast very much against type), Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell and Charles Bickford.
"Shadow of a Doubt" starred Theresa Wright, MacDonald Carey, Patricia Collinge and Hume Cronyn, with Joseph Cotten giving a chilling performance as Uncle Charley.

8. Samuel Fuller directed this film which starred Richard Widmark as a pickpocket who becomes the target for Communist agents when he steals a top secret microfilm.

Answer: Pickup on South Street

"Scarlet Street" was directed by Fritz Lang, and featured Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea.
"The Asphalt Jungle" was directed by John Huston, and starred Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen and Sam Jaffe.
"Whirlpool" starred Gene Tierney, Richard Conte, Jose Ferrer and Charles Bickford.
"Pickup on South Street" co-starred Jean Peters and Richard Kiley, with Thelma Ritter, in an Oscar nominated role, virtually stealing the film.

9. Robert Siodmak directed this Hitchcock style thriller which featured a memorable performance from Dorothy McGuire as a mute servant girl in danger from an insane killer who targets young women with physical disabilities.

Answer: The Spiral Staircase

"In a Lonely Place" starred Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, and was directed by Nicholas Ray.
"Crossfire", directed by Edward Dmytryk, starred Robert Young, Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan.
"I Confess" was a Hitchcock film, which starred Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter.
"The Spiral Staircase co-starred George Brent, Ethel Barrymore and Kent Smith.

10. Another French noir, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. A sadistic, tyrannical school master is drowned by his wife and mistress, and his body is placed in the school swimming pool. However, when the pool is drained, the body is not there.

Answer: Les Diaboliques

"Quai des Orfevres", also by Clouzot, starred Louis Jouvet, Suzy Delair and Bernard Blier. The title is actually the address of Police Headquarters in Paris.
"Eyes Without a Face" is a horror film directed by Georges Franju, and starring Pierre Brasseur, Alida Valli and Juliette Mayniel.
"Les Vampires" is one of the first examples of a serial film, dating from 1915 and directed by Louis Feuillade.
"Les Diaboliques" starred Simone Signoret, Vera Clouzot, Paul Meurisse and Charles Vanel.

Source: Author Coriolanus

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor LadyCaitriona before going online.
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Classic Film Noir Trivia Quiz

Film Noir is one of my favourite film genres. I'll give you some facts about a classic film noir - you tell me which one it is.

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