Classic Silent Films Trivia Quiz

Answer: Erich von Stroheim

Erich von Stroheim is an outstanding director who has few films in his resume. This is due to his conflicts with studios that he felt were trying to compromise his artistic integrity. He returned to acting where he had less conflict with management.

"Greed" was a filmed version of Frank Norris' novel "McTeague" which dramatized the destruction that money can cause on ordinary people. Von Stroheim wanted to stay close to the book and hence produced a ten hour film. The studio was not about to distribute a film that long to the general public and demanded that von Stroheim edit it down. The edit was about four hours. Still not satisfied with the length, the film was taken away from von Stroheim and reduced to about two and a half hours. It was not commercially successful. Later the critical value of the film was appreciated but by that time much of the footage had been destroyed. Turner Classic Movies in 1999 took on the task of restoration and produced a four hour version from existing footage and stills taken during production.

Answer: The mutiny is real but the slaughter on the Steps of Odessa is fiction.

Although there was a mutiny on the Potemkin, the massacre on the steps is fictional. The film remains a darling of film schools. The slaughter on the Odessa Steps has an image of a baby carriage, out of control, bumping down the steps. This scene has been adapted several times in such films at "The Untouchables" and "The French Connection".

The film was not a favorite of Stalin and was banned for many years in Russia but gained world wide distribution. A survey of international films in 1955 named "Battleship Potemkin" as the best film of all time.

Answer: Madness

This is probably one the most over-reviewed films of that era. It is supposedly a product of the artistic times, with tones of German expressionism, prominent during the post WW1. It seems to hold up well and some scenes are extremely effective. Madness is a central theme, but who is the mad one? The creator's had the vision that film could be not only a means of entertainment, but an art form.

Dr. Caligari releasing the sleep-walker at night creates the direction of the plot and plot twists. Cesare, the somnambulist, appears to be a faithful servant of Dr. Caligari, who is seemingly a murderer, until the true relationship is revealed.

Answer: She never made another film.

Falconette had made one movie about ten years before. Her concentration was on the French stage. Carl Dreyer was a difficult task-master. Allegedly she suffered an nervous collapse after the filming concluded. After that she switched from acting to direction. When WW2 came, she fled to Switzerland and then to Buenos Aries where she died in 1946.

Answer: Charlie Chaplin

Chaplin was born in London in 1889 and came to the United States with a singing group in 1910. At age twenty-four he portrayed his classic tramp persona in a film short. The tramp became the focus of most of the rest of his career.

Chaplin was a master of many cinema arts and "Gold Rush" is one of his classics. Two scenes remembered by most are the log cabin teetering on the brink of a cliff and eating his shoe. Chaplin reissued "Gold Rush" in 1942 with music.

Answer: Producers were sued for copyright violations by the Bram Stoker estate.

Florence Stoker, widow of Bram Stoker, sued for copyright infringement and won. In spite of name changes and plot diversions, it was obvious that "Nosferatu" was a slam-dunk, unauthorized version of Stoker's "Dracula". The decision included the destruction of of all copies of "Nosferatu". The film had a large, world-wide popularity, hence the task was overwhelming, resulting in many copies available world-wide.

However, the infringement does not belie the fact that it is a classic film of the silent era. The film follows most of what are now cliches of the Dracula genre, but added a couple of its own.

Answer: All are true

With creative control and being a major stockholder in United Artist, Chaplin was able to call the shots and make what many might call the last, great silent movie. He did, however, make compromises in that the film contained a musical score and on occasion garbled sounds, much like speech.

"City Lights" tells the sentimental story of love between Chaplin's lovable tramp and a blind flower girl. An on-going plot is created when a millionaire, depending on his state of sobriety, treats the tramp either as his best friend or a despicable human being.

However, this was not Chaplin's last effort at making a silent film. In 1936 he produced "Modern Times". He considered sound but since he planned to portray the silent tramp figure for which he was famous, he decided that he should not allow the tramp to speak as that would destroy the magic of several decades.

Answer: It won the "Unique and Artistic Award" that was only given one time.

At the first Academy Awards there were two categories for what we now call Best Picture. "Wings" won for "Best Production" but "Sunrise" won for most "Unique and Artistic". The next year the latter was abolished. Although released in 1927, it was not recognized by the Academy until 1929

"Sunrise" mixes love and passion with plot twists. F.M. Murnau, the director, was much influenced by the post-WW1 German expressionist movement, evidenced in German silent movies of the time. He used a minimum of printed dialogue and depended on actors, the setting, and symbolic objects to convey mood and direction.

Answer: Ruling classes versus workers

In this imagined future world, an elite, who live in luxury and control, hold power over the workers. They also live above the ground while the workers live in caverns and catacombs below the ground. Maria, an activist, tries to bridge the gap between the two worlds by making each aware of the other. In a plot twist she is replaced by a robot who enters into the worker's world and ferments a revolution which is doomed to failure.

"Metropolis" was not received well in the United States. Theater owners did not want to show films over ninety minutes in length, so they could turn over more audiences. As a result the film suffered savage cuttings. In addition, about twenty percent of the footage was lost over time. However, a badly scratched but intact version was found in a collection in South America. Restorers hope to have a DVD copy available after the arduous work of restoration is completed.

Answer: A locomotive

Buster Keaton plays a locomotive engineer and engages in many dangerous stunts in the filming. Keaton stars, as well as directs. The film opened to poor reviews and Keaton's career as a box office money-maker was damaged. However, as time passed, the film drew great acclaim and is regarded as Keaton's masterpiece.

The film is based on a real incident in the Civil War, but is played for laughs. The great train wreck scene was filmed in Cottage Grove, Oregon where the wreckage was left for many years as a tourist attraction, until cut up for scrap during WW2. Some of stunts were so dangerous that Keaton was literally risking his life.

Aside: For the curious, several of these are available on DVD. Also, most are in public domain and can be found intact on the internet.