Dead of Night Quiz | D | 10 Questions

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The film company responsible for "Dead of Night" is particularly famous for a series of comedies produced in the 1940s and 1950s. What is its name?

Answer: Ealing Studios

Although associated with classics such as "Kind Hearts and Coronets" and "Passport to Pimlico", Ealing in fact produced more dramas than comedies. "Dead of Night" was one of the studios' first post-war releases and was the first to make no mention of the war. Production of horror films had been expressly forbidden in Britain during World War II.

2. As the picture begins, Walter Craig is driving along a country lane. He stops the car outside a house of Tudor appearance and looks puzzled. Why has he come here?

Answer: To discuss an extension to the house

Craig, played by Mervyn Johns, is an architect and has been invited to stay the weekend at the house, which needs to be extended. The layout of the house seems strangely familiar, although he has never been there before, and he recognises the people in it.

3. Craig tells the people in the house that he has a recurring dream in which they all appear. To try to reassure him, some of them recount strange experiences they have had or have heard about. Which of the following does NOT appear in any of their stories?

Answer: A miniature Eiffel Tower

T. E. B. Clarke, who worked on the script of "Dead of Night", won an Oscar for his screenplay for "The Lavender Hill Mob", in which souvenir models of the Eiffel Tower play a crucial role. The other three items appear in "The Hearse", "The Haunted Mirror" and "The Ventriloquist's Dummy", stories told by house guests Hugh Grainger, Joan Cortland and Dr van Straaten respectively.

4. The youngest person in the house is Sally O'Hara, a teenager who tells of a ghostly encounter at a Christmas party. Which actress, who grew up to be truly scrumptious, plays Sally?

Answer: Sally Ann Howes

Sally tells of meeting a little boy who turns out to have been murdered many years before at the house where the party is being held. Walter Craig correctly predicts that Sally will have to leave the house early, but fails to foresee the arrival of her rather memorable mother.

Sally Ann Howes went on to play Truly Scrumptious in the children's classic "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang".

5. To lighten the atmosphere, the house owner, Eliot Foley, tells the tale of two golfing friends who fall for the same woman, with fatal consequences. Which two actors, who appeared together in a number of pictures, star in this episode?

Answer: Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne

Golfers George Parratt and Larry Potter are both in love with Mary Lee, who cannot choose between them. They decide to settle the matter by playing a game of golf. On being defeated, Potter immediately commits suicide by drowning himself in the lake. But Parratt has cheated and Potter returns to haunt him.

Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne made their debut together in "The Lady Vanishes" in 1938 and went on to appear in a number of films, including "Night Train to Munich", "Passport to Pimlico" and "It's Not Cricket". Ian Carmichael and Arthur Lowe appeared in a remake of "The Lady Vanishes", Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott appeared in comedy films starring Will Hay, Miles Malleson and Roland Culver appear in "Dead of Night" as the hearse driver and the house owner respectively.

6. Four directors worked on "Dead of Night". The one who directed "The Golfing Story" episode was nominated 40 years later for two Oscars in connection with "A Fish Called Wanda". Who was he?

Answer: Charles Crichton

Charles Crichton was nominated in both the Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay categories. His last film, "A Fish Called Wanda" was made when he was in his eighties.

Cavalcanti directed the wartime picture "Went The Day Well?", Robert Hamer went on to direct "Kind Hearts And Coronets" and Basil Dearden's most famous film is probably "Victim", starring Dirk Bogarde.

7. Sceptical psychiatrist, Dr van Straaten, tells of how he was called in to examine Maxwell Frere, a ventriloquist charged with the attempted murder of an American rival. Which theatrical knight plays the ventriloquist in thrall to his malevolent dummy?

Answer: Sir Michael Redgrave

A leading stage actor, Michael Redgrave had starred in the pre-war films "The Lady Vanishes" and "The Stars Look Down". He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in "Mourning Becomes Electra", made in 1947. His daughters, Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave, would also receive Oscar nominations, Vanessa winning the Best Supporting Actress award for "Julia".

The theme of the mad ventriloquist was revisited in "Magic", a 1978 film directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Anthony Hopkins.

8. The music contributes greatly to the atmosphere of "Dead of Night". Which Frenchman, a member of the group of composers known as Les Six, provided the score?

Answer: Georges Auric

Georges Auric composed the music for other Ealing films including "It Always Rains On Sunday", "Hue and Cry" and "Passport to Pimlico". His film credits also included "Rififi", "The Wages of Fear" and "Roman Holiday".

9. Having failed to change events that he remembers from his dream, Craig realises that its horrific conclusion cannot be avoided. What form does this take?

Answer: Craig murders Dr van Straaten.

If only the doctor hadn't broken his glasses, and if he hadn't dissuaded the architect from leaving the house, Walter Craig, who by now has lost control of his will, wouldn't have been compelled to strangle him. A terrifying sequence ensues, during which Craig is confronted by characters from the stories he has been told.

10. Walter Craig wakes up and realises that he has had a nightmare. What happens next?

Answer: He is invited to Sussex to discuss a house extension.

As the credits roll, Walter Craig is driving along a country lane. He stops the car outside a house of Tudor appearance and looks puzzled. The nightmare goes on, and on, and on.

The influence of "Dead of Night" extends beyond the world of movies. The Steady State theory of the universe was inspired by the circular plot of the film, which cosmologists Fred Hoyle and Hermann Bondi had seen together.

Source: Author dellastreet

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor skunkee before going online.
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Dead of Night Trivia Quiz

This British portmanteau horror film was released in 1945. The quiz contains spoilers.

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