Eurofilms Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Italian film director Sergio Leone was responsible for all of these films. He is closely associated with the Spaghetti Western genre. Spaghetti Westerns were films made from the early 1960s, typically in Spain or Italy, by Italian directors, usually with multi-lingual casts and with sound dubbed after filming.

The term Spaghetti Western was initially derogatory, however the success of "A Fistful of Dollars" had a lasting impact on the Western film genre. "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" were the other two films in the trilogy. These films are consistently rated among the best Westerns made and helped establish Clint Eastwood in the movie world.

Answer: The Artist

This film has received much praise and many nominations for awards with success at Cannes, the Golden Globes, the Academy Awards and BAFTAs amongst others. It has also had box office success in the US and elsewhere. The ageing star was played by Jean Dujardin, who received the Best Actor award in the 2011 Academy Awards - the first Frenchman to receive this Oscar. His co-star, Bérénice Bejo, got the César Award for Best Actress. The other films are pre-1930 French silent films.

Answer: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is the first of the best-selling "Millennium" trilogy by Stieg Larsson, which was published posthumously. The "Fire" and "Hornets' Nest" books were the other two and Swedish film versions of these were released in 2009 as well.

Although there was a fourth book in the works at the time of Stieg Larsson's death, "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" is an unrelated Japanese animated science-fiction romance from 2006. David Fincher's 2011 film version won an Oscar.

Answer: The Commitments

Jimmy Rabbitte manages to put his band together, however it all falls apart in the end. The film led to the release of two CDs based on the soundtrack. Author of the book, Roddy Doyle, was also involved in the film and the subsequent theatrical adaptation. With singing songs playing a key role in this band, it is not surprising that some of the actors are also singers in real life. All four members of the Irish band The Corrs appear in the film, although none of them has a singing role.

Answer: It is a slang term for injecting heroin.

'Trainspotting' is also slang for looking for a drug dealer. The film propelled Scottish actors Ewen McGregor and Robert Carlyle into the limelight. Irvine Welsh followed this book up with a sequel called 'Porno'. He also played the role of a drug dealer in the film.

Primal Scream supplied the song 'Trainspotting' for the film. 'Trainspotting' also appears on their 1997 album 'Vanishing Point' (which itself takes its name from the 1971 film of the same name). The album appeared after the film.

Answer: The Seventh Seal

Swedish director, writer and producer Ingmar Bergman was recognised as having great talent in the art of film making. His films were often imbued with deep philosophy and his style was for thoughtful mature cinema. All the films listed were written and directed by Bergman.

Briefly "The Seventh Seal" deals with the philosophy of religion and the problem of evil. People say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and parodies of "The Seventh Seal" abound; for example, in "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey" (1991), Bill and Ted play Death at Battleships, Twister and Clue/Cluedo.

Answer: Local Hero

Sometimes the real world imitates the world of film. In the film the high-flyer's negotiations stumbled. In the real world American business man Donald Trump had similar issues when he sought to build the world's best golf course on the Aberdeenshire coast of Scotland, an area of special scientific interest. The saga was recorded in the anti-Trump documentary "You've Been Trumped" (2011), which included scenes from "Local Hero". Trump prevailed in the end.

All the answers listed were films directed by Bill Forsyth. Burt Lancaster is the eccentric Texan oil baron and Mark Knopfler, of Dire Straits fame, supplied the music. "Local Hero" took Bill Forsyth to America, where "Housekeeping" was his first American film.

Answer: Das Boot

The story for the film was adapted by Wolfgang Petersen from the 1971 book "Das Boot" by Lothar-Günther Buchheim. Buchheim's book is based his own experiences as a war correspondent, embedded with U-96 during its seventh patrol in the Battle of the Atlantic. Buchheim was in the German Navy's propaganda unit and spent time on various Navy vessels. The captain of the real U-96 was also a consultant for the filming. "Das Boot" was the most expensive German film made at the time and was nominated for six Oscars. "Das Boot" means "The Boat".

Wolfgang Petersen was director on all the films listed as well as such films as "The NeverEnding Story", "In the Line of Fire", "Air Force One" and "Troy".

Answer: Cinema Paradiso

The Oscar-winning "Cinema Paradiso" is the work of Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore. He was also director of the other films listed. Ennio Morricone along with his son Andrea composed the award-winning music to go with the film. Ennio has been responsible for the music for hundreds of films including the Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns already mentioned.

Answer: Zorba the Greek

The film is based on the book of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis. It proved to be a box office success and won three of the seven Academy Awards it was nominated for in 1964. The sirtaki or syrtaki dance (formerly Zorba's Dance) was actually created for the film. It incorporates elements of the hasapiko dance, a traditional Greek folk dance. Michael Cacoyannis directed all the films listed.