Hitchcock Films Scramble Trivia Quiz

Answer: VERTIGO

"Vertigo" is a 1958 film by Hitchcock. James Stewart stars in this movie. He plays a police officer who was forced to retire after he developed a fear of heights (acrophobia) and a severe spinning sensation. James Stewart plays a character named Scottie. Scottie is hired by a friend to investigate why his wife is behaving strangely. Scottie is drawn into an elaborate murder scheme that takes advantage of his acrophobia. This is definitely a Hitchcock classic. In fact, in 2012, the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound critics' poll voted "Vertigo" as the greatest movie ever made.

In "Vertigo", Hitchcock's signature cameo appearance happens just after the eleven minute mark. He can be seen wearing a grey suit while he carries a trumpet case and crosses a street.

Answer: REBECCA

"Rebecca" was released in the US in 1940. It was Hitchcock's first American film. It stars Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. The complicated plot has the two main characters marry, with her being his second wife. The housekeeper is loyal to the first wife who apparently died in a drowning accident. As with most Hitchcock movies, there are plot twists and mysteries as the cause of the first wife's death is discovered.

Hitchcock's cameo happens at around the two hour, seven minute mark in this film. He can be seen wearing a bowler hat and crossing from right to left on the screen behind the actors who are trying to get to the bottom of the first wife's death.

Answer: TO CATCH A THIEF

The 1955 Hitchcock film "To Catch a Thief" stars Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. It tells the story of a burglar on the French Riviera who has retired from his life of crime. However, a new thief begins to target some wealthy tourists. When the original thief, played by Grant, is targeted by the police, he realizes that a good way to avoid suspicion is to catch the thief himself. This film is the last of the three films that Grace Kelly filmed with Hitchcock. Also of note is that the costumes in this film were designed by renowned costume designer Edith Head.

Hitchcock's cameo in "To Catch a Thief" happens just after nine minutes into the movie when he can be seen sitting beside Cary Grant on a bus.

Answer: STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

Hitchcock released "Strangers on a Train" in the US 1951. This film stars Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, and Robert Walker. It is the story of a psychopath who meets a stranger on a train. The psychopath wants his father to die, and the stranger wants to divorce his wife so he can marry another woman. The psychopath suggests that they each murder the other's person that they no longer want in their lives. His reasoning is that by murdering a complete stranger, they would have no identifiable motive, so wouldn't be caught by law enforcement. There is murder, mayhem and mystery in this masterpiece.

At about ten-and-a-half minutes into the movie, Hitchcock can be seen trying to get on the train while he carries a double bass in its case.

Answer: FAMILY PLOT

"Family Plot" was Hitchcock's final film. It stars Karen Black, Bruce Dern, Barbara Harris and William Devane and was released in the US in 1976. The story is a thriller that can be quite funny at times. It is about a fake psychic who is hired by a wealthy woman to find her nephew who was given up for adoption many years before. The child, now a young man, is a jeweller who has murdered his parents, and now kidnaps wealthy customers and releases them when he receives gems for their ransom. There is a twist at the end when the fake psychic actually seems to develop psychic ability.

Hitchcock's cameo appearance in this film happens at the forty-minute mark. At that point, his silhouette can be seen through the glass door of the Registrar of Births and Deaths.

Answer: TORN CURTAIN

Hitchcock released "Torn Curtain" in the US in 1966. The film stars Paul Newman and Julie Andrews, and is about an American scientist who apparently defects to East Germany during the Cold War. However, he is actually a double agent who is trying to learn how much the Soviet Union knows about the US's anti-missile systems. His girlfriend (Andrews) gets caught up in the subterfuge when she follows him to East Germany without his knowledge. They are caught, but end up escaping in a very unique way.

Hitchcock's cameo appearance happens at the eight minute mark in "Torn Curtain". He is seen sitting in a hotel lobby with a baby on his lap. Another "cameo" that happens during this scene is the music - it is the "Funeral March of a Marionette", which was the theme music for "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" on television.

Answer: FRENZY

"Frenzy" was released in 1972 in the UK. The film stars Jon Finch, Alec McCowen and Barry Foster. It is the story of a bartender who is also a serial killer who rapes and strangles women with his neckties. The killer befriends a recently-released Royal Air Force (RAF) veteran, but then implicates the veteran for the crimes. After the RAF veteran is found guilty of the crime and imprisoned, he escapes to avenge himself and prove that the bartender is actually the killer. When he arrives at the bartender's apartment, he finds a woman dead with a tie around her neck, but no sign of the bartender. The police arrive and find the RAF veteran with the dead woman, further cementing their suspicions. They hear a loud noise on the stairs, so the officer hides in time to see the bartender arrive with a large trunk for the body. The officer notes that the bartender's tie is missing, and realizes his mistake in thinking that the RAF veteran was guilty. The bartender is arrested for the crimes.

Hitchcock makes three cameo appearances in "Frenzy" near the beginning of the film. There is an aerial shot during the opening credits. He appears on the bottom left of that shot, wearing a bowler hat and leaning on the wall beside the river. About one minute later, there is a crowd scene. He is in the middle of the crowd, but easily spotted because he is the only one not applauding the speaker. Finally, about one minute later, he can be seen standing next to a man with grey hair and a beard just after a victim of the serial killer washes ashore.

Answer: ROPE

"Rope" was released in 1948 in the US. The movie, which stars James Stewart, John Dall and Farley Granger, is about two men who try to commit the perfect murder. This is inspired by conversations that they had years before with a prep-school master. After they strangle a friend to death, they place his body in a large trunk, then host a dinner party. Guests suspect something strange when the murdered friend does not arrive for the party, but it is not solved until after the party when all guests but the old school master leave. He figures out the murder and attracts the attention of police. The movie was quite experimental because it takes place in real time, and seems to be all viewed from four long shots in the same room.

There is some question about Hitchcock's cameo in "Rope". Some say that he can be seen in the opening credits, walking down the crowded New York street where the apartment building is located. However, this appearance has not been confirmed by the movie studio. At the fifty-five minute mark, there is a shot of two guests leaving the party. They stop to face one another in front of a window. Behind them, you can see a red neon sign with the Hitchcock silhouette, made famous on his television show, flashing on a building across the street.

Answer: SUSPICION

"Suspicion" was released in the US in 1941. It stars Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a couple who marry despite her father's suspicions that Grant's character is a crook. He is, in fact, a crook with a gambling problem and no job. He ends up working for his cousin, but embezzles money, loses the job, sells family heirlooms, and is suspected of murder, all while trying to fund his gambling. Joan Fontaine won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in this film. This was the only time a performer won an Oscar in a Hitchcock film.

Hitchcock makes two cameo appearances in this film. About three-and-a-half minutes in, he can be seen walking a horse at a hunt meet. Then, at about the forty-five minute mark, he can be seen mailing a letter in the village.

Answer: NOTORIOUS

"Notorious" was released in 1946 in the US. This espionage thriller stars Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains. Grant plays an American spy who must convince the daughter of a convicted Nazi to spy on other Nazis who escaped to Brazil after the war. They fall in love, but when he asks her to get close to one of the Nazis, she suspects that he has been faking his feelings to get her to act. She leaves him, but marries the former Nazi. With the help of Grant's character, Bergman's character discovers uranium in the wine cellar in the house where she lives with her husband. When her husband realizes that she knows what is in the wine cellar, he poisons her. When she doesn't appear at a pre-arranged meeting, Grant's character rescues her from near death.

Hitchcock's cameo appearance occurs at about the one hour and five minute mark in "Notorious". He is shown drinking champagne at the party that is given by Bergman and Rains. He quickly leaves when Grant arrives.