Paris at the Movies Trivia Quiz

Answer: Charles Laughton

The 1939 version directed by William Dieterle starred Laughton as the hunchback and O'Hara as Esmeralda. The bell tower of the cathedral was 'portrayed' by a set in California, and the rest of the cast included Edmond O'Brien, Cedric Hardwicke and Thomas Mitchell.

English-born Laughton (1899-1962) had earlier won a Best Actor Oscar for the lead role in "The Private Life of Henry VIII" (1933).

Lon Chaney's 1923 co-star was Patsy Ruth Miller, in a silent version directed by Wallace Worsley.
The 1956 version by French director Jean Delannoy, and originally titled "Notre-Dame de Paris", starred Anthony Quinn and Gina Lollobrigida. The 1996 animated version from directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise had Tom Hulce as the voice of Quasimodo, with Demi Moore and Heidi Mollenhauer providing the speaking and singing voices of Esmeralda.

Answer: April

"April in Paris" was also the title of one of the songs Doris sang in this musical comedy about a showgirl who was mistakenly given the honour of going to Paris on behalf of the State Department, to represent the American theatre. Bolger played the bureaucrat who made the error of sending the invitation to Ethel 'Dynamite' Jackson (Doris) instead of the great actress Ethel Barrymore! He tagged along on the ocean voyage and inevitably Dynamite and Winthrop (Bolger) fell in love.

Answer: World War II

Based on the book of the same title by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, "Is Paris Burning?" was set in August 1944, as Allied troops were approaching the city to liberate it from Nazi occupation. Hitler had ordered the city to be destroyed before this could happen (hence the question), but his commanding general, played by Gert Fröbe, was hesitant to obliterate so much history.

Rene Clement directed an international cast that included many big names (Kirk Douglas, Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Glenn Ford, Orson Welles, others), often in very small roles.

Answer: Jack Lemmon

All of these actors appeared in the movie, but it was Jack Lemmon who played Nestor Patou, who tried to crack down on the prostitutes (including Irma) in the Red Light District, but ran afoul of his superiors who chose to tolerate them. After inadvertently becoming Irma's pimp, he realised that he had fallen in love with her, and resorted to subterfuge to keep her from consorting with other men.

MacLaine won a Golden Globe for Best Actress-Comedy or Musical for playing Irma. Lemmon was nominated for Best Actor-Comedy or Musical for both this film and "Under the Yum Yum Tree" (in the same year), but lost the Golden Globe to Alberto Sordi in "Il Diavolo" (1963).

Answer: An American in Paris

Gene played Jerry, an American soldier who opted to stay in Paris after WWII ended, in order to pursue his dream of becoming a painter. He and his friend Henri (Georges Guetary) had both fallen in love with Lise (Caron), and matters became further complicated by Jerry's patroness (Nina Foch), who also had designs on his affection. Oscar Levant played Jerry's friend Adam, who wanted to be a concert pianist, and performed "Fascinating Rhythm" and other numbers. Vincente Minnelli directed.

Other George and Ira Gershwin tunes performed by various members of the cast included "I Got Rhythm", "Our Love Is Here to Stay" and "Embraceable You".

The incorrect choices were not musicals, nor were any of them from the year 1951.

Answer: Jose Ferrer and John Leguizamo

The movies were "Moulin Rouge" (1952) and "Moulin Rouge!" (2001) and the artist was Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, portrayed respectively by Ferrer and Leguizamo. The earlier film was a highly fictionalized biography of the artist, who was the main character, who drank and produced artwork in the title night spot. The later film was a musical romance with poet Christian (Ewan McGregor) and courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman) the main characters, and their romance the main plot. Leguizamo's artist was a secondary character.

The 1952 film was directed by John Huston, and also starred Zsa Zsa Gabor. Baz Luhrmann was the director of the 2001 musical film. It is interesting to note that both movies won two Oscars - the same two, or very nearly so! The awards were for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Best Costume Design, with the addition of "Color" for the 1952 film's awards, there having been separate awards for black and white and colour films at that time.

Answer: Casablanca

"Casablanca" (1942) won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Curtiz) and Screenplay. It was set in late 1941 in that north African city, teeming with people of all nationalities trying to reach neutral Lisbon. Everyone would eventually come to Rick's Cafe Americaine in search of exit visas, money or some other means of escape. Among them was Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) and her husband Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid). Her appearance caused Rick (Humphrey Bogart) to reminisce about their affair a year earlier in Paris, when Ilsa thought Laszlo was dead, and Rick knew nothing of him. We saw Rick and Ilsa happily driving along the Champs-Elysses, before the approach of the German invaders caused them to prepare to leave the city. Toward the end of the film, after the plot had taken a few turns, Rick was able to tell Ilsa "We'll always have Paris."

The incorrect choices were real movies, but did not have characters named Rick and Ilsa, nor involve the German army arriving in Paris.

Answer: A boat on the Seine

Adam Canfield was his third persona, and was revealed to Reggie while they were dining aboard a cruise boat/restaurant on the river Seine. She had discovered that his former name was suspect and taken him to task, leading to the revelation of his new identity. Unlike the former two, Adam readily admitted to being a thief, and also that he had begun to have feelings for Reggie.

All of this was going on whilst a group of thieves was trying to discover what Reggie's now-deceased husband had done with the money they had stolen from the US government during WWII.

Answer: He travelled back in time.

Gil and Inez (Rachel McAdams) were in a less than ideal relationship but had travelled to Paris on vacation with her parents anyway. A screenwriter working on his first novel, Gil wanted to soak up the atmosphere of the city, and possibly even live there but he was alone in this hope. While walking alone one night, he met a vintage automobile just at midnight and after joining its occupants found himself transported to the Paris of the 1920s. There he met such literary giants as F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston), Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates) and Ernest Hemingway (Corey Stoll), and artists Pablo Picasso (Marcial Di Fonzo Bo) and Salvador Dali (Adrien Brody). He also met a young woman who longed to be transported from her era to the 1890s (Marion Cotillard).

Woody Allen wrote and directed, winning an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay. On a personal note, this has become one of my favourite Woody Allen films.

Answer: Gigi

"Gigi" was about a young woman of that name who was being raised by her grandmother, called Mamita (Hermione Gingold), to follow her into the family business, so to speak. Maurice Chevalier appeared as Mamita's former flame, Honore Lachaille, and Louis Jourdan was his nephew Gaston. Mamita and Gigi's aunt had the idea that Gigi might become Gaston's mistress, but the young people, already friends, had different ideas.

The film was filled with music by Lerner and Loewe and included "Gigi", "Thank Heaven for Little Girls", "I Remember It Well" and "The Night They Invented Champagne".

"Gigi" won nine Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, but none for acting. Hermione Gingold won a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe.

The incorrect choices were real movies, but all were made after the year 2000.