Silent Movie Era Mixture Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lillian Gish

Lillian Gish had a film career that spanned 75 years. This was regarded as the longest acting career of any movie legend of the first 100 years of film. Her first film was "The Unseen Enemy" in 1912 and her last was "The Whales Of August" in 1987.

Answer: Fritz Lang

One of Fritz Lang's biggest pictures, and one of the most important and influential movies in film history, was "Metropolis". This movie was an examination of capitalism of that time and the relationship between the haves and the have-nots. The subject matter and the visual aspects of this film continue to influence film makers to this day. For a perfect example, watch "Blade Runner" again.
One of Mr. Lang's biggest pictures was his first sound film "M". This was also Peter Lorre's first starring role, where he was cast as a child killer.
Fritz Lang, an Austrian-German, arrived in the USA at the beginning of World War 2 in 1939 and became a naturalized citizen. Mr. Lang was known for his part in the German Expressionistic movement of the early 20th century. This movement usually dealt with bizarre and intellectual topics and not the usual dramatic or comedic formats. Fritz Lang's influence could be seen in films directed by Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles.

Answer: United Artists

UA has had many production successes over the years, but UA and those involved have had more important influences in changes to the movie system. Many of the members of United Artists, and others, formed "Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers" (SIMPP) in 1941. This group had a major part in the abolishment of the studio system of controlling all aspects of production, distribution, and exhibition of films, therefore eliminating any competition.
United Artists has had many ups and downs over the years. The name was resurected in 2006 by Tom Cruise and other partners.

Answer: Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford was born in Toronto, Canada in 1892. Although born in Canada, she was known as "America's Sweetheart".
Mary Pickford, along with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith, founded United Artists.
Mary and Douglas Fairbanks were married from 1920 to 1936. They were the first celebrity movie star couple. Their dinners at their home "Pickfair" were where some of the most powerful figures of the time met and dined.
Mary was so popular at one time that there were riots at her public appearances of people who just wanted to touch her. She was one of the few stars to give Charlie Chaplin a run for his money.
At the age of 27, Mary convincingly played a 12 year old girl in "Pollyanna". This movie, along with "Rosita", earned over a million dollars in the 1920s. That would be over 10 million dollars in 2008 dollars. This is also more than it sounds due to the 25 cent movie ticket prices.
Miss Pickford won an Academy Award for Best Actress in the film "Coquette" in 1929.
According to biographies of Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish, a disaster was averted in 1931 when Mary considered destroying ALL of her films because she thought future generations would think them ridiculous. Fortunantly, Lillian Gish talked her out of it.

Answer: D. W. Griffith

In 1932, "The Birth Of A Nation" was the highest earning film up to that point with 10 million dollars. These are 1932 dollars and not adjusted for inflation.
At many showings of "The Birth of A Nation", there were riots and protests due to the controversial subject matter and the inaccuracies in the film. The film gave a positive view of the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacy through the eyes of two families, one from the north and one from the south. Regardless of the subject matter, the film is regarded as very influential for it's filming techniques and being the first "blockbuster" feature length film.
"Intolerance" was thought of as a response to the negative reactions to "The Birth of A Nation". "Intolerance" comprised four stories in four different historical periods, and was an examination of man's intolerance to other people and cultures. Many of the characters didn't have proper names because Griffith wanted them to represent human types and not characters in the usual sense.

Answer: Rudolph Valentino

Rudolph Valentino was born on May 6, 1895. He immigrated to the USA in 1913.
Although Valentino starred in two of the biggest film's of the silent era, "The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse" and "The Sheik", there were constant conflicts over pay and artistic control.
Due to conflicts with his studio, Ritz-Carlton, Valentino was signed to United Artists by Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks. At UA he made what was thought to be the beginning of a comeback with the films "The Eagle" and "The Son Of The Sheik" in 1925 and 1926 respectively.
Valentino died at 31 on August 23, 1926. 100,000 people paid respects at his funeral procession. There were actually suicides of fans reported at the funeral.

Answer: "Modern Times" and "City Lights"

The American Film Institute listed both of these movies in the Top 100 American Movies of The First 100 Years Of Movies. "Modern Times" was listed at number 81 and "City Lights" at number 76.
"Modern Times" was a comedy but it was also an examination of the negative effects of industrialization and modernization of the work place on the worker. A couple of the funniest scenes in the movie are Chaplin being force fed by a machine and one where he was physically caught up in the gears of the factory machine.
"City Lights" had a comedy plot of The Tramp meeting and getting drunk with a millionaire, and the millionaire calling The Tramp his best friend forever, but when he sobers up he doesn't remember who Chaplin is. This was repeated throughout the movie. As with most of Chaplin's better films, there was also an additional dramatic plot. Here, The Tramp was mistaken for a millionaire by a blind flower girl. The Tramp allowed this to go on until the girl got her sight back. I'll leave a little of the movie for those who may want to see an excellent film, silent or otherwise.
"The Circus" from Charlie Chaplin was actually released after "The Jazz Singer", but its production began much earlier.

Answer: Clara Bow

"It" is a quality that is hard to explain but you know you know "it" when you see "it".
Miss Bow began her career at the age of 16 by winning an acting contest in 1921.
Clara Bow starred in "Wings", the first picture to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. Her first big film to make her a star was "The Plastic Age"
Due to many unfounded media and tabloid rumours, Clara was troubled throughout her movie career. She was even shunned by the movie elite due to these rumours and her actual personal life.
Clara Bow chose to retire in 1933 for a life of marriage and motherhood.
Her last starring roll was "Hula". Her last appearance on film was a small part in the short subject film "Screen Snapshots 1860: Howdy, Podner".

Answer: Lionel Barrymore

Due to need of exaggeration in silent film, comedies were naturally some of the more popular movies of the time.
Lionel Barrymore was an accomplished dramatic actor of the silent and sound era. He won an Acadamy Award for Best Actor in 1931 for his role in "A Free Soul".
Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd were very successful comedic actors of the silent era had had limited success in the talkie era.
Ben Turpin decided to retire with the advent of sound and had a few cameos and bit parts in the sound age.

Answer: Roscoe Arbuckle

After three trials, the first two being mistrials, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was found not guilty. The scandal part of this story mostly revolved around those involved in the prosecution of the trial, and the gossip in the media of the time. There was no bloody glove or footprints behind the guest house in this case. This event ended with Arbuckle being blacklisted and the studios refusing to even distribute his films, even after being found not guilty. William Hearst's newspaper chain was a major distributor of these exaggerated and sensationalized stories that eventually destroyed Arbuckle's career.
Roscoe was born in 1887 and by 1918 was one of the highest paid stars of the time, making $1 million a year. He was a star in the famous Keystone Cops comedies. Aside from being one of the biggest comedy stars of the silent era, Arbuckle also mentored Charlie Chaplin early in Chaplin's career, and was said to have discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope.
Fatty Arbuckle was in the midst of engineering a comeback and had just signed a movie deal with Warner Brothers when he died in his sleep of a heart attack at the age of 46 in 1933.