The Artist Trivia Quiz

Answer: The golden era of silent movies

"The Artist" tells the story of George Valentin (Jean Dujardin), a swashbuckling silent movie star whose career plummets with the advent of sound.

When told there will be no more movies for him, he makes his own, but it flops and he is financially ruined. In the meantime, he meets a rising star of the new talkies, Peppy Miller, (Berenice Bejo.)

He almost dies in a fire at his home and Peppy visits him in hospital. She insists that he gets a part in her next movie, with him starring as a dancer in a musical.

Answer: It was shown in black and white

The film was shot in colour and then converted to black and white. It was also the first movie shot in 4:3 aspect to win Best Picture in more than 50 years. (In case you are wondering, the last one before that was "From Here To Eternity" in 1953.)

Answer: France

"The Artist" was only the 12th movie exclusively financed outside the United States to win Best Picture. The previous 11 were financed wholly or partly in the United Kingdom.

Answer: The 'Hollywood' sign

If you look at it now you will see a sign saying "Hollywood", but when constructed in 1923, it said "Hollywoodland". It was meant to advertise a new housing suburb.

In subsequent years it endured damage by storm and automobile accident. In 1949 the Los Angeles Parks Department took over maintenance, but at the stipulation of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the "land' suffix was removed, leaving just "Hollywood".

Special effects were used to add it back into "The Artist", since it was set pre-1930. By the way, if you spotted any of the wrong answers in the movie, they would be bloopers. None of the wrong answers existed before 1930.

Answer: Cannes Film Festival

The movie won three awards in all at Cannes: the Palme d'Or; Best Actor; and Palm Dog Award (for best canine performance).

Answer: It was a predominantly silent movie

What a crazy notion: not only shoot a black and white movie, but a silent one - in 2011!

"When I first told people about my idea for this movie, they just laughed at me. Friends, actors, producers - they all laughed," director Michel Hazanavicius told 'The Guardian' newspaper.

There are some lines of dialogue, in English, near the end, and also sound effects including traffic noise, a telephone ringing, a dog barking and passers-by laughing in the street.

Answer: Kim Novak

Novak's condemnation was, in fact, expressed in much stronger language than used here. In its closing scenes, the originally-composed score was replaced by a 1992 recording of Elmer Bernstein conducting an orchestral performance of the Bernard Herrmann composition 'Scene d'Amour'.

The director, Michel Hazanavicius, was bemused. He pointed out that "The Artist" was a homage to all that was good about the Hollywood glory years, including the movies of Hitchcock. He told CNN: "I used music from another movie, but it's not illegal. We paid for that, we asked for that and we had the permission to do it. For me there is no real controversy... I feel sorry for her, but there's a lot of movies with music from other movies, directors do that all the time and I'm not sure it's a big deal."

Answer: John Goodman

John Goodman was Dan Conner, husband to Roseanne in the TV series of the same name. She was played by Roseanne Barr. It earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in 1993. He had numerous movie roles as well and racked up several nominations.

In "The Artist" he plays Al Zimmer, a demanding producer. In one of the few dialogue exchanges in the movie, he declares a dance scene in a film "perfect" - then calls on the dancers to do it again.

Answer: Dog

Among that plethora of awards and nominations, "The Artist" was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won five, including Best Picture, Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Jean Dujardin, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.

Uggie was a Jack Russell terrier and won the Palm Dog Award (for best canine performance) at the Cannes Film Festival.

He was a seasoned performer, with at least three other big movies under his collar before "The Artist".

Answer: It reflected pre-1930 movies in which zoom lenses were not commonly used.

Although zoom lens technology was known about in 1902, in Hollywood the first use was in "It", starring Clara Bow, in 1927. It was not until 1932 that the Bell and Howell Cooke "Varo" 40-120 mm lens became the first zoom lens regularly used in Hollywood.