World Capitals Trivia Quiz

Answer: Havana

Set in the Cuban capital prior to the revolution led by Fidel Castro, 'Our Man in Havana' is based on a novel of the same title by the award-winning British novelist Graham Greene. It is about a vacuum cleaner salesman (played by Alec Guinness) who, after being recruited by a MI6 agent (Noel Coward), proceeded to invent fake intelligence to make a name for himself. Despite the fact that his lies were somewhat dubious (they included plans for a weapon based on vacuum cleaner parts), some of his "intelligence" started to come true and he discovered that he had put his own life in danger as a result.

The film also starred Burl Ives and Maureen O'Hara and was nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical category.

Answer: Bangkok

The 2008 version of 'Bangkok Dangerous' was an American remake of a 1999 Thai film of the same name and by the same directors (the Pang brothers). In it, Nicolas Cage portrayed a freelance hitman who traveled to the capital city of Thailand to assassinate four prominent enemies of a Bangkok crime boss. While he managed to kill his first three targets, he was left with second thoughts when he discovered that his final proposed victim was Thailand's extremely popular Prime Minister.

Cage's character's love interest in this film is a deaf-mute pharmacist. This is a reference to the plot of the original 'Bangkok Dangerous' film in which the assassin himself was deaf and mute.

Answer: Algiers

'The Battle of Algiers' is about a period of Algeria's war of independence against France that took place between 1954 and 1962. The film itself focused on events that took place in the capital city, Algiers, during the first three years of the war. It covers the actions taken by the French military paratroopers sent in to subdue the forces of the Algerian National Liberation Front and the impact of the growing violence on the civilian population. As a result, much of the dialogue is spoken in French or Arabic.

The film proved to be highly controversial and was banned in France for five years after its release. It was filmed in a style designed to imitate the newsreels of the time and as such has the appearance of a documentary, although it is a fictionalised account. The film's score was composed by Ennio Morricone.

Answer: Rome

'To Rome With Love' tells four unlikely stories about how different people's lives are changed while visiting or living in the Italian capital.

The first story is about an American tourist who fell in love with an Italian architect while visiting Rome and how their relationship was nearly destroyed when her father (played by Woody Allen) encouraged her fiance's father to take up a new career in opera singing. The second story revolved around a woman who cheated on her husband with a burglar. The third was about a man who was inexplicably turned into a celebrity overnight, but whose new-found fame proved to be short-lived. The fourth and final story was about a middle-aged man who embarked on an affair with a young student.

Answer: Cairo

'Five Graves to Cairo' was set during the North Africa campaign of the Second World War when British forces led by General Montgomery were battling Nazi forces under the command of Erwin Rommel - also known as the "Desert Fox".

They story revolved around a British soldier, John Bramble, who escaped being captured by German soldiers and took refuge in a nearby hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel proved to be Rommel's new headquarters. However, Bramble adopted the identity of a dead waiter, discovered the waiter was a German spy and was able to use his new position to gain vital intelligence on Rommel's plans to conquer Egypt. Bramble successfully escaped to Cairo and his information helped the Allies to win the pivotal Second Battle of El-Alamein.

Answer: Paris

'Midnight in Paris' was directed by Woody Allen and starred Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams in the main roles. Carla Bruni, the wife of the then French President Nicolas Sarkozy, had a small role as a museum guide.

Wilson's character, Gil Pender, was a Hollywood screenwriter who visited Paris and discovered he was able to travel back in time when the clock struck midnight. On his various jaunts back into history he was able to socialise with the artistic elite of Paris, visit the Moulin Rouge, and meet famous names such as Gertrude Stein (Kathy Bates), F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston) and Salvador Dali (Adrien Brody).

The film was nominated for both the Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards, although it failed to win either category. However, Woody Allen did get an Oscar for it when he won the Best Original Screenplay category.

Answer: London

'London Boulevard' was an independent British film with a somewhat complicated plot. It starred Colin Farrell as a newly-released convict who immediately found himself back in London's criminal underworld, working for a mob boss (Ray Winstone). Aside from dealing with the criminal jobs that were passed his way and entering into a dangerous feud with his new boss, Farrell's character also found time to befriend and fall in love with a disillusioned actress (Keira Knightley) who had grown to hate the attention that she generated from the paparazzi.

Irish novelist Ken Bruen's book of the same name was published in 2001.

Answer: Moscow

In 'Moscow on the Hudson', Robin Williams portrayed Vladimir Ivanoff, a Russian circus performer and musician who ended up in New York when his circus embarked on an international tour. Ivanoff used the opportunity to publicly defect from the Soviet Union and started a new life in the US. However, when he was forced to take numerous dead-end low-paid jobs and was assaulted on the street, he began to regret his decision. However, discovering the experiences of other Soviet defectors led him to appreciate his own position and he eventually found love and a new job where he could play his beloved saxophone again.

The film was made and set during the Cold War. It was written, produced and directed by Paul Mazursky and loosely based on his grandfather's earlier experiences of emigrating from Russia to the US.

Answer: Khartoum

'Khartoum' is a historical film about the events of the Siege of Khartoum in the mid-1880s. The main character was General Gordon (Charlton Heston), a British military hero who was sent to the Sudanese capital to evacuate the city following a series of threats by the Arab leader known as the Mahdi (Laurence Olivier). However, Gordon failed to follow his orders and instead started preparations to defend the city against the Mahdi's forces. He ended up besieged and the British government, led by Prime Minister William Gladstone, was pressurised by public opinion into sending troops to relieve him. However, the troops arrived too late and discovered that the city had fallen and Gordon had been killed.

In real life, Gordon's death was one of the major reasons behind the fall of Gladstone's second ministry in 1885. Ralph Richardson was nominated for a BAFTA Best British Actor award for his portrayal of Gladstone in 'Khartoum'.

Answer: Tokyo

The black and white film 'Destination Tokyo' was about a Second World War submarine captain who was given orders to sail to Tokyo Bay and provide information for a planned US air raid on the city in April 1942 (an event known as the Doolittle Raid). The plot largely revolved around events on board the submarine, from baking pumpkin pies and dealing with sudden illnesses in the crew (appendicitis) to defusing a bomb and shooting down Japanese fighter pilots.

However, there were also major action scenes when the submarine was attacked and seriously damaged after sinking a Japanese aircraft carrier.