Deck 10: American Cinema in the 1950s

Question 1

Henri Chretien created the anamorphic lens which "squeezed" nearly 180 degrees of sight and compressed it by 50%,thus helping to develop the widescreen.___

Answer 1

True

Question 2

To what studio owner did director Elia Kazan say "He was always a man of the people.If something was being felt,he felt it"?

A)Louis B.Mayer
B)Warner
C)Samuel Goldwyn
D)Darryl Zanuck
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Answer 2

D

Question 3

Method acting is especially good when

A)creating a surface impression of character.
B)delivering spoken language really effectively.
C)showing the emotional intensity of non-verbal working class characters.
D)avoiding what may be in the actor's subconscious.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Gene Kelly was

A)the outstanding actor of his day
B)the outstanding musical performer of his day
C)the outstanding romantic director of his day
D)none of the above

Question 5

Each of the following is from MGM's golden age of musicals except?

A)On the Town
B)Bells Are Ringing
C)Pennies from Heaven
D)The Band Wagon

Question 6

Cinemascope made which of the following cinema techniques difficult if not impossible?

A)close ups
B)deep focus
C)wide depth of field
D)all of the above

Question 7

The Production Code finally began to allow all of the following except:

A)sexual deviance
B)drug addiction
C)kidnapping
D)words like "virgin"

Question 8

All of the following contributed to Hollywood's "waning" in the 50s except?

A)a lack of stars
B)a maturing of tastes
C)a vast increase in production costs
D)none of the above

Question 9

Each of the following is true about "method acting" except?

A)a character's spirit must be fused with the actor's own emotions
B)actors don't do research in order to play characters they don't know
C)the text is the 10% that shows;the rest is subtext
D)none of the above

Question 10

To combat TV's growing influence,the movie studios did all of the following except

A)used color film
B)used European actors
C)used stereo sound
D)used a wider screen

Question 11

Which of the following is characteristic of social realism?

A)authentic people
B)shot on location
C)focus on people near the bottom
D)all of the above
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Question 12

Subtext is

A)a minor story.
B)the meaning interpreted from words.
C)a calendar of intentions and feelings.
D)the true story.

Question 13

Alfred Hitchcock precut his scripts,meaning he

A)bought scripts that were already edited
B)used storyboarding
C)minimized camera setups
D)hooked studio financing in advance

Question 14

Fred Zinneman is noted for which of the following revisionist westerns

A)High Noon
B)The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
C)The Searchers
D)High Plains Drifter

Question 15

Particular to Elia Kazan's films are

A)repressive families.
B)effects of social pressure.
C)conflicts of loyalties.
D)all of the above

Question 16

Which of the following did Alfred Hitchcock believe to be "the kiss of death at the box office"?

A)analyzing the audience for a film
B)too little action in a film
C)symbolic interpretations of a film
D)all of above

Question 17

All of the following is true of Norma Jean Baker except

A)was married at 16
B)was trained at the Actors Studio
C)was not considered a serious actor
D)was Marilyn Monroe

Question 18

The Production Code's censorship standards slowly gave way to new ideas and language before the onslaught of such directors as Otto Preminger.___

Question 19

Filmmakers continued to use the studios' expensive-to-maintain backlots for their films which began to be directed at more mature audiences.___

Question 20

Stanislavsky believed

A)you must live the part every moment you are playing it.
B)the tradition of acting by emphasizing externals helped actors to get to internals.
C)in discovering feelings that are analogues to those of a character.
D)individual virtuosity and the star system ought to condemned and did so.

Question 21

Matching
a.starred that muscular dancer,Gene Kelly
b.early 3D movie
c.filmmakers assume reformist perspective on story
d.revisionist western
e.made the Production Code blue
f.made for television movie won Oscars
g.director who relied heavily on storyboarding
h.Marilyn Monroe stars,Billy Wilder directs
i.writer blacklisted as a result of refusing HUAC
j.musical spoof on "hard boiled" fiction
Alfred Hitchcock ___

Question 22

What are some of the characteristics of American social realism as seen in movies like Stanley Kramer's The Defiant Ones?

Question 23

Matching
a.starred that muscular dancer,Gene Kelly
b.early 3D movie
c.filmmakers assume reformist perspective on story
d.revisionist western
e.made the Production Code blue
f.made for television movie won Oscars
g.director who relied heavily on storyboarding
h.Marilyn Monroe stars,Billy Wilder directs
i.writer blacklisted as a result of refusing HUAC
j.musical spoof on "hard boiled" fiction
Marty ___

Question 24

Matching
a.starred that muscular dancer,Gene Kelly
b.early 3D movie
c.filmmakers assume reformist perspective on story
d.revisionist western
e.made the Production Code blue
f.made for television movie won Oscars
g.director who relied heavily on storyboarding
h.Marilyn Monroe stars,Billy Wilder directs
i.writer blacklisted as a result of refusing HUAC
j.musical spoof on "hard boiled" fiction
social realism ___

Question 25

Matching
a.starred that muscular dancer,Gene Kelly
b.early 3D movie
c.filmmakers assume reformist perspective on story
d.revisionist western
e.made the Production Code blue
f.made for television movie won Oscars
g.director who relied heavily on storyboarding
h.Marilyn Monroe stars,Billy Wilder directs
i.writer blacklisted as a result of refusing HUAC
j.musical spoof on "hard boiled" fiction
Some Like It Hot ___

Question 26

What were some of the short comings of Cinerama?

Question 27

Matching
a.starred that muscular dancer,Gene Kelly
b.early 3D movie
c.filmmakers assume reformist perspective on story
d.revisionist western
e.made the Production Code blue
f.made for television movie won Oscars
g.director who relied heavily on storyboarding
h.Marilyn Monroe stars,Billy Wilder directs
i.writer blacklisted as a result of refusing HUAC
j.musical spoof on "hard boiled" fiction
Dalton Trumbo ___

Question 28

Matching
a.starred that muscular dancer,Gene Kelly
b.early 3D movie
c.filmmakers assume reformist perspective on story
d.revisionist western
e.made the Production Code blue
f.made for television movie won Oscars
g.director who relied heavily on storyboarding
h.Marilyn Monroe stars,Billy Wilder directs
i.writer blacklisted as a result of refusing HUAC
j.musical spoof on "hard boiled" fiction
Singin' in the Rain ___

Question 29

Since the 1950s,stylized acting which emphasizes externals has been the dominant form of acting in American films.___

Question 30

Matching
a.starred that muscular dancer,Gene Kelly
b.early 3D movie
c.filmmakers assume reformist perspective on story
d.revisionist western
e.made the Production Code blue
f.made for television movie won Oscars
g.director who relied heavily on storyboarding
h.Marilyn Monroe stars,Billy Wilder directs
i.writer blacklisted as a result of refusing HUAC
j.musical spoof on "hard boiled" fiction
The Moon Is Blue ___

Question 31

Subtext,especially important to method acting,involves what's beneath the language of the script: not what people say,but what they really want.___

Question 32

Matching
a.starred that muscular dancer,Gene Kelly
b.early 3D movie
c.filmmakers assume reformist perspective on story
d.revisionist western
e.made the Production Code blue
f.made for television movie won Oscars
g.director who relied heavily on storyboarding
h.Marilyn Monroe stars,Billy Wilder directs
i.writer blacklisted as a result of refusing HUAC
j.musical spoof on "hard boiled" fiction
High Noon ___

Question 33

As musicals like Gigi show,even musicals darkened and matured in the 50s.___

Question 34

What were some of the things that method acting helped actors achieve in their performance?

Question 35

Matching
a.starred that muscular dancer,Gene Kelly
b.early 3D movie
c.filmmakers assume reformist perspective on story
d.revisionist western
e.made the Production Code blue
f.made for television movie won Oscars
g.director who relied heavily on storyboarding
h.Marilyn Monroe stars,Billy Wilder directs
i.writer blacklisted as a result of refusing HUAC
j.musical spoof on "hard boiled" fiction
The Band Wagon ___

Question 36

Elia Kazan,and not Fred Zinneman,introduced the most famous method actors like Julie Harris and Marlon Brando.___
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Question 37

Matching
a.starred that muscular dancer,Gene Kelly
b.early 3D movie
c.filmmakers assume reformist perspective on story
d.revisionist western
e.made the Production Code blue
f.made for television movie won Oscars
g.director who relied heavily on storyboarding
h.Marilyn Monroe stars,Billy Wilder directs
i.writer blacklisted as a result of refusing HUAC
j.musical spoof on "hard boiled" fiction
Bwana Devil ___

Question 38

James Dean was a popular symbol of misunderstood youth,struggling to define his identity.___

Question 39

Lack of characterization is the norm in social realism where the social problem being examined is all consuming.___

Question 40

Alfred Hitchcock was so pure an artist that he did not believe that a filmmaker needed to be realistic about his public to keep making movies.___

Question 41

Why was Otto Preminger's challenge to the Production Code important to Hollywood movies?

Question 42

How did Alfred Hitchcock shock audiences out of their safety zones and complacency and further guarantee his success?

Question 43

Why did many genres like the mystery and the western experience "revisionism" at
the hands of directors like Fred Zinneman,and what was the effect of such revisionism?
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Question 44

What were some of the ways Alfred Hitchcock promoted himself to make sure that the public knew who he was and to further guarantee his success?

Question 45

What were the effects of the "red scare" and the HUAC investigations on Hollywood?