Deck 5: Theatres, Drive-Ins, and Living Rooms: Changing Screens, Changing Movies, 1949-1966

Question 1

What makes Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 movie The Ten Commandments a good example of a "road show" picture?

A) The movie tells the story of people on a long journey.
B) The movie was a new version of DeMille's silent version of The Ten Commandments.
C) The movie was shown in special engagements with advanced ticket sales.
D) The movie featured elaborate special effects.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

How did the increasing number of international movies playing in the US affect the power of the Production Code Authority?

A) Unlike American filmmakers, few European directors faced any kind of censorship in their home countries.
B) International movies did not need the approval of the PCA to be shown in the US, allowing viewers screen experiences they couldn't have with American movies.
C) International movies were increasingly becoming more popular than Hollywood movies.
D) International movies largely escaped the attention of American censorship organizations.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

This talkative romantic comedy was one of the first Hollywood movies to challenge the power of the Production Code Authority.

A) Some Like It Hot
B) The Moon is Blue
C) Pillow Talk
D) Ways of Love

Answer 3

B

Question 4

This director made a series of influential westerns with the actor Jimmy Stewart that presented complex, morally ambiguous versions of the cowboy hero figure.

A) Nicholas Ray
B) John Ford
C) Anthony Mann
D) Delmer Dave

Question 5

This science fiction classic has been interpreted as both a critique of Communism and a critique of anti-Communism.

A) The Day the Earth Stood Still
B) The Fly
C) Invasion of the Body Snatchers
D) Them!

Question 6

This handsome star of a series of sex comedies with Doris Day had a personal life that represented a more complicated reality of sexual and gender reality than his screen persona of all-American masculinity.

A) James Stewart
B) John Wayne
C) James Dean
D) Rock Hudson

Question 7

Although he only appeared in three major roles before his untimely death, his work is a prime example of the emergence of Method acting in 1950s movies.

A) James Stewart
B) Frankie Avalon
C) James Dean
D) Rock Hudson

Question 8

This 1955 John Ford western features John Wayne as an ex-Confederate officer whose racism and anger almost causes him to murder his niece after her capture by Comanche warriors.

A) The Searchers
B) The Far Country
C) 3:10 to Yuma
D) Stagecoach

Question 9

This Nicholas Ray movie represented a sympathetic and emotionally complex look at American adolescence and became an influential part of emerging youth culture in the 1950s.

A) Beach Party
B) The Searchers
C) Rebel Without a Cause
D) Johnny Guitar

Question 10

Which of the following movies is the best example of the influence of Italian neo-realism on Hollywood movies?

A) High Noon
B) On the Waterfront
C) The Moon is Blue
D) Psycho

Question 11

Which of the following movies is the best example of the increasingly international nature of movie production in the 1950s?

A) Bridge on the River Kwai
B) Rear Window
C) Rebel Without a Cause
D) On the Waterfront

Question 12

Which of the following developments contributed most directly to the growth of drive-in movies?

A) The popularity of spectacular road show movies.
B) The increasing number of families moving to the suburbs.
C) Cold War tensions between the USA and the USSR.
D) Concerns over the growing influence of teen culture.

Question 13

This former regular on the Mickey Mouse Club television show became a star of youth-oriented "beach party" movies.

A) Annette Funicello
B) Natalie Wood
C) Marilyn Monroe
D) Doris Day

Question 14

In what way did the explosive growth of television actually benefit the American movie industry?

A) The demand for original television programming created work for movie production facilities and professionals.
B) Television created a market for showing older Hollywood movies.
C) Movie artists like Alfred Hitchcock and Lucille Ball used television to increase their popularity.
D) All of the above.

Question 15

This dark and cynical look at the entertainment industry and the news media is an example of how Hollywood movies could still cast a critical eye on American culture even in the conformist 1950s.

A) The Grapes of Wrath
B) Rebel Without a Cause
C) Network
D) Sweet Smell of Success

Question 16

What is one significant way that the "package/project" system of movie production differed from the vertical integration model of the studio system?

A) The package/project system used the celebrity of movie stars to attract viewers.
B) In the package/project system, talent agents began putting actors, writers, and directors together as "packages" they would then bring to the studios.
C) Hollywood became increasingly reluctant to make lavish, big budget movies under the package/project system.
D) The traditional studios largely refused to work with producers involved in the package/project system.

Question 17

Which of the following best describes the impact of anti-Communist "blacklisting" in the movie business of the 1950s?

A) The blacklists destroyed or damaged the careers of many movie actors, writers, and directors.
B) The blacklists were at worst a temporary annoyance to the movie industry.
C) Few Americans took the blacklists very seriously.
D) The blacklists helped improve Hollywood's artistic and commercial reputation.

Question 18

This western, starring the politically conservative movie star Gary Cooper, has been often viewed as an allegorical critique of the anti-Communist hysteria in the 1950s.

A) The Searchers
B) The Far Country
C) High Noon
D) 3:10 to Yuma

Question 19

The term "runaway production" refers to:

A) A movie that winds up costing far more than its original budget.
B) A movie that switches from one studio to another in mid production.
C) An American movie filmed overseas to take advantage of lower production costs.
D) An adventure movie that takes place in more than one country.

Question 20

His biggest box office success, this low-budget black-and-white movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock anticipated the more graphic depictions of violence that defined the next screen age of American movies.

A) Rear Window
B) Psycho
C) Vertigo
D) To Catch A Thief