Classic Movies

For most of the twentieth century, going to the movies was an event. You dressed up a little, paid a few coins at the box office and settled into a velvet seat under a painted ceiling for a newsreel, a cartoon and the feature. The great Hollywood studios turned out hundreds of pictures a year, and their stars became as familiar as neighbors: the tough guy in a trench coat, the girl in ruby slippers, the dancing couple gliding across a polished floor.

Many of us first met those films on a Saturday afternoon at the local theater, at a drive-in from the back seat of the family car, or years later on the late show and the Sunday afternoon movie on television. Lines from them slipped into everyday talk, and some of us can still recite whole scenes. By the 1970s a new generation of young directors was filling theaters again with thrillers, crime sagas and underdog stories.

These four quizzes cover Hollywood from the 1930s through the 1970s. One is about the stars, another about the lines we still quote, a third about the directors who stood behind the camera and the last about Oscar winners and the big pictures everyone lined up to see. There is no timer and no rush, so dim the lights, pass the popcorn and enjoy the show.