100 Movie Trivia Questions and Answers: From the Silents to the 90s

The hardest question I ever set at a quiz night was also the shortest: “What is Rosebud?” Half the room knew it instantly. The other half argued for ten minutes and then groaned when the answer was read out. That is the whole pleasure of good movie trivia questions: they reward people who have watched closely and still feel fair to people who have not.

Below are 100 of them, split into ten rounds of ten. Each question fits on one line and the answer follows in bold, so you can read them straight off the screen or cover the bold text and test yourself. The rounds move roughly through film history, then finish with two mixed rounds on stars, directors and what happened behind the camera.

How to use these movie trivia questions

For a team quiz, read one round at a time and mark after each. For a harder game, drop the multiple-choice crutch entirely and ask for exact names. If a round is too easy for your crowd, the silent and behind-the-scenes rounds usually separate the casual viewers from the late-show regulars.

Round 1: The silent era

1. Which 1927 film is credited as the first feature with synchronized dialogue sequences? The Jazz Singer
2. Which film won the very first Academy Award for the top picture prize? Wings
3. In which 1923 comedy does Harold Lloyd dangle from the hands of a clock? Safety Last!
4. Who directed Metropolis (1927)? Fritz Lang
5. Count Orlok is the vampire in which 1922 German film? Nosferatu
6. Buster Keaton’s 1926 Civil War comedy is named after what? A locomotive (The General)
7. Which comedian created the Little Tramp? Charlie Chaplin
8. Who played the title role in The Phantom of the Opera (1925)? Lon Chaney
9. Which 1916 D.W. Griffith epic weaves together four stories from different eras? Intolerance
10. The Odessa Steps sequence appears in which 1925 Soviet film? Battleship Potemkin

Round 2: The 1930s

11. What is the name of Dorothy’s dog in The Wizard of Oz (1939)? Toto
12. What color are Dorothy’s slippers in the 1939 film? Ruby red (they are silver in the book)
13. Which film won Best Picture for 1939? Gone with the Wind
14. Which giant ape climbs the Empire State Building in 1933? King Kong
15. Who played the monster in Frankenstein (1931)? Boris Karloff
16. Which 1934 Frank Capra comedy won all five major Oscars? It Happened One Night
17. What was Disney’s first full-length animated feature? Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
18. What kind of animal is Baby in Bringing Up Baby (1938)? A leopard
19. Which comedy team starred in Duck Soup (1933)? The Marx Brothers
20. Who directed Stagecoach (1939)? John Ford

Round 3: The 1940s

21. In Citizen Kane, what is Rosebud? A sled
22. What is the name of Rick’s nightclub in Casablanca? Rick’s Café Américain
23. Who played Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941)? Humphrey Bogart
24. What is the name of the angel in It’s a Wonderful Life? Clarence
25. Which film won Best Picture for 1946? The Best Years of Our Lives
26. Who directed Double Indemnity (1944)? Billy Wilder
27. Which is the only Hitchcock film to win Best Picture? Rebecca (1940)
28. What instrument plays the famous score of The Third Man? The zither
29. Who directed Bicycle Thieves (1948)? Vittorio De Sica
30. Which 1945 Billy Wilder drama about an alcoholic writer won Best Picture? The Lost Weekend

Round 4: The 1950s

31. What is the name of the faded star in Sunset Boulevard? Norma Desmond
32. Which 1959 epic won eleven Oscars? Ben-Hur
33. Who swings around a lamppost in Singin’ in the Rain? Gene Kelly
34. Why is the photographer stuck in his apartment in Rear Window? A broken leg
35. Which 1954 Kurosawa film has villagers hiring warriors? Seven Samurai
36. Who says “Well, nobody’s perfect” in Some Like It Hot? Osgood Fielding III (Joe E. Brown)
37. Who starred in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)? James Dean
38. What is the robot called in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)? Gort
39. Marilyn Monroe’s dress billows over a subway grate in which film? The Seven Year Itch
40. In which Bergman film does a knight play chess with Death? The Seventh Seal

Round 5: The 1960s

41. What is the motel called in Psycho? The Bates Motel
42. Who played Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s? Audrey Hepburn
43. What was the first James Bond film, released in 1962? Dr. No
44. What is the ship’s computer called in 2001: A Space Odyssey? HAL 9000
45. Who played the title role in Lawrence of Arabia? Peter O’Toole
46. Mrs. Robinson is a character in which 1967 film? The Graduate
47. Which 1968 film ends with a half-buried Statue of Liberty? Planet of the Apes
48. Who directed Dr. Strangelove? Stanley Kubrick
49. Clint Eastwood plays “Blondie” in which Sergio Leone western? The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
50. Which 1968 George A. Romero film set the template for modern zombie movies? Night of the Living Dead

Round 6: The 1970s

51. Whose prize horse ends up in his bed in The Godfather? Jack Woltz
52. What did the crew of Jaws nickname the mechanical shark? Bruce
53. Which character asks “You talkin’ to me?” Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver)
54. Which boxing film won Best Picture for 1976? Rocky
55. What is Luke Skywalker’s home planet in Star Wars (1977)? Tatooine
56. What is the name of the island town in Jaws? Amity
57. Which 1979 film was sold with “In space no one can hear you scream”? Alien
58. Who is the masked killer in Halloween (1978)? Michael Myers
59. Who runs the ward in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? Nurse Ratched
60. Who wrote and directed Annie Hall? Woody Allen

Round 7: The 1980s

61. What speed must the DeLorean hit to time travel? 88 miles per hour
62. Which candy does Elliott use to lure E.T.? Reese’s Pieces
63. What is Indiana Jones afraid of? Snakes
64. Which giant marshmallow figure stomps through Ghostbusters? The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
65. What is the hotel called in The Shining? The Overlook
66. Who leads the rogue replicants in Blade Runner? Roy Batty
67. In which building is Die Hard set? Nakatomi Plaza
68. Inigo Montoya hunts a man with how many fingers on his right hand? Six
69. What is the name of Ferris Bueller’s best friend? Cameron
70. Who played the title role in The Terminator (1984)? Arnold Schwarzenegger

Round 8: The 1990s

71. Who played Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs? Anthony Hopkins
72. In Pulp Fiction, what is a Quarter Pounder called in Paris? A Royale with Cheese
73. What is the blue diamond called in Titanic? The Heart of the Ocean
74. According to Forrest Gump’s mother, life is like what? A box of chocolates
75. Which 1999 film offers its hero a red pill or a blue pill? The Matrix
76. Who is the cowboy doll in Toy Story? Woody
77. Which Stephen King novella title begins “Rita Hayworth and…”? Shawshank Redemption
78. Who says “Life finds a way” in Jurassic Park? Ian Malcolm
79. What is the first rule of Fight Club? You do not talk about Fight Club
80. Who directed and starred in Unforgiven (1992)? Clint Eastwood

Round 9: Stars and directors

81. Which director made a cameo in most of his own films? Alfred Hitchcock
82. Which actress won four Best Actress Oscars? Katharine Hepburn
83. Which star was born Archibald Leach? Cary Grant
84. Which star was born Marion Morrison? John Wayne
85. Which star was born Norma Jeane Mortenson? Marilyn Monroe
86. Who directed Rashomon (1950)? Akira Kurosawa
87. Who directed The 400 Blows (1959)? François Truffaut
88. Which director made both Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark? Steven Spielberg
89. Who directed La Dolce Vita? Federico Fellini
90. Who played the piano player Sam in Casablanca? Dooley Wilson

Round 10: Behind the camera

91. Which actor was the first Tin Man, before falling ill from the makeup? Buddy Ebsen
92. What stood in for blood in Psycho’s shower scene? Chocolate syrup
93. Which studio’s logo features a roaring lion? MGM
94. For which role did Hattie McDaniel become the first Black Oscar winner? Mammy in Gone with the Wind
95. Whose novel was Jaws based on? Peter Benchley
96. Whose novel was Psycho based on? Robert Bloch
97. Who composed the scores for both Jaws and Star Wars? John Williams
98. Who wrote Psycho’s shrieking string score? Bernard Herrmann
99. What was Michael Myers’ mask originally made to look like? Captain Kirk from Star Trek
100. Which category did Citizen Kane win its only Oscar in? Original Screenplay

A few answers that start arguments

Question 2 trips people up because the first ceremony had two top prizes. Wings took Outstanding Picture, while Sunrise won a separate award for Unique and Artistic Production; the Academy now treats Wings as the first Best Picture. Question 12 is a good reminder that the 1939 film changed L. Frank Baum’s silver shoes to ruby to show off Technicolor. And question 99 surprises almost everyone: the Halloween mask was a cheap Captain Kirk mask that the production designer painted pale and reshaped.

If your group enjoyed the Hollywood rounds, the stories behind several of these answers are in our classic movie trivia piece, and the full set of quizzes lives in the Trivia & Quotes section.