50 Fun Facts About 1917 (Film)

Which wartime job, done by the director's grandfather, inspired the story of the film 1917?

Messenger Alfred stood just 5 ft 4 in, so he could run unseen beneath the mist that hung over the battlefield. He kept the stories to himself until his seventies.

The film 1917 unfolds on 6 April 1917, the very day which country declared war on Germany?

The USA entered the war that very day, when Congress voted to declare war on Germany. Its troops only began reaching Europe later in the year.

Which filmmaking feat, also attempted by Oscar winner Birdman, is the film 1917 best known for?

Appearing as one continuous take was an illusion built from long takes and hidden joins. Strictly it is two takes, split by a single cut to black.

In the film 1917, which animal sets off the German tripwire in an underground barracks?

A rat trips the wire, and the blast nearly kills Schofield before Blake saves him. Booby traps like it were a real feature of the German withdrawal that spring.

Which film beat 1917 to Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars, the first non-English-language winner?

Parasite won four Oscars that night, while 1917 went home with three after starting the evening as a favourite.

Which British director, an Oscar winner for his debut American Beauty, made the war film 1917?

Sam Mendes co-wrote, produced and directed it, and was knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours shortly before the film reached British cinemas.

Which Star Wars film did the movie 1917 knock off the top of the box office in January 2020?

The Rise of Skywalker was dethroned when 1917 expanded nationwide and took $36.5 million, well above the $25 million forecast.

Which Doctor Strange star plays Colonel Mackenzie, who must call off the attack in the film 1917?

Benedict Cumberbatch appears only in the final minutes, and his jaded colonel predicts that command will soon order another attack anyway.

Which Game of Thrones actor plays Lieutenant Joseph Blake, the brother at risk in the film 1917?

Richard Madden rose to fame as Robb Stark and appears only in the closing minutes, when Schofield finally finds the lieutenant alive.

What is the deadly ground between enemy trenches, crossed early in the film 1917, called?

No man's land is older than the trenches: the term first described disputed territory or a dumping ground for refuse between fiefdoms.

In the film 1917, Blake is fatally stabbed by a man he has just rescued from which burning wreck?

A crashed aeroplane brings the war to a quiet farmyard: its German airman, shot down in a dogfight overhead, knifes Blake moments after being dragged clear.

As Tom Blake lies dying in the film 1917, whom does Schofield promise to write to on his behalf?

His mother is to get a letter about his bravery. Schofield also takes Blake's rings and dog tag for the brother he is still trying to reach.

Which star of The King's Speech plays General Erinmore, who gives the order in the film 1917?

Colin Firth, an Oscar winner for playing a stammering king, joined the cast in March 2019, shortly before filming began.

The fortified line the Germans fall back to in the film 1917 was named by the British after whom?

Hindenburg ordered the line built soon after taking over the German high command in 1916; his own side called it the Siegfried position.

At which 2020 ceremony was the film 1917 the big winner, taking seven prizes including Best Film?

The BAFTAs gave it seven wins from nine nominations at the Royal Albert Hall, including the prize for Outstanding British Film.

Why must the order to halt the attack in the film 1917 be carried on foot rather than sent ahead?

Telephone lines were cut, which was true to life: heavy artillery bombardment meant cables near the fighting were often down.

In the film 1917, who ends up with the fresh milk Schofield collected at the abandoned farm?

An orphaned baby, hidden in a ruined town with a young French woman, gets the milk, and Schofield hands over his tinned food as well.

At which London studio was the orchestral score for the film 1917 recorded?

Abbey Road hosted an 87-piece orchestra for nine weeks of sessions, which the composer called physically exhausting.

In which theatre of the First World War do the two British heroes of the film 1917 serve?

The Western Front is where the film's Germans have quietly pulled back from one sector of northern France, leaving traps and ruins behind them.

Which famous director's company, Amblin Partners, won a bidding war to make the film 1917?

Steven Spielberg co-founded Amblin Partners, which beat Paramount, Sony and New Regency to the project in June 2018.

Will Schofield in the film 1917 is a veteran of which 1916 battle, fought the previous summer?

The Somme left two bulges in the German positions, and the 1917 withdrawal that opens the film was designed to abandon both.

Which comic-book film led the 2020 Oscar nominations with eleven, one more than the movie 1917?

Joker led with eleven nominations, while 1917, The Irishman and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood tied on ten: the first year four films reached double figures.

Which rank, marked by a single sleeve chevron, do Schofield and Blake both hold in the film 1917?

Lance corporal is the lowest non-commissioned rank in the British Army, yet a general hands these two a mission to save 1,600 men.

An hour into the film 1917, the screen goes black and night falls when what happens to Schofield?

He is knocked out when a sniper's bullet strikes his helmet. The director wanted two movements: afternoon to dusk, then night into dawn.

Which actor, a villain in the BBC drama Sherlock, plays Lieutenant Leslie in the war film 1917?

Andrew Scott, Sherlock's Moriarty, shot the brief role in 2019, the year he also played the priest in the second series of Fleabag.

Which cinematographer, famed for Fargo and No Country for Old Men, won an Oscar for the film 1917?

Roger Deakins went 13 nominations without a win, then took the Oscar on his fourteenth and fifteenth, the second of them for 1917.

On which James Bond film had the director, cinematographer and composer of the film 1917 all worked?

Skyfall reunited the trio in 2012 and was the first Bond film to be shot digitally.

Lee Smith, editor of the film 1917, had already won an Oscar for which Christopher Nolan picture?

Dunkirk brought him the Academy Award for Best Film Editing; he first worked with the director of 1917 on the Bond film Spectre.

What does Schofield look at as he rests against a tree in the closing moments of the film 1917?

Photographs of his family appear only in the last moments, after Schofield has found Blake's brother alive and told him of Tom's death.

Winning a Golden Globe for the film 1917, its director saluted which rival nominee for The Irishman?

Martin Scorsese was up for the same directing prize; the winner also saluted his own grandfather, whose war stories started it all.

Which English actor, a Lost Boy in 2003's Peter Pan, plays Schofield in the war film 1917?

George MacKay was spotted at school by an acting scout and won the part of Curly, his first professional acting job.

Which actor, the boy king Tommen in Game of Thrones, plays Tom Blake in the war film 1917?

Dean-Charles Chapman had his own link to the war: his great-great-grandfather was wounded in France and taken prisoner by the Germans.

In which Scottish city, home of TV's Taggart, was 1917 film co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns born?

Glasgow gave her a first break at 15: work experience on Taggart, which had used the garage where her father worked as a set.

Which British star reportedly sought a lead in the film 1917 but was tied to Chaos Walking reshoots?

Tom Holland was contractually obliged to return for Chaos Walking in April 2019, the month filming on 1917 began.

Joe Anders, Private Willock in the film 1917, is the son of its director and which Oscar winner?

Kate Winslet's son was 15 during filming and later wrote the screenplay for Goodbye June, her debut as a director.

Which unscripted accident during Schofield's final sprint was kept in the finished film 1917?

He collided with extras, knocking into two of them on the second attempt, and simply kept running. The 300-metre dash took two days to film.

Which American folk song does a lone soldier sing to his resting company in a wood in the film 1917?

The Wayfaring Stranger was left off the soundtrack album, so more than 2,500 fans signed a petition until a studio version was released.

Which Oscar did the film 1917 win alongside those for cinematography and sound mixing?

Visual Effects made it three wins from ten nominations, though the film missed the top prize it had been tipped for.

Filming the war movie 1917 on which stretch of Wiltshire countryside worried conservationists?

Salisbury Plain may hide undiscovered remains, so campaigners asked for a survey before any trenches were dug for the sets.

Which Kingsman actor plays Captain Smith, whose passing unit picks up Schofield in the film 1917?

Mark Strong, Merlin in the Kingsman films, appears only briefly, leading the lorry convoy that carries Schofield as far as a broken canal bridge.

Operation Alberich, the retreat behind the film 1917, shares its name with a dwarf in whose operas?

Wagner made Alberich the villainous dwarf of his Ring cycle; the real operation wrecked roads, wells and villages as the Germans pulled back.

Alfred, the grandfather whose stories inspired the film 1917, was born on which Caribbean island?

Trinidad later knew him as a novelist, the author of Pitch Lake and Black Fauns, and he won the Military Medal for his war service.

Which 2005 Gulf War drama first paired the director and cinematographer of the film 1917?

Jarhead, a study of boredom among Marines waiting for a war, began a partnership that reached its fourth film with 1917.

Which composer of Finding Nemo and The Shawshank Redemption wrote the score for the film 1917?

Thomas Newman earned his fifteenth Oscar nomination for the score, and went home empty-handed for the fifteenth time.

Which sound tells Schofield he must leave the French woman sheltering him in the film 1917?

A clock chiming reminds him that time is running out; he leaves despite her pleas and is soon fleeing a German patrol.

Which French town, past a broken canal bridge, does Schofield cross by night in the film 1917?

Écoust-Saint-Mein is a real village in the Pas-de-Calais, and its name also titles one of the tracks on the soundtrack album.

The 2nd Battalion of which British unit must Schofield and Blake reach by dawn in the film 1917?

Devonshire Regiment soldiers, 1,600 of them, are about to walk into a trap; one historian objected that no unit would attack without artillery support.

Which northern English river, filmed at the Low Force falls, stood in for France in the movie 1917?

The Tees shoot needed warning signs for walkers, because prosthetic bodies were strewn around the site.

At which English studio was the movie 1917 based, with a ruined French town built on its backlot?

Shepperton held the one big set; the cinematographer said everything else was shot on location, including half a mile of freshly dug trenches.

A Sikh sepoy appears in the film 1917, yet India's infantry left France in 1915 for which region?

The Middle East took the Indian infantry at the end of 1915; in France they had served in their own regiments rather than scattered through British ones.