1917 (Film)
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
50 free 1917 (Film) trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
1917 drops you into the trenches of the First World War beside two young British soldiers and never lets you step away. They have until dawn to carry an order across abandoned enemy ground and stop an attack that would send hundreds of men into a trap. The story is small and the deadline is merciless, which is why the film still grips on a second or third viewing. This quiz covers the whole journey: the dangers along the route, the people the pair meet and the ending. It also goes behind the camera, to the personal history that started it all, the well-known faces in small roles, the places around Britain that doubled for France, the music, the box office and the awards season that followed. A few questions step back to the real events of spring 1917. The questions run from easy openers for anyone who has seen the film once to deep cuts for people who watch the making-of features. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will pick up something new even when you guess.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which wartime job, done by the director's grandfather, inspired the story of the film 1917?
Messenger
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.
Q 02The film 1917 unfolds on 6 April 1917, the very day which country declared war on Germany?
The USA
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.
Q 03Which filmmaking feat, also attempted by Oscar winner Birdman, is the film 1917 best known for?
Appearing as one continuous take
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.
Q 04In the film 1917, which animal sets off the German tripwire in an underground barracks?
A rat
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.
Q 05Which film beat 1917 to Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars, the first non-English-language winner?
Parasite
Parasite won four Oscars that night, while 1917 went home with three after starting the evening as a favourite.
Q 06Which British director, an Oscar winner for his debut American Beauty, made the war film 1917?
Sam Mendes
Sam Mendes co-wrote, produced and directed it, and was knighted in the 2020 New Year Honours shortly before the film reached British cinemas.
Q 07Which Star Wars film did the movie 1917 knock off the top of the box office in January 2020?
The Rise of Skywalker
The Rise of Skywalker was dethroned when 1917 expanded nationwide and took $36.5 million, well above the $25 million forecast.
Q 08Which Doctor Strange star plays Colonel Mackenzie, who must call off the attack in the film 1917?
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch appears only in the final minutes, and his jaded colonel predicts that command will soon order another attack anyway.
Q 09Which Game of Thrones actor plays Lieutenant Joseph Blake, the brother at risk in the film 1917?
Richard Madden
Richard Madden rose to fame as Robb Stark and appears only in the closing minutes, when Schofield finally finds the lieutenant alive.
Q 10What is the deadly ground between enemy trenches, crossed early in the film 1917, called?
No man's land
No man's land is older than the trenches: the term first described disputed territory or a dumping ground for refuse between fiefdoms.
Q 11In the film 1917, Blake is fatally stabbed by a man he has just rescued from which burning wreck?
A crashed aeroplane
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.
Q 12As Tom Blake lies dying in the film 1917, whom does Schofield promise to write to on his behalf?
His mother
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.
Q 13Which star of The King's Speech plays General Erinmore, who gives the order in the film 1917?
Colin Firth
Q 21Will Schofield in the film 1917 is a veteran of which 1916 battle, fought the previous summer?
The Somme
The Somme left two bulges in the German positions, and the 1917 withdrawal that opens the film was designed to abandon both.
Q 22Which comic-book film led the 2020 Oscar nominations with eleven, one more than the movie 1917?
Joker
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.
Q 23Which rank, marked by a single sleeve chevron, do Schofield and Blake both hold in the film 1917?
Lance corporal
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.
Colin Firth, an Oscar winner for playing a stammering king, joined the cast in March 2019, shortly before filming began.
Q 14The fortified line the Germans fall back to in the film 1917 was named by the British after whom?
Hindenburg
Hindenburg ordered the line built soon after taking over the German high command in 1916; his own side called it the Siegfried position.
Q 15At which 2020 ceremony was the film 1917 the big winner, taking seven prizes including Best Film?
The BAFTAs
The BAFTAs gave it seven wins from nine nominations at the Royal Albert Hall, including the prize for Outstanding British Film.
Q 16Why must the order to halt the attack in the film 1917 be carried on foot rather than sent ahead?
Telephone lines were cut
Telephone lines were cut, which was true to life: heavy artillery bombardment meant cables near the fighting were often down.
Q 17In the film 1917, who ends up with the fresh milk Schofield collected at the abandoned farm?
An orphaned baby
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.
Q 18At which London studio was the orchestral score for the film 1917 recorded?
Abbey Road
Abbey Road hosted an 87-piece orchestra for nine weeks of sessions, which the composer called physically exhausting.
Q 19In which theatre of the First World War do the two British heroes of the film 1917 serve?
Western Front
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.
Q 20Which famous director's company, Amblin Partners, won a bidding war to make the film 1917?
Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg co-founded Amblin Partners, which beat Paramount, Sony and New Regency to the project in June 2018.
Q 24An hour into the film 1917, the screen goes black and night falls when what happens to Schofield?
He is knocked out
He is knocked out when a sniper's bullet strikes his helmet. The director wanted two movements: afternoon to dusk, then night into dawn.
Q 25Which actor, a villain in the BBC drama Sherlock, plays Lieutenant Leslie in the war film 1917?
Andrew Scott
Andrew Scott, Sherlock's Moriarty, shot the brief role in 2019, the year he also played the priest in the second series of Fleabag.
Q 26Which cinematographer, famed for Fargo and No Country for Old Men, won an Oscar for the film 1917?
Roger Deakins
Roger Deakins went 13 nominations without a win, then took the Oscar on his fourteenth and fifteenth, the second of them for 1917.
Q 27On which James Bond film had the director, cinematographer and composer of the film 1917 all worked?
Skyfall
Skyfall reunited the trio in 2012 and was the first Bond film to be shot digitally.
Q 28Lee Smith, editor of the film 1917, had already won an Oscar for which Christopher Nolan picture?
Dunkirk
Dunkirk brought him the Academy Award for Best Film Editing; he first worked with the director of 1917 on the Bond film Spectre.
Q 29What does Schofield look at as he rests against a tree in the closing moments of the film 1917?
Photographs of his family
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.
Q 30Winning a Golden Globe for the film 1917, its director saluted which rival nominee for The Irishman?
Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese was up for the same directing prize; the winner also saluted his own grandfather, whose war stories started it all.