Q 01/05

Which 1927 film was the first feature with synchronized music and lip-synced speech?

A) Lights of New York

B) 42nd Street

C) Show Boat

D) The Jazz Singer

Answer · why

D) The Jazz Singer

The Jazz Singer: outside its songs it has barely two minutes of synchronized talking, and the rest of its dialogue still appears on title cards.

Q 02/05

Which 1929 musical, advertised as 'All-Talking, All-Singing, All-Dancing', won Best Picture?

A) Gold Diggers of Broadway

B) The Broadway Melody

C) Sunny Side Up

D) The Love Parade

Answer · why

B) The Broadway Melody

The Broadway Melody: MGM followed it with three more Broadway Melody films, and its song 'You Were Meant for Me' later turned up in Singin' in the Rai...

Q 03/05

Which song from The Wizard of Oz won the Oscar for Best Original Song?

A) We're Off to See the Wizard

B) Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead

C) If I Only Had a Brain

D) Over the Rainbow

Answer · why

D) Over the Rainbow

Over the Rainbow: the costly film needed re-releases in 1949 and 1955, then regular TV screenings, to become the favourite it is today.

Q 04/05

Which actor was originally cast as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz before being replaced by Jack Haley?

A) Ray Bolger

B) Buddy Ebsen

C) Bert Lahr

D) Frank Morgan

Answer · why

B) Buddy Ebsen

Buddy Ebsen: aluminium dust in his make-up coated his lungs, and his recording of 'If I Only Had a Heart' never made the finished film.

Q 05/05

Singin' in the Rain (1952) follows performers caught up in which Hollywood change?

A) The arrival of Technicolor

B) The rise of home television

C) The blacklist era

D) The switch from silents to talkies

Answer · why

D) The switch from silents to talkies

The switch from silents to talkies: the plot turns on a silent star whose grating voice has to be secretly dubbed for her first talkie.