Q 01/05

Which 1927 film, the first commercially successful sound feature, is said to have ended the silent era?

A) The Jazz Singer

B) Seventh Heaven

C) The Crowd

D) The Racket

Answer · why

A) The Jazz Singer

The Jazz Singer opened on 6 October 1927 with none of the Warner brothers in the audience: Sam Warner, who had pushed the studio into sound, had died ...

Q 02/05

What do film historians call the text cards that carry dialogue and narration in silent films?

A) Intertitles

B) Placards

C) Epigraphs

D) Surtitles

Answer · why

A) Intertitles

Intertitles had specialist writers, and the first Academy Awards gave an Oscar for title writing. It was never presented again, because talkies were a...

Q 03/05

Studios scrapped many unwanted silent film prints partly to salvage which precious metal from the image layer?

A) Gold

B) Platinum

C) Silver

D) Palladium

Answer · why

C) Silver

Silver forms the image in black-and-white film, so prints with no commercial value left were destroyed for its scrap value. About three-quarters of Am...

Q 04/05

What kind of film stock made early movies so prone to decay and fire?

A) Polyester

B) Vinyl

C) Acetate

D) Nitrate

Answer · why

D) Nitrate

Nitrate film carries enough oxygen in its own molecules to keep burning without air, so dousing a blaze with water may not put it out. Kodak stopped m...

Q 05/05

In which country did live narrators called benshi stand beside the screen and voice the characters of silent films?

A) China

B) Japan

C) Thailand

D) India

Answer · why

B) Japan

Japan's benshi were a draw in their own right, with their photos printed on film posters. Their popularity helped keep silent pictures in the country'...