Q 01/05

Which Nobel Prize-winning novelist co-wrote the screenplay of Humphrey Bogart's film The Big Sleep?

A) Ernest Hemingway

B) John Steinbeck

C) William Faulkner

D) Sinclair Lewis

Answer · why

C) William Faulkner

William Faulkner wrote alternating sections of the first draft with another writer, then left the project. He was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Lite...

Q 02/05

In The Big Sleep, whose fatal plunge off the Lido Pier could even the novel's author not explain?

A) A crooked policeman

B) The butler

C) A nightclub gambler

D) The chauffeur

Answer · why

D) The chauffeur

The chauffeur, Owen Taylor, baffled the filmmakers too. Asked by wire whether it was murder or suicide, the novelist admitted he did not know either.

Q 03/05

What did Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall do in May 1945, while The Big Sleep waited on the shelf?

A) Founded a studio

B) Toured army camps

C) Got married

D) Left Hollywood

Answer · why

C) Got married

Got married: the wedding followed Bogart's divorce, and the public's fascination with the couple later prompted reshoots that gave them more scenes to...

Q 04/05

What does the title The Big Sleep stand for, a phrase Philip Marlowe broods over as the novel ends?

A) Death

B) A coma

C) Prison

D) Amnesia

Answer · why

A) Death

Death is the big sleep of the title, a euphemism from the book's last pages. Time magazine later put the novel on its list of the 100 best.

Q 05/05

Which Coen brothers comedy was loosely inspired by the first Philip Marlowe novel and its famously tangled plot?

A) The Big Lebowski

B) Raising Arizona

C) Burn After Reading

D) Miller's Crossing

Answer · why

A) The Big Lebowski

The Big Lebowski swaps the private eye for a bowling slacker but keeps what Joel Coen called a hopelessly complex plot that is ultimately unimportant.