Which 1949 Ealing comedy features Alec Guinness playing eight members of the D'Ascoyne family?
Answer
Kind Hearts and Coronets
80 1940s Movies Trivia Questions with Answers
80 public questions with answers, drawn from the well. How many can you answer?
1940s Movies trivia examines a decade transformed by World War II, film noir, British comedy, international cinema, and Hollywood’s golden age. Questions cover Alec Guinness’s remarkable multi-role performance in Kind Hearts and Coronets, Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story, Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend, and the Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street. The category also includes Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa, British horror, and memorable supporting performances.
These 80 questions suit classic-cinema fans, film students, pub quizzes, and movie game nights. Players may need to identify a director’s first American film, connect an actor with a supernatural role, recognize a landmark Japanese drama, or remember a distinctive character from an anthology horror film. The set balances famous titles with deeper discoveries from the decade’s international and independent traditions.
Which 1949 Yasujiro Ozu film follows Noriko and her widowed father?
Answer
Late Spring
Which 1945 Billy Wilder film about an alcoholic writer won the Academy Award for Best Picture?
Answer
The Lost Weekend
Which 1947 film features Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle?
Answer
Miracle on 34th Street
Which 1943 Akira Kurosawa film was his directorial debut?
Answer
Sanshiro Sugata
Which 1947 Powell and Pressburger film is set in a Himalayan convent?
Answer
Black Narcissus
What 1949 British comedy features a man who murders his relatives to inherit a dukedom?
Answer
Kind Hearts and Coronets
What 1947 film directed by Orson Welles features a famous shootout in a hall of mirrors?
Answer
The Lady from Shanghai
What 1947 film starring Gregory Peck deals with anti-Semitism?
Answer
Gentleman's Agreement
What 1946 film starring Gregory Peck is about a boy who adopts a fawn?
Answer
The Yearling
What 1941 film directed by Preston Sturges follows a film director who goes undercover as a tramp?
Answer
Sullivan's Travels
What 1940 film starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan is a romantic comedy set in a gift shop?
Answer
The Shop Around the Corner
What 1940 film starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell is set in a newsroom?
Answer
His Girl Friday
What 1940 film directed by John Ford features Henry Fonda as Tom Joad?
Answer
The Grapes of Wrath
What 1949 film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, based on a Robert Penn Warren novel?
Answer
All the King's Men
What 1946 John Ford Western stars Henry Fonda as Wyatt Earp in the town of Tombstone?
Answer
My Darling Clementine
What 1946 British film directed by David Lean adapts Charles Dickens' novel?
Answer
Great Expectations
What 1943 Hitchcock film stars Teresa Wright as a young woman who suspects her uncle is a murderer?
Answer
Shadow of a Doubt
What 1942 comedy starring Carole Lombard is about a Polish actor impersonating a Nazi?
Answer
To Be or Not to Be
What 1942 biographical film tells the story of baseball player Lou Gehrig?
Answer
The Pride of the Yankees
What 1945 film stars Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman as a priest and a nun?
Answer
The Bells of St. Mary's
What 1945 film directed by Elia Kazan is based on Betty Smith's novel?
Answer
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
What 1944 film starring Elizabeth Taylor is about a girl who wins a horse?
Answer
National Velvet
What 1941 Universal horror film introduced the character Larry Talbot?
Answer
The Wolf Man
What 1948 Italian film directed by Vittorio De Sica is a landmark of neorealism?
Answer
Bicycle Thieves
What 1943 Western starring Henry Fonda is known for its critique of mob justice?
Answer
The Ox-Bow Incident
What 1940 British fantasy film in Technicolor features a thief who aids a prince?
Answer
The Thief of Bagdad
What 1946 film noir starring Lana Turner and John Garfield is about a love affair and murder?
Answer
The Postman Always Rings Twice
1940s Movies trivia — quick answers
What are good 1940s Movies trivia questions?
Good questions cover film noir, wartime dramas, comedies, horror anthologies, Christmas films, Japanese cinema, and Hollywood directors. Examples include identifying Alec Guinness’s eight-role comedy, naming the film with Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle, recognizing Akira Kurosawa’s debut, and matching Alfred Hitchcock to his first American production.
How hard is 1940s Movies trivia?
The category ranges from moderate to challenging. Famous films such as Miracle on 34th Street may be familiar, while questions about Yasujiro Ozu, Akira Kurosawa’s early career, British anthology horror, and specific acting roles require stronger knowledge of international and classic cinema.
Which 1949 film features Alec Guinness playing eight members of one family?
Kind Hearts and Coronets, a 1949 Ealing comedy directed by Robert Hamer, features Alec Guinness playing eight members of the D’Ascoyne family. The film follows Louis Mazzini, who attempts to inherit a dukedom by eliminating relatives who stand between him and the title.
Which 1945 Billy Wilder film won Best Picture?
The Lost Weekend, directed by Billy Wilder and released in 1945, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Ray Milland plays Don Birnam, a writer struggling with alcoholism. The film was notable for treating addiction as a serious dramatic subject rather than merely a source of comedy.
What was Akira Kurosawa’s directorial debut?
Akira Kurosawa made his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata, released in 1943. Set in nineteenth-century Japan, the film follows a young jujitsu student and his development under a master. Kurosawa went on to become one of the most influential directors in world cinema.