Chapter 06: Hollywood in the Twenties
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. By the end of World War I
a. the Motion Picture Patents Corporation still had control over film production.
b. there were no significant independent producers in Hollywood.
c. the motion picture audience was still largely poor and immigrant.
d. the movies had still not become a significant national industry.
e. All of the above are true.
f. None of the above are true.
2. The rise of the feature film after World War I led to
a. the construction of enormous “atmospheric” theaters.
b. a dramatic increase in production budgets.
c. a standardization of film production practices.
d. increased Wall Street investment in the film industry.
e. all of the above
f. none of the above
3. Which of the following production companies was NOT one of the Big Three at the beginning of the
1920s?
a. First National
b. Loew’s, Inc.
c. Famous Players-Lasky
d. Fox Film Corporation
e. Only b and c were members of the Big Three.
f. None of the above were members of the Big Three.
4. The conglomerate that owned MGM was
a. First National. d. United Artists.
b. Loew’s, Inc. e. Famous Players-Lasky.
c. Film Booking Office. f. none of the above
5. Which of the following production companies was NOT one of the “Little Five” during the 1920s?
a. Warner Brothers
b. Paramount
c. Fox Film Corporation
d. Universal
e. Producers Distributing Corporation
f. All of the above were in the Little Five.
6. United Artists
a. was the studio founded by Thomas Ince.
b. was never a significant production entity.
c. was a company formed by actors and directors.
d. was started to combat the practice of block booking.
e. All of the above are true.
f. None of the above are true.
7. The figure most responsible for setting the practices of the Hollywood studio system was
a. D. W. Griffith. d. Thomas Ince.
b. Mack Sennett. e. Harry Aitken.
c. Frank Borzage. f. none of the above
8. Which of the following was a component of Ince’s production system?
a. Editing was supervised by the director of the film until the film was complete.
b. It was the job of the director alone to do shot breakdowns and schedules.
c. Loose scenarios allowed the actors to improvise much of the action.
d. He divided the work among several production units, each headed by a director.
e. Directors were given a great deal of creative freedom.
f. all of the above
9. Ince’s production methods
a. were very much like Griffith’s.
b. did not turn out to be commercially viable.
c. were never replicated by any other studios.
d. put the screenwriter in the preeminent creative position in the production process.
e. produced many excellent slapstick comedies but were not applicable to other genres.
f. none of the above
10. The three film directors who joined together to form the Triangle Film Corporation were
a. Sennett, Griffith, and Ince. d. Griffith, Chaplin, and Fairbanks.
b. Ince, Sennett, and Aitken. e. Sennett, Fairbanks, and Griffith.
c. Ince, Griffith, and Chaplin. f. none of the above
11. The Triangle Film Corporation
a. was founded by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks.
b. was one of the most successful studios of the silent era.
c. failed because it misunderstood the public’s changing taste.
d. failed because it hired inexperienced directors and stars.
e. caused the end of Thomas Ince’s career.
f. None of the above are true.
12. The director who ran the Keystone Film Company was
a. Charlie Chaplin. d. Harry Aitken.
b. D. W. Griffith. e. Mack Sennett.
c. Thomas Ince. f. none of the above
13. Which of the following would be the best description of a Keystone film?
a. narratively complex romantic comedies with an emphasis on character
b. tightly constructed action films often with a western setting
c. beautifully photographed epics with elaborate period costumes and settings
d. violent, chaotic physical comedy with fast-paced editing and frantic action
e. popular melodramas featuring the biggest stars of the era
f. none of the above
14. The Keystone films
a. were produced from detailed scenarios.
b. were all directed by Mack Sennett.
c. were popular in the United States but not internationally.
d. focused on narrative logic and character development.
e. All of the above are true.
f. None of the above are true.
15. Which of the following slapstick director/performers did NOT work for Mack Sennett?
a. Charlie Chaplin d. Harry Langdon
b. Fatty Arbuckle e. Mabel Normand
c. Hal Roach f. All of the above worked for Sennett.
16. The studio where Chaplin first developed his “little tramp” persona was
a. Essanay. d. United Artists.
b. Mutual. e. Charlie Chaplin Pictures.
c. First National. f. none of the above
17. The studio that paid Chaplin $10,000 a week and where he produced his most classic two-reel shorts,
including The Immigrant, was
a. Keystone. d. First National.
b. Essanay. e. United Artists.
c. Mutual. f. none of the above
18. Chaplin’s short films
a. were only moderately successful; it was his feature films that made him famous.
b. were generally made in a haphazard fashion without a great concern for cinematic craftsmanship.
c. include such masterpieces as The Immigrant and The Kid.
d. were primarily made for a single studio.
e. contained a great deal of social satire at the expense of the rich and powerful.
f. all of the above
19. Chaplin’s first film for United Artists
a. was The Kid.
b. starred Chaplin in his “little tramp” role.
c. was shunned by the critics and public alike.
d. was not a slapstick comedy.
e. was a parody of D. W. Griffith.
f. none of the above
20. Chaplin’s first sound films
a. were The Gold Rush and City Lights.
b. had very little dialogue.
c. featured musical scores by famous composers.
d. caused his fall from popular favor.
e. were not made until the 1940s.
f. none of the above
21. The Chaplin satire of industrial capitalism that earned him the enmity of the rich and powerful
everywhere, and which was banned in fascist Germany and Italy, was
a. City Lights. d. The Great Dictator.
b. Limelight. e. The Idle Class.
c. Modern Times. f. none of the above
22. The Great Dictator
a. was a tremendous commercial hit.
b. directly and overtly satirizes Benito Mussolini and fascist Italy.
c. was applauded by most critics for its political message.
d. came out after the United States was already involved in World War II.
e. is the one film of his career in which Chaplin does not appear.
f. Both c and d are true.
23. Which of the following was a legal problem Chaplin had to contend with during his career?
a. a paternity suit filed by a former “protégée” who went on to become a well-known actress
b. accusations of violating the Mann Act with evidence provided by FBI surveillance
c. exiled by the State Department, who refused to issue him a reentrance visa to the United States
d. accusations of wrongdoing from the House Un-American Activities Committee
e. all of the above
f. none of the above
24. Chaplin’s last film
a. was picketed by the American Legion.
b. was A King in New York.
c. had a very successful commercial release.
d. was never released in the United States.
e. starred Marlon Brando.
f. none of the above
25. During Chaplin’s last twenty-five years as a filmmaker
a. he increasingly abandoned his tramp character.
b. he enjoyed continued popularity.
c. he was prolific in terms of output.
d. he lost his sense of satirical criticism.
e. he was completely ignored by the American filmmaking establishment.
f. all of the above are true
26. Buster Keaton began his career as a costar for
a. Charlie Chaplin. d. Snub Pollard.
b. Harold Lloyd. e. Fatty Arbuckle.
c. Harry Langdon. f. none of the above
27. Keaton’s two-reel comedies can be described as
a. overt social criticism combined with slapstick and pathos.
b. anarchistic and fast paced with little concern for narrative.
c. genteel and more reliant on comic situation than action.
d. complex in structure with a fine visual sensibility.
e. conventional in terms of style and narrative.
f. nonexistent, since Keaton only made features.
28. The person directly in charge of Buster Keaton Productions in terms of financing and distribution
throughout the 1920s was
a. Buster Keaton. d. Louis B. Mayer.
b. Joseph Schenck. e. Irving Thalberg.
c. Nicholas Schenck. f. none of the above
29. During the 1920s Buster Keaton
a. was the only credited director on a majority of his films.
b. worked for several different studios over the course of the decade.
c. had complete creative control of his films regardless of director.
d. worked for Sennett at Keystone, where his films were distributed by First National.
e. was particularly noted for his variety of facial expressions.
f. None of the above are true.
30. The trajectory gag is
a. a pratfall-based gag that causes a downward movement.
b. a joke that posits the unification of opposites through a clash or conflict.
c. a gag involving levers, pulleys, or other mechanical objects that eventually turn against Buster.
d. a long series of narratively connected sight gags leading to a dramatic climax.
e. a gag that involves Buster being launched through space as though by a cannon.
f. none of the above
31. The film in which Buster Keaton plays a projectionist who falls asleep and dreams that he enters the
action on the movie screen is
a. The Cameraman. d. Seven Chances.
b. The Navigator. e. The Playhouse.
c. Sherlock, Jr. f. none of the above
32. Keaton’s visual style features all of the following EXCEPT
a. montage-style editing.
b. composition in depth.
c. long takes or sequence shots.
d. location shooting.
e. dynamic camera.
f. All of the above are aspects of Keaton’s visual style.
33. The best description of the character played by Buster Keaton would be
a. a baby-faced innocent with a comic inability to understand the world around him.
b. a high-spirited optimist with extraordinary physical abilities who struggles with objects and
machines.
c. a mild mannered boy-next-door with great athletic skills who was the embodiment of American
“normalcy.”
d. a down-and-out drifter driven primarily by lust and hunger.
e. an anarchistic force who comes into stable situations and wreaks havoc upon them without ever
intending to.
f. none of the above
34. Buster Keaton’s The General
a. is widely considered Keaton’s masterpiece.
b. was a great commercial success.
c. was set during World War I.
d. was less concerned with period accuracy than with a large number of gags.
e. favored dramatic action over comedy.
f. all of the above
35. The film in which a house collapses around Keaton, who survives only because he’s standing in a
window opening, is
a. College. d. Steamboat Bill, Jr.
b. One Week. e. Our Hospitality.
c. The Electric House. f. none of the above
36. The studio that bought Buster Keaton Productions, promising to continue to allow him to work
autonomously was
a. MGM. d. Warner Brothers.
b. Paramount. e. First National.
c. Universal. f. none of the above
37. Keaton’s inability to adapt to the studio system was due to
a. his loss of creative control over his films.
b. the fact that his first films for the studio were unpopular.
c. the studio not hiring his collaborative team.
d. the coming of sound.
e. friction between him and William Randolph Hearst over the film The Cameraman.
f. none of the above
38. Buster Keaton was fired from the studio where he worked from 1928 until 1933 because
a. his films lost money.
b. he was unable to adapt to sound.
c. of his erratic behavior and long absences from the set due to drunkenness.
d. of his refusal to follow the screenplays of his films.
e. He was not fired; he quit the studio.
f. none of the above
39. Which of the following is NOT true of Keaton’s style as an actor/director?
a. He performed all his own stunts no matter how dangerous.
b. His films had a strong sense of narrative structure and mise-en-scène.
c. Though they were comedies, his films had a consistent pictorial beauty.
d. Both his body and face were generally inexpressive.
e. His films avoided the sentimentality of Chaplin’s work.
40. The most popular slapstick comedian at the box office in the United States during the 1920s was
a. Charlie Chaplin. d. Harry Langdon.
b. Buster Keaton. e. W. C. Fields.
c. Harold Lloyd. f. none of the above
41. Harold Lloyd
a. often played foreign characters.
b. specialized in the “comedy of thrills.”
c. began his career as a Buster Keaton imitator.
d. continued his career successfully well into the sound era.
e. played a down-and-out vagrant.
f. all of the above
42. The producer responsible for the comic films of Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, and Our Gang was
a. Hal Roach. d. Frank Capra.
b. Mack Sennett. e. Harry Aitken.
c. Joseph Schenck. f. none of the above
43. Laurel and Hardy
a. were led by the comic genius of Oliver Hardy, who directed many of their films.
b. unlike many of their contemporaries, failed to successfully make the transition to sound.
c. were generally mild-mannered and childish rather than violent like most slapstick comedians.
d. made films wherein anarchy and destruction would escalate logically from a simple mistake.
e. made their films for producer Mack Sennett.
f. all of the above
44. The director who rose to fame writing and directing the popular Harry Langdon series is
a. George Stevens. d. Howard Hawks.
b. Frank Capra. e. Clyde Bruckman.
c. Leo McCarey. f. none of the above
45. The American cinema after World War I
a. remained fundamentally within the puritanical conventions of Griffith’s melodrama.
b. was not yet a favorite subject of the tabloid press.
c. went through a relatively scandal-free period.
d. became widely accepted as a positive influence on young people.
e. began to reflect the materialism and sexual license of the Jazz Era.
f. all of the above
46. Fatty Arbuckle
a. was found guilty in his trial but was allowed to remain free and continue working in the film
industry.
b. was portrayed as a victim in the tabloid press.
c. was accepted back into the Hollywood industry after his series of trials ended inconclusively.
d. was found innocent in his trial but was blackballed by Hollywood anyway.
e. both a and b
f. none of the above
47. The steep decline in movie attendance in 1922 can be attributed to all of the following EXCEPT
a. a decline in film quality.
b. the emergence of commercial radio.
c. the ability to buy automobiles on credit.
d. boycotts by churches, women’s clubs, and reform groups.
e. Only b and c were significant factors.
f. All of the above were significant factors.
48. The primary purpose of the Hays Office was
a. to censor Hollywood films.
b. to promote the careers of stars who suffered from unfavorable publicity.
c. to hold off threats of censorship by giving Hollywood the appearance of respectable
self-regulation.
d. to lobby the government for legislation beneficial to the film industry.
e. Both c and d were important functions.
f. none of the above
49. The director whose films most fully embodied the sexual freedoms of the “new morality” was
a. Erich von Stroheim. d. Jesse Lasky.
b. King Vidor. e. Mauritz Stiller.
c. Cecil B. DeMille. f. none of the above
50. The best description of DeMille’s work would be
a. great directorial virtuosity in terms of narrative complexity and visual style.
b. family values-oriented films generally based on Biblical sources.
c. exclusively films of historical spectacle.
d. small-scale melodramas and romantic comedies.
e. outrageous displays of sex and violence made acceptable by tacking on a moralistic conclusion.
f. none of the above
51. The studio for which Cecil B. DeMille worked during his entire fifty-year directorial career was
a. MGM. d. Warner Brothers.
b. Paramount. e. 20th Century-Fox.
c. Universal. f. none of the above
52. A sophisticated handling of sexual innuendo, a refined sense of visual wit, and a light comic
continental touch describe the films of
a. Cecil B. DeMille. d. Ernst Lubitsch.
b. F. W. Murnau. e. Erich von Stroheim.
c. Michael Curtiz. f. none of the above
53. The influx of European talent to Hollywood in the 1920s
a. saw most of the directors fail to adapt to Hollywood and return home.
b. had very little influence on the American film industry.
c. was primarily from France.
d. resulted in few memorable or significant films.
e. was actually quite small in terms of numbers but great in industrial impact.
f. none of the above
54. Which of the following was NOT a major Hollywood genre during the 1920s?
a. the western d. the action-adventure film
b. the slapstick comedy e. the horror film
c. the melodrama f. All of the above were major genres.
55. The great adventure star of the 1920s whose athletic, optimistic persona and amazing physical agility
made him one of the most popular actors in Hollywood was
a. Rudolph Valentino. d. Harry Langdon.
b. William S. Hart. e. Allan Dwan.
c. Douglas Fairbanks. f. none of the above
56. Nanook of the North
a. was the first feature-length documentary ever produced.
b. was shot entirely in static long shots.
c. contained dramatic reenactments as well as actual events.
d. was a fiction film.
e. mixed actors in with “real people” to create a new hybrid genre.
f. none of the above
57. Nanook of the North
a. was an inexpensive film to make by Hollywood standards.
b. utilized close-ups and reverse angles like a function film.
c. was a great popular success, instantly creating a market for documentaries.
d. was financed by a French fur company for public relations purposes.
e. was made by a mineralogist with no background in filmmaking.
f. all of the above
58. The difference between panchromatic and orthochromatic film stock is
a. orthochromatic film stock requires less light for exposure.
b. panchromatic film stock is no longer in use.
c. panchromatic film stock is sensitive to the entire spectrum of light.
d. orthochromatic film stock produces a softer image.
e. orthochromatic film stock is sensitive to only red and yellow light.
f. There is no significant difference between the two.
59. Robert Flaherty’s first film made for a Hollywood studio was
a. about natives of Samoa.
b. Nanook of the North.
c. a collaboration with F. W. Murnau.
d. embraced by anthropologists for its great accuracy.
e. one of the last films shot on orthochromatic stock.
f. none of the above
60. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of Flaherty’s documentary style?
a. His films were constructed largely according to the methods of narrative cinema.
b. His films featured extensive use of the telephoto lens.
c. His films tended to reconstruct rather than simply to record reality.
d. His films were more poetic fantasies than anthropological studies.
e. His films focused on traditional peoples of Africa and Asia.
f. none of the above
61. The film on which Murnau and Flaherty collaborated was
a. Moana.
b. Cheng.
c. Tabu.
d. White Shadow on the South Sea.
e. Man of Aran.
f. None of the above; the two filmmakers never worked together.
62. Hollywood during the 1920s
a. made many daring and experimental feature films that contributed to the canon of world cinema.
b. made its most significant contributions to the world cinema in the genre of melodrama.
c. saw the average feature film production cost increase by 1,500 percent in less than ten years.
d. produced an average of 150 feature films a year.
e. had yet to establish a successful production formula, so the films produced were very different
from each other.
f. all of the above
63. Erich von Stroheim
a. was descended from Austrian aristocracy.
b. was an assistant to Griffith on Intolerance.
c. was a very successful actor before becoming a director.
d. became a widely beloved hero in American war films.
e. stopped acting once he began directing.
f. all of the above
64. The plot of an American wife in Europe being seduced by a foreign military officer is typical of the
early work of
a. Ernst Lubitsch. d. Robert Flaherty.
b. Cecil B. DeMille. e. Erich von Stroheim.
c. Allan Dwan. f. none of the above
65. Von Stroheim’s Blind Husbands
a. represented the end of von Stroheim’s acting career.
b. was von Stroheim’s first film as a director.
c. was a commercial failure but a critical success.
d. is much different from the von Stroheim films that followed.
e. revealed little in the way of unique visual style.
f. all of the above
66. The last film von Stroheim was allowed to finish exactly as he’d planned was
a. Blind Husbands. d. The Devil’s Passkey.
b. Foolish Wives. e. Queen Kelly.
c. The Wedding March. f. none of the above
67. Von Stroheim’s Foolish Wives
a. recreated the main square of Monte Carlo in perfect detail on the Universal back lot.
b. was promoted as the most expensive film ever made.
c. originally had a running time of over five hours.
d. was a popular success and still lost money.
e. had many of its original titles changed by the studio.
f. all of the above
68. Greed
a. was a major box-office failure.
b. can be seen today in a form very near to von Stroheim’s original intention.
c. got von Stroheim fired by MGM.
d. ends in San Francisco with the reunification of Trina and McTeague.
e. exhibits a great sense of structural unity despite its extensive cuts.
f. none of the above
69. Greed
a. did not exceed its original budget and in fact came in slightly under budget.
b. was shot entirely on sound stages at Goldwyn Pictures.
c. originally had a running time of just under five hours.
d. lost money in its original release.
e. All of the above are true.
f. None of the above are true.
70. The final editing on Greed was overseen by
a. Erich von Stroheim. d. Rex Ingram.
b. Samuel Goldwyn. e. Irving Thalberg.
c. Josef von Sternberg. f. none of the above
71. Which of the following is NOT characteristic of von Stroheim’s approach to directing?
a. obsessive realism
b. dynamic camera movement
c. long takes
d. composition in depth
e. atmospheric mise-en-scène
f. All of the above are characteristic of his style.
72. Which of the following best describes the style of Greed?
a. soft-focus photography
b. regular intercutting of close shots of objects in the style of Griffith
c. elaborate sets built on enormous sound stages
d. naturalistic, highly-detailed mise-en-scène
e. abstract and metaphorical with many expressive lighting effects
f. all of the above
73. Von Stroheim’s The Merry Widow
a. adhered closely to the text of the original operetta.
b. was taken away from von Stroheim by the studio and radically re-edited.
c. included a Technicolor sequence at the end of the film.
d. was released exactly in the form von Stroheim originally intended.
e. celebrates the nobility and culture of the Hapsburg Empire.
f. none of the above
74. The director originally assigned by Paramount to work with von Stroheim to assemble a cut of The
Wedding March was
a. Ernst Lubitsch. d. Josef von Sternberg.
b. Richard Boleslavsky. e. F. W. Murnau.
c. Cecil B. DeMille. f. none of the above
75. The star for whom von Stroheim wrote and directed Queen Kelly was
a. Gloria Swanson. d. Mae Marsh.
b. Mary Pickford. e. Zasu Pitts.
c. Mae Busch. f. none of the above
76. Queen Kelly
a. was never released because of the coming of sound.
b. has never been reconstructed like so many other “lost” von Stroheim films.
c. ruined von Stroheim’s career so that he never directed again.
d. was finished with principle photography before von Stroheim was fired.
e. was the last film on which von Stroheim is the credited director.
f. all of the above
77. Which of the following was NOT a role performed by von Stroheim on his own productions?
a. screenwriter
b. cinematographer
c. art director
d. star
e. editor
f. Von Stroheim performed all of the above jobs in his films.
78. Von Stroheim’s use of sexual perversion in his films is the result of his desire to
a. display his worldly sophistication.
b. provoke the Hays Office.
c. shock the Hollywood industry out of its creative complacency.
d. titillate his audiences.
e. create a metaphor for cultural decadence.
f. none of the above
79. The American director most responsible for developing a naturalistic style featuring hyperrealistic
mise-en-scène and composition in depth that links together objects, characters, and setting was
a. Lubitsch. d. Von Stroheim.
b. DeMille. e. Keaton.
c. Flaherty. f. none of the above
80. The demise of individualistic directors like von Stroheim and Keaton was the result of
a. the coming of sound.
b. the consolidation of the studio system.
c. the changing tastes of the American public.
d. the increased complexity of the studio production process.
e. both a and b
f. all of the above