Quick Quiz: 20th Century Monsters

Question: Which horror movie effectively plagiarized Bram Stoker’s Dracula?

Answer: The silent motion picture Nosferatu (1922) effectively plagiarized Bram Stoker’s Dracula, copying the story with a few small tweaks. Stoker’s estate won a lawsuit against the production company responsible for the movie, but the movie had made its way to the United States, where Dracula was already in the public domain. Duplicates were created, and thus Nosferatu survived.

Question: Who directed Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), widely considered the best adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel?

Answer: Rouben Mamoulian directed Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ( 1931), which is widely considered the best adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Mamoulian and his cinematographer Karl Struss never fully revealed how they accomplished the film’s elaborate transformation scenes.

Question: Which book, which originally received only moderate sales and somewhat poor reviews, was catapulted to success with the release of a film adaptation in 1925?

Answer: Gaston Leroux’s Le Fantôme de l’opéra received only moderate sales and somewhat poor reviews upon its release, but was catapulted to success with the release of film adaptation The Phantom of the Opera in 1925.

Question: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is considered the first film in what movement?

Answer: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is considered to be the first film in the German Expressionist movement.

Question: Which actor played Frankenstein in the 1931 film adaptation, complete with a flat head and protruding neck bolts?

Answer: Frankenstein’s hulking monster was played by Boris Karloff. With a flat head and protruding neck bolts, he is one of the most recognizable monsters in film history.