The Legacy of Silent Cinema

Movies and TV · 10 questions

Ten multiple-choice questions on silent-era films, performers, directors, and technical context.

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1. Which 1903 short is considered an early example of American narrative filmmaking?

   1. A Trip to the Moon
   2. The Great Train Robbery
   3. Roundhay Garden Scene
   4. The Birth of a Nation
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   B) The Great Train Robbery

2. Which Soviet director made Battleship Potemkin, featuring the Odessa Steps sequence?

   1. Lev Kuleshov
   2. Dziga Vertov
   3. Sergei Eisenstein
   4. Vsevolod Pudovkin
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   C) Sergei Eisenstein

3. Who directed the 1920 film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari?

   1. Fritz Lang
   2. Robert Wiene
   3. F. W. Murnau
   4. G. W. Pabst
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   B) Robert Wiene

4. Which silent-comedy actor was nicknamed “The Great Stone Face”?

   1. Buster Keaton
   2. Harold Lloyd
   3. Roscoe Arbuckle
   4. Charlie Chaplin
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   A) Buster Keaton

5. Which director made the 1922 vampire film Nosferatu?

   1. Fritz Lang
   2. Carl Theodor Dreyer
   3. Robert Wiene
   4. F. W. Murnau
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   D) F. W. Murnau

6. What did the Kuleshov Experiment show viewers could interpret differently when the shot beside the same face changed?

   1. The color tone of the image
   2. The meaning of the facial expression
   3. The speed of camera movement
   4. The direction of a scene transition
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   B) The meaning of the facial expression

7. Which black-and-white film-stock type could render skin tones more accurately than orthochromatic stock?

   1. Infrared film
   2. Orthochromatic film
   3. Panchromatic film
   4. Blue-sensitive film
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   C) Panchromatic film

8. Which 1931 film features Charlie Chaplin's Tramp meeting a blind flower seller?

   1. The Kid
   2. Modern Times
   3. The Gold Rush
   4. City Lights
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   D) City Lights

9. Which instrument was widely used for live musical accompaniment at silent-film screenings?

   1. Trumpet
   2. Flute
   3. Bassoon
   4. Piano
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   D) Piano

10. What are the written cards inserted between images in silent films to convey dialogue or explanations called?

    1. Intertitles
    2. Shot lists
    3. Advertising posters
    4. Frame numbers
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    A) Intertitles