Sunset Boulevard Quizzes

Sunset Boulevard Quiz 1

By Darby Delaney · Last reviewed November 07, 2018

1 Who plays Norma Desmond?

Barbara Stanwyck

Gloria Swanson

Claudette Colbert

Greta Garbo
2 Why does Joe pity Norma when they perform the burial ceremony for the dead monkey?

Max accidentally drops the casket and ruins the ceremony

It displays an excess of wealth

It was raining, which burned out the ceremonial candles

It reveals the emptiness of her life
3 What does the salesman tell Joe?

That Joe should be ashamed of being Norma's gigolo

That Joe is naive

That if Norma pays for Joe, then he should choose the most expensive topcoat

That Joe doesn't belong in the store
4 What signifies Joe's independence?

His car

His typewriter

His money

His clothes
5 Who directed Sunset Boulevard?

Billy Wilder

Frank Capra

Alfred Hitchcock

Cecil B. DeMille
6 Which of these events do NOT foreshadow another event?

Betty sarcastically asking Joe, "don't you sometimes hate yourself?"

The film's prologue

Joe's dream about the dancing chimp

Norma telling Joe, "I'll fill up the pool for you!"
7 What is the genre of Sunset Boulevard?

Screwball comedy

Musical

Romantic drama

Film noir
8 Betty criticizes Joe's script, _________

Dark Windows

Gone with the Wind

Bases Loaded

The Naked and the Dead
9 In addition to her butler, Max is also Norma's _______

Ex-husband

Cousin

Best friend

Husband
10 What does Norma's dead monkey symbolize?

Norma's affinity for animals

Norma's impending control and manipulation of Joe

Norma's death of her career

Norma's self-destructive tendencies
11 Norma condemns the presence of dialogue and sound in contemporary film for the following reasons EXCEPT _____________

Faces and eyes can do everything words can

It marked the career decline of many silent screen stars, including herself

Dialogue is poorly written

It distracts from the visual enchantment of film
12 What does Norma say in response to "you used to be big?"

Stop this nonsense!

I am big, it's the pictures that got small

I hate it when people say that!

I am big, I have been long before you were born
13 Joe moves into a room previously used by Norma's _______

Children

Cousin

Ex-husbands

Friends who stayed as guests
14 What is the opening image of Sunset Boulevard?

"Sunset Blvd." stenciled in the gutter

A montage of Norma's glorious silent film days

Joe's floating corpse

Betty crying
15 Erich von Stroheim was a famous _______

Novelist

Director

Cartoonist

Painter
16 Norma shoots Joe _____ times

1

4

2

3
17 How is Norma convinced she still has adorning fans?

She's recognized on the street by strangers

She's still the subject of gossip columns

Fan mail

Cecil B. DeMille begs her to return to the silver screen
18 Where does Joe meet Betty for a second time?

Artie's New Year's Eve party

Schwab's Drug Store

Outside the Paramount lot

Norma's mansion
19 How does Joe escape the car repo men?

He makes it to Artie Green's house

He pulls up in the driveway of Norma's house

He doesn't have to—he gets $300 in the nick of time

He swaps cars with a stanger
20 Norma has numerous _______ in her house

Old photographs of herself

Posters of her old films

Dead monkeys

Televisions
21 Why does Gordon Cole—a Paramount Studios executive—contact Norma?

They want her to give acting lessons

He wants her to star in Salome

They want her to pop in and say hi to the studio executives

He wants to rent her Isotta-Fraschini
22 Who is Salome?

A famous silent film actress

A prophet

An Egyptian princess known for her seductive dancing

A Biblical princess who demanded and received the head of John the Baptist
23 Joe pitches Bases Loaded to _____

Sheldrake

Max Von Mayerling

Gordon Cole

Cecil B. DeMille
24 Why does Joe want to work with Norma?

It is an easy way to get some quick cash

He wants to steal some luxury items from her house to make a quick buck

He is in love with her

He thinks working with Norma will give him much-needed name recognition
25 Why did Sunset Boulevard mark the last collaboration between Wilder and Brackett?

Wilder had an affair with Brackett's wife, Lillian Fletcher, and Brackett found out during production

Brackett thought Wilder was an incompetent filmmaker

Wilder died during production

Their different sensibilities—they fiercely argued over the cynical tone of the film

Essays for Sunset Boulevard

Sunset Boulevard essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Sunset Boulevard by Billy Wilder.

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