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Iconic Films & Series: fun facts and quiz
The essentials in 7 ideas, with fun facts, an illustrated story and a quiz to see how much you know.
The essentials
Citizen Kane
Orson Welles made Citizen Kane in 1941, aged just 25. Its bold camera work often tops lists of the greatest films ever made.
Key fact
Its mystery hinges on one word: “Rosebud”.
The Godfather
Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972), about the Corleone crime family, won Best Picture and is often called one of the best films ever made.
Key fact
Marlon Brando won an Oscar for playing Vito Corleone.
Casablanca
Casablanca (1942), starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, is a wartime romance full of lines people still quote.
Key fact
“Here’s looking at you, kid” comes from Casablanca.
The Lord of the Rings
Peter Jackson filmed all three Lord of the Rings films together in New Zealand. The final part won 11 Oscars, tying the record.
Key fact
Filming took about 274 days.
The Golden Age of TV
From the late 1990s, shows like The Sopranos and Breaking Bad brought film-level storytelling to television.
Key fact
Breaking Bad follows a chemistry teacher turned drug maker.
Sitcoms
Sitcoms like Friends (1994–2004) follow the same characters through comic situations. The Friends finale drew over 50 million US viewers.
Key fact
Friends ran for ten seasons.
Streaming Hits
Streaming turned shows in many languages into global hits. Squid Game, from South Korea, became Netflix’s most-watched series in 2021.
Key fact
Viewers can now binge whole seasons in one go.
Fun facts
Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst saw Citizen Kane as an attack on him and tried to stop its release.
The cat Brando strokes in The Godfather’s opening scene was a stray found on the studio lot.
“Play it again, Sam” is never actually said in Casablanca.
Christopher Lee, who played Saruman, was the only cast member who had met Tolkien.
The Sopranos ended with a sudden cut to black, and many viewers thought their TV had broken.
The Friends theme, “I’ll Be There for You”, became a hit single in its own right in 1995.
Squid Game was watched for over 1.6 billion hours in its first four weeks.
Story: An Ending Nobody Knew
An Ending Nobody Knew
1942. Casablanca starts filming before its script is finished. Writers rush out new pages day by day.
Ingrid Bergman asks which man her character really loves. Nobody can tell her: the ending hasn’t been written yet.
She played every scene torn between the two, and it works. The film won Best Picture and is still one of the most loved ever made.
True or false?
Tap your answer to see if you got it, and why.
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Question 1 of 10
Orson Welles was in his twenties when he made Citizen Kane.
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True. He was 25.
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Question 2 of 10
The Godfather won the Oscar for Best Picture.
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True. At the 1973 ceremony.
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Question 3 of 10
Casablanca stars Humphrey Bogart.
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True. Alongside Ingrid Bergman.
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Question 4 of 10
The Lord of the Rings films were shot in New Zealand.
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True. All three, back to back.
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Question 5 of 10
Breaking Bad follows a chemistry teacher.
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True. Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston.
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Question 6 of 10
Friends ran for ten seasons.
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True. From 1994 to 2004.
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Question 7 of 10
Squid Game comes from South Korea.
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True. Released in 2021.
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Question 8 of 10
Citizen Kane is a 2010s superhero film.
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False. It’s from 1941.
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Question 9 of 10
The Godfather is an animated comedy.
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False. It’s a crime drama.
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Question 10 of 10
Casablanca is set on the Moon.
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False. It’s set in wartime Morocco.
Keep going in the app
KnowSoda learns what you know and brings back what you’re about to forget. Iconic Films & Series has 6 more ideas at the Advanced and Expert levels.
Sources
- American Film Institute — 100 Years… 100 Movies
- BFI — Sight and Sound greatest films poll
- Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — Oscars database
- Television Academy — Emmys
- Netflix — Top 10 most popular series
- BFI — Hitchcock, Kurosawa, Kubrick, Tarantino
- BBC — Doctor Who history
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — The Matrix
