Thanks very much to all those of you who had a stab at Mr Kemp's questions yesterday: answers in a moment ...
But first, today's questions, which have been set by Mr Hudson, and feature books whose titles are quotations from another writer: can you figure out which one? Have a go here.
Yesterday's questions from Mr Kemp, on cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare, got many of you off to a good start. Film 1 was Forbidden Planet, a sci-fi classic from 1956:
An impressive 84% of you knew that this is a dark and ingenious, Freudian spin on Shakespeare's The Tempest. Brilliant scientist Dr Edward Morbius and his daughter are the last survivors of a mission to the planet Altair. Their Ariel equivalent is Morbius's creation, the rotund and friendly Robby the Robot. Their Caliban is a mysterious and murderous force that has picked off all the other members of Morbius's expedition. But where does it come from? And what is fuelling it? You'll have to watch the movie (or its subsequent musical adaptation) to find out.
Film 2, 10 Things I Hate About You, was less familiar, although more recent.
Only 64% of you knew that this 1999 romantic comedy is The Taming of the Shrew, updated to an American high school: Joseph Gordon Levitt bets Heath Ledger's 'bad boy' rebel he can't persuade the school's resident feminist Kat (Julia Stiles) to be his prom date. Does he win the bet? Again, you'll have to watch it to find out.
Film 3, The Lion King, was probably too easy: noble dead father? wicked usurping uncle? confused young prince? a cute meerkat and loveable warthog? (ok, maybe not that bit).
It's obviously Hamlet, and 88% of you knew that. No worries!
Film 4, Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, scored almost as well.
A mighty 84% of you knew this was adapted from Macbeth - the title is, we suppose, something of a giveaway ...
But Film 5, She's the Man, was much less predictable.
Barely half of you recognised that this school sports drama, in which Amanda Bynes's Viola disguises herself as her twin brother Sebastian so she can join the soccer team, be coached by Vinnie Jones, and win the heart of her confused room-mate Channing Tatum, is actually Twelfth Night in disguise. Football doesn't, of course, feature quite so heavily in the original.
It was a little chastening for the English Dept to discover that few Pauline quizzers recognised Film 6, Catch My Soul, as Othello.
Most of the 8th form studied this play for GCSE, and the film's title even quotes one of its most memorable moments. 'Perdition catch my soul, but I do love thee!' cries Shakespeare's noble Moor, utterly besotted with his young bride Desdemona. Ten minutes, and a mere 162 lines later, he's changed his tune, thanks to the manipulation of his not-so-trusty sidekick, 'honest' Iago. But did you remember any of this? Nope.
Film 7 - another Shakespearean tragedy - was much easier.
All but 10% of you knew that Tony and Maria, the star-crossed lovers of West Side Story were not originally Polish and Puerto Rican, but Montagu and Capulet. Yes, it's Leonard Bernstein's brilliant re-working of Romeo and Juliet, filmed most recently by Steven Spielberg, but here in its 1961 Robert Wise incarnation (which won 10 Oscars: Spielberg's took home only one).
Film 8 was the biggest challenge in yesterday's quiz. Sadly, only three of you correctly identified the play on which My Own Private Idaho is based: Max, Veer and Charles - we're impressed!
The poster may have misled you. Yes, it does feature two 'gentlemen', Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix, but they're definitely not from Verona. They're from Portland (of course they are: it's a Gus von Sant movie, and he's Oregon's most celebrated film director). The film is actually an almost shot-by-shot remake of Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight, itself a magnificent adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry IV plays.
Our penultimate film was another of Kurosawa's Shakespeare adaptations. This time, it's Hamlet, although it might be that the sharp business suits confused you: almost half of our quizzers thought this was The Merchant of Venice.
The final film in Round 1, All Night Long, had you pretty evenly divided between Othello and Troilus and Cressida (presumably because why would the latter be there, unless it was the right answer? So wrong).
Not to be confused with the 1981 romantic comedy starring Barbra Streisand and the late, great Gene Hackman, this is a little seen 1962 adaptation of Othello, set against the London jazz scene, with music by Dave Brubeck (not Lionel Richie), and Patrick 'I am not a number, I am a free man' McGoohan as the Iago figure. It's an intriguing offering from British stalwarts of social conscience movie-making, Basil Dearden and Michael Relph, whose remarkable 1950s/early 60s movies dealt with teen violence (Violent Playground), racism (Sapphire) and homosexuality (Victim) - all groundbreaking in their time.
So - after Round 1, we have a leaderboard, and third place on the podium's currently pretty crowded, with Mr Hudson, Mr Harris, Reuben, Lachlan and Yusaf all jostling for space. In second place are Atom and Theo, and in joint first place, it's Max and Veer. But will they still be there tomorrow? Tune in and find out ...!
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