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HEADLINES
A daily history game

Film

Film in five headlines

Five real newspaper headlines about film, printed between 1925 and 2019, with their dates removed. Read each one and guess the year it was published. No multiple choice and no trivia questions, just the headline as it was printed.

There are 5 rounds of five in this topic, and a new one appears whenever the archive has enough for it.

Headline one

Chaplin's Gold Rush hailed as masterpiece of the silent screen

The Times

Reveal the year

1925

Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush, released in 1925, became one of the most celebrated silent films ever made. The film features iconic scenes including the shoe-eating sequence and the bread-roll dance. Chaplin himself later said it was the film he most wanted to be remembered by.

Headline two

Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds dazzle in Singin' in the Rain, Hollywood's most joyful musical

Los Angeles Times

Reveal the year

1952

Singin' in the Rain, starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds, was released in 1952 and is now regarded as the greatest Hollywood musical ever made. The film spoofed the transition from silent films to talkies and featured Kelly's iconic rain dance sequence. Though a modest success on release, it grew steadily in reputation to become one of the most beloved films in cinema history.

Headline three

Julie Andrews enchants as 'The Sound of Music' opens to rapturous crowds and becomes instant sensation

The Guardian

Reveal the year

1965

The Sound of Music, directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, was released in March 1965 to enormous critical and commercial success. It went on to become the highest-grossing film of 1965 and won five Academy Awards including Best Picture. The film's songs and story of the Von Trapp family fleeing Nazi-occupied Austria became embedded in popular culture worldwide.

Headline four

Spielberg's E.T. opens to rapturous crowds, critics hail 'the film of the decade'

Los Angeles Times

Reveal the year

1982

Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released on 11 June 1982 and became an instant cultural phenomenon. The story of a lonely boy who befriends a stranded alien captured audiences worldwide and broke box office records. It remained the highest-grossing film of all time for over a decade and is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made.

Headline five

Avengers: Endgame overtakes Avatar to claim all-time box office crown

Variety

Reveal the year

2019

Avengers: Endgame, the climax of Marvel's 22-film saga, surpassed Avatar's long-standing record to become the highest-grossing film of all time, earning over $2.79 billion at the global box office. The achievement came just weeks after the film's release in April 2019.

Answer the five above to see your score.

Scoring works as it does in the daily game. Each headline is worth up to 100 points, and you lose two points for every year you are out. Being a decade wrong still earns you 80. A perfect round is 500.

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