Quiz! Seventeenth Century on Film

Curious Quiz, November 2024

It’s an oft-neglected period when it comes to cinema, but there are still some brilliant films set in the seventeenth century. Test your knowledge of the history and its depiction on screen, and tell me how you did! Scroll down for hints and further down for answers.

Questions

1. In which 1968 film did Vincent Price star as Matthew Hopkins?

2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is set in which Chinese dynasty that ruled from 1644?

3. The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982), set in 1694, involves a legal agreement to exchange sex for what kind of artwork?

4. The 1975 black-and-white film Winstanley followed which real radical seventeenth century commune?

5. A 1962 Japanese film set in the early Edo period takes its title from which ritual act of suicide?

6. Stage Beauty (2004) explores the introduction of what previously banned phenomenon on the Restoration stage?

7. Rebecca Rolfe is the protagonist of The New World (2005) set in 1607. What was her name in her home country before moving to England and being baptised?

8. Who is king of France during the events of The Three Musketeers?

9. What kind of animal speaks to Thomasin with the devil’s voice in The Witch (2015)?

10. Which 2013 horror film begins with its characters fleeing the English Civil War through the countryside?

Hints

1. This film takes its name from the title the real Matthew Hopkins bestowed upon himself to describe his vocation.

2. This was also the last Chinese dynasty

3. Constable would become one of the most famous English painters in this genre.

4. Its nickname comes from a description of something you do with a spade.

5. Another word for the same phenomenon is ‘seppuku.’

6. Nell Gwyn took full advantage of this change

7. She featured in a Disney film.

8. His son was the sun.

9. It’s an animal you might find on a farm.

10. Directed by Ben Wheatley.

Answers

1. Witchfinder General

2. Qing Dynasty

3. Landscape paintings (of a country house)

4. The Diggers or ‘True Levellers.’

5. Harakiri

6. Actresses

7. Pocahontas (technically a nickname), also called Amonute or Matoaka.

8. Louis XIII

9. ‘Black Phillip’ the goat.

10. A Field in England.

How many did you get? Did you use the hints? Tell me how it went in the comments below and don’t forget to share and subscribe to be alerted to new quizzes and articles on the history of magic, theatre, and more.