Paul Rogers - Name That Movie: 100 Illustrated Movie Puzzles

While watching Chinatown for about the fiftieth timeduring the scene when Gittes places two watches under the tire of Hollis Mulwrays carit occurred to me that if I made a drawing of the watches and the tire, people who love the movie would recognize that small moment in the film. This led to the idea that a series of drawings made from classic films might make an interesting visual quiz. Soon, I began re-watching some of my favorite movies with a sketchbook and pausing the film to make drawings. For the most part, I tried to avoid the most obvious scenes and stars who might give away the title too easily and instead, concentrated on details that appealed to me. As a graphic designer who particularly loves architecture and typography, I found myself paying close attention to buildings and signs.

Also, letteringlarge or smallalways jumped out at me. I hadnt noticed until I started working on this book how frequently handwritten notes or pieces of printed paper appear as important elements of the plot. I found that six drawings in sequence could give a nice sense of the film. The goal was to give hints that spark the memory of a film rather than tell the whole story. Of course, some of the movies had dozens of great shots for drawings and it was a challenge to pick just six, while others required much deeper scrutiny. The movies in this book are all films that I love.

Some of them Im certain everyone has seen, while others may have slipped from public awareness; but theyre all great. Theres a lot of Hitchcock (hint), and Billy Wilder, some vintage film noir and recent box office hits, a few foreign films, and somehow, a lot of films from the seventies. Some of my favorite movies didnt make the cut because they might be a little too obscure to work well in this puzzle context (hard to guess a film you havent seen or heard of), but I will say that if you havent seen Pickup on South Street (1953) and Elevator to the Gallows (1958) you should! There are one hundred movies in this book. The answers are given in two places in the back. Theres a list of titles in the order that they appear in the book and theres also an alphabetical index. The alphabetical index is there for readers who dont want to inadvertently see the next title on the list when checking the answers.

I hope you enjoy the book and find yourself paying a bit more attention to those small moments that make up great films. Id like to add a word of appreciation to my wife Jill, who tolerated a lot of Sunday afternoons while I sat on the sofa in front of the television with a sketchbook and the remote control. Now that the books finished, we can go out on Sundays and maybe see a movie. Paul Rogers