Question: Years and years ago I saw a movie about an aristocratic family who get stranded on a desert island with their servants and at some point the blue bloods have to acknowledge that the butler and other servants are more inventive, ingenious, resourceful and street-smart than they are. So the servants take charge, until — if my memory serves me correctly — they're rescued, brought back to England and everybody goes back to his or her original position in the pecking order. I saw it as a kid — I'm 43 now — and think it was an older movie already. But every time I think about this adventure/psychological drama, it seems to me that it would be a nice story to remake. Answer: The story is definitely The Admirable Crichton, which started life as a play by James M. Barrie — yes, the man who wrote Peter Pan. It's been filmed three times already, first by Cecil B. DeMille
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Question: Do you know the name of the first-ever made-for-TV movie?
Answer: Like all "first" questions, this one is thorny. Generally speaking, the first two made-for-TV movies are considered to have been The Killers and The Hanged Man, both of which date from 1964 and were made by MCA-Universal under the aegis of superagent-turned-media-mogul Lew Wasserman. Wasserman, who shepherded Universal into the world of television production and distribution, saw an opportunity to leverage one of the company's assets — a huge library of old movies — by remaking them for TV. The Killers was a remake of a 1946 film starring Burt Lancaster and based on Ernest Hemingway's short story
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Question: I know sequels and remakes don't usually get nominated for Oscars, but has anyone other than Al Pacino ever been nominated for playing the same character in different movies? He was nominated for his portrayal of Michael Corleone in both The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974), which was a big exception to the sequel stigma. My friends and I were talking about it and we're all stumped.
Answer: Three other actors have also been honored twice for the same role: Bing Crosby was nominated for playing Father Chuck O'Malley in Going My Way (1944) and its sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's (1945). Peter O'Toole was nominated for playing King Hen
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