The Eighth Passenger of the Nostromo (1 Viewer)

[Steve Christou]

A movie magazine had a feature on English movie titles that have lost something in the translation when released in other countries.
See if you can guess the original title before peeking at the spoiler...


The Professional Killer isn't very cold (China) -
Leon


Nice Kisses from Russia (France) - From Russia With Love


Mysterious Murder in Snowy Cream (China)- Fargo

Mr.Cat Poop (China)- As Good as it Gets


The Eighth Passenger of the Nostromo (Poland)- Alien


His Powerful Device Makes Him Famous (China)- Boogie Nights


Hunting for the Green Diamond (Germany)- Romancing the Stone


I'm Rich but I like Cheap Prostitutes (China)- Pretty Woman


Wretch! Let me chop off your finger! (China) - The Piano


The White Shark (Germany)- Jaws


Die Slowly (Germany)- Die Hard


The Unbelievable Kidnapping of the Crazy Mrs.Leary (Germany) - Ruthless People


Two Stupid, Stupid People (Spain) - Dumb and Dumber

My Partner With The Cold Snout (Germany) - K-9


A Night in the Cramped Forest (China) - Blair Witch Project


The Spiders (Sweden) - Them! (which was actually about giant ants)


Six Stripped Pigs (China) - The Full Monty

 

[Allan Petersen]

ROFLMAO!
Priceless...
I must remember to ask for I'm Rich but I like Cheap Prostitutes if I ever feel the urge to rent that particular flick ever again!

 

[Jefferson Morris]

His Powerful Device Makes Him Famous (China)

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.

Brilliant. Thank you for posting this.

--Jefferson Morris

P.S. Brilliant.

 

[Holadem]

Now, how do we know they haven't lost anything from their translation back into english? From Russia with Love for example. The french title is perfectly appropriate. The literal translation to english sopunds just as absurd as the litteral translation of From Russia with Love to french, so I don't think it belongs to this list.
I suspect the Pretty Woman title has some political agenda.
I find the title "The Eight Passenger of the Nostromo" to be very creepy, very appropriate.
"Hunting for the Green Diamond" is exactly the same in french.
Funny stuff.
--
Holadem

 

[Steve Christou]

"The Eighth Passenger of the Nostromo" is great and the one I wanted to use for the topic header.
"The Unbelievable Kidnapping of the Crazy Mrs.Leary" was a bit unbelievable considering it was Barbara Stone (Bette Midler) that was kidnapped.
Britain sometimes changes the titles to American movies, "Young Sherlock Holmes" was changed to "Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear" over here.
"Above the Law" became "Nico".
And "Gladiator" became "The Hero with the Big Weapon Who Chops People's heads off at the Colosseum in Rome".

 

[Anders Englund]

Allow me to fill up with a few more swedish ones:

From a Deadly Point of View
For your eyes only

Living Target
A View to a Kill (This one is especially good, since they'd already used up a plausible translation with the one mentioned above)


Springtime for Space
Spaceballs


Stars with no brains (rhymes in swedish)
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back


--Anders

 

[Ricardo C]

Alien was called "Alien: The Eighth Passenger" here in Venezuela. Fauir comprmise, I guess, though I love "The Eighth Passenger of the Nostromo." Sounds like a really creepy Anime movie

 

[Yee-Ming]

something gets lost in translations.

I am not familiar with the Chinese versions of the various titles that have been mentioned already, but FWIW, I believe that the distributors came up with what, in Chinese, would have been fairly "punchy" 4-character titles, or maybe just slightly longer. the trouble is that when literally translated into English, they would appear quite long and unwieldy.

I wish my Chinese was better. it can be a very elegant yet concise language.

 

[Jeff Engel]

Here's one I saw a poster for in Germany.

Scheisse Wetter (Sh!t Weather, literal translation)
Twister

My wife and inlaws, who are German, and myself busted up laughing when we saw that one at the theater place.

 

[Steve Christou]

Here are some more I must admit 'suspect' movie title translations I found floating about on the net. Real or not, I laughed, I cried, I hurled.
"Who Is Face Belonging To? I Kill You Again, Harder!" - [Face/Off]
"So, You Are Lawyer?" - [Interview With a Vampire]
"Big Dumb Monkey-Man Keeps Whacking Tree With Genitals" - [George of the Jungle]
"Great Buddha! I Can Smell You From Afar! Take a Bath, Will You?!" - [Scent of a Woman]
"The Happy Dumpling-to-be Who Talks And Solves Agricultural Problems" - [Babe]
"Run! Ruuunnnn! Cloudzillaaaaa!" - [Twister]
"Help! Dead Baseball Players Live in My Cornfield" - [Field of Dreams]
"Delicate Orbs of Womanhood Bigger Than Your Head Can Hurt You" - [Barb Wire]
"Come to My Cave and Wear This Rubber Codpiece, Cute Boy" - [Batman & Robin]
"Oh No! My Girlfriend Has Penis!"
The Crying Game]

 

[Guy Martin]

Steve-
I know for a fact that at least the Batman and Robin title you've got on that list has been debunked as an online prank. Still pretty funny though
One of my favorite Chinese translations is:
The Big Liar
Nixon
- Guy

 

[Steve Christou]

Yep, they're all hysterical, the oddest one IMO is for Interview With the Vampire, "So, you are Lawyer?", eh? you what? Hehehe that hardly prepares anyone for the film they're about to see, and unless I'm mistaken were there any lawyers in Interview?

 

[Artur Meinild]

"Who Is Face Belonging To? I Kill You Again, Harder!" - [Face/Off]

All your face are belong to us!

 

[Iain Lambert]

Advantage Meinild.

Truly, "The Eighth Passenger" is a great title. "Twister" really must be referred to as "Cloudzilla" from now on as well.

 

[Oliver Kopp]

Some more changed movie titles out of Germany.


Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Flugzeug / The unbelievable journey on a crazy plane

Airplane


Der City Hai / The city shark

Raw Deal


Die Klapperschlange / The Rattlesnake

Escape from New York


Meine Braut, ihr Vater und Ich / My bride, her father and I

Meet the parents


Tanz der Teufel / Dance of the Devils

The Evil Dead


Die Verurteilten / The Condemned

The Shawshank Redemption


Alles Routine / Everything routine

Office Space


Im Land der Raketenwürmer / In the land of the rocketworms

Tremors

 

[Steve Christou]

Great stuff Oliver, I liked "In the land of the rocketworms" almost Lovecraftian, and "The Rattlesnake" was interesting.
I'm a big fan of HK action/fantasy films and the subtitles are sometimes quite mad, here are a few favorites...
The reproductive organ was busted by bullet (Naked Killer)
These corpses are young and active (Kung Fu Zombie)
Her tongue is longer than yours! (A Chinese Ghost Story)
Sir, your eyebrows are shaved! (Iron Monkey)
What you need is a canned woman (To Hell with the Devil)
I've checked you are suffered from 'Big Penis' (Ghostly Vixen)
Don't do anything perverted we are in a hurry (Holy Weapon)
No, it's bad she's seriously twisted (Kickboxer's tears)
Beat him out of recognisable shape (Police Story 2)
Damn you, Stink Man! (Caged Beauties)
Well, masturbate in hell!! (Full Contact)
You won't die in one piece! (Eastern Condors)
You bastard! try this melon. (Gunmen)
I'll tell the world your breasts are injected (A hearty response)
I'll fire aimlessly if you don't come out (Pom Pom and Hot Hot)
More than a horse's, shit!! (Once a Thief)
What gave you the nerve to get killed here? (Armour of God)
I have been scared shitless too much lately (Final Victory)
That may disarray my intestines (Eastern Condors)
Check if I have a hole in my underpants, No! I saw a vomiting crab! (Full Contact)
Give me your urine. Do you want more? No yours is not so good (The Untold Story)

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

All your face are belong to us!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jeremy Illingworth]

Back in high school People magazine (I think) did a side bar on catch phrases of the day in other languages as well as television shows. The only one I can remember is

Stormy Little Town (China)
Picket Fences


jeremy

 

[John Spencer]

My favorite subtitle is also from John Woo's Once A Thief:
"So many aces. You must have AIDS!"
I have no idea what it means.

 

[Steve Christou]

Two of my favorite HK subtitles are "Beat him out of recognisable shape!" and
"I'll fire aimlessly if you don't come out!".
Here are a few more Title Translations...
"The Spy Who Treated Me Nicely" (Singapore) - Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

"Small Man" (France) - Big

"The Urban Neurotic" (Germany) - Annie Hall

"The Erotic Doctor" (Mexico) - The Man With Two Brains

"You Only Die Twice" (Japan) - You Only Live Twice (what else?)

"Pigs and Diamonds" (Mexico) - Snatch

"Powerless" (Czech) - Clueless

"Luscious Women of the West" (France) - Bad Girls
"A Smile of Ice" (Japan) - Basic Instinct (I like that title!)
"The Big Liar" (China) - Nixon

"The Young People who traverse Dimensions while wearing Sunglasses" (France) - The Matrix (hmmm)

"Captain Supermarket" (Japan) - Army of Darkness (!)

"I suck! I suck! I suck suck suck!" (China) - Vampire in Brooklyn (it sucks sucks sucks)