Comments on: Stupid German Movie Titles Reloaded

By: Mathieu Champagne

Mathieu Champagne — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:46:33 +0000

I thought exactly the same thing while reading it. Hat tip to your cinematic knowledge.

By: Gunther Heinrich

Gunther Heinrich — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:47:15 +0000

Thanks for this truly ridiculous title.

By: hasi54

hasi54 — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 08:58:26 +0000

another example:

Tru Calling – Schicksal Reloaded!
(TV series)

By: Gunther Heinrich

Gunther Heinrich — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 22:28:48 +0000

Some titles might get this treatment but it’s far from a situation where everything gets decided on a European Level (and then translated 1:1), simply because of the fact that the cultural difference between the member states are too big.

Take ‘The 40 year old virgin’ as an example. The title in France is ’40 ans, toujours puceau’ which I’d roughly translate to ’40 years, virgin forever’. The German title, though, is ‘Jungfrau (40), männlich, sucht’ which translates to ‘Virgin (age 40), male, searches’. And this is a phrase you find in many German lonely hearts ads. Dodge Ball, by the way, has the German title ‘Voll auf die Nüsse’. That’s a typical vulgar German phrase for a situation where a guy gets badly hit in his private zone. I don’t see that in the French title.

By: Kyoku57

Kyoku57 — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:33:00 +0000

The German Title is not a problem of germany distributors ….

The title is decided at European level. Exemple in France :

* Weird Science (Science bizarre) = Une créature de rêve
* The pacifier (Le pacificateur) = Baby-sittor
* Blades of Glory (les patins de la gloire) = Les rois du patins
* Talladega Nights (Les nuits de Talladega – Nascar -) = Ricky Bobby, roi du circuit
* Meet the Parents (Rencontrer les parents) = Mon beau-père et moi
* Dodge Ball (Balle au prisonnier) = Même pas mal
* The 40 Year Old Virgin (Le vierge de 40 ans) = 40 ans, toujours puceau

I can give you a long list of examples ….

By: Jim Perry

Jim Perry — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:32:06 +0000

I would have to argue that “The Thing From Another World” is correct since it is the full title of the 1951 version. The 1982 Thing is one of my favorites, though.

Great post.

By: Gunther Heinrich

Gunther Heinrich — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:16:55 +0000

Thank you very much for your comment.

Indeed, this one is also a hot participant in the most stupid movie titles club.

Why do the marketing people always have to go for the we-make-it-seem-action-packed-so-they-will-come kind of thinking. They don’t even care when the title itself becomes so…silly?

Sigh.

By: Wilfried Wittkowsky

Wilfried Wittkowsky — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 10:06:16 +0000

Hello from Germany,

nice pages – but I’m missing a particular translation (one of my favorites):
“Robinson Crusoe on Mars” (1964 by Byron Haskin), which translates to “Robinson Crusoe auf dem Mars” was renamed to “Notlandung im Weltraum” (English: “Crash Landing in Space”). Aarrgh – how can anyone make a crash landing in pure nowhere?

Kind regards

Wilfried Wittkowsky