The Eagle May Not Have Landed – the Un-Translation of Movie Titles

When it comes to movies, just like books, they shouldn’t be judged by their cover. And they certainly shouldn’t be judged by their title – especially given that titles can be so badly translated that it sometimes appears that they could be referring to a different movie altogether. One which stands out for me is the 1976 British movie The Eagle Has Landed which was translated into French as L’aigle s’est envolé. Observant French speakers would realise that this means exactly the opposite to the original title!

Titles are important. They are the elevator pitch of a movie or a book, and the first impression that the audience has. They should be magical, like the whiff of ground coffee outside your favourite café – stirring inside of you deep feelings of excitement and anticipation. The title is the catalyst which prompts a viewer to say “yes” or “no” as well as signaling a sense of belonging to a genre or series.

As much as the titling of a film is important, so is the translation of a title! Aside from confusion, there could be more devastating outcomes of a poorly translated movie title…

You could give away the entire plot, as happened with Rosemary’s Baby, which was translated to La semilla del diablo in Spanish (The Devil’s Seed).

In the case of Jennifer Lopez’s movie The Cell, it seems as though the Hungarian translators were asked to translate without any context whatsoever, since they came back with the title “Sejt” – which means cell (organic tissue) rather than cell (prison).

Alternatively, you just alienate everyone like the makers of The Hangover who decided that the French version should be called Very Bad Trip.

I’d say it’s just a Very Bad Idea to un-translate the title of a movie.

Do you know of any other poorly translated movie/book titles?