} Crítica Retrô: Lost in Translation: odd classic film titles in Portuguese – Part 1

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Sunday, February 21, 2021

Lost in Translation: odd classic film titles in Portuguese – Part 1

 

I was talking with some fellow bloggers about classic movies when a thought crossed my brain: I had to memorize the titles of classic films at least twice, once in their original English and once as they were translated in Brazilian Portuguese – and I'm not considering the times I get to know the titles in Spanish or in Portuguese from Portugal, which is a different trip! As I kept thinking about that I was reminded how this is a blog with a global audience, and you guys certainly would get a kick out of some odd translations of classic film titles here in Brazil. I chose 12 of my favorite, most curious oddities to begin with:

Alice Adams” (1935) became “The Woman Who Knew How to Love”

The Awful Truth” (1937) is known as “Cupid is a Stubborn Brat”

Bringing Up Baby” (1938) received as title a slang that means “Naughty” or “Mischievous”

The Philadelphia Story” (1940) became “Wedding of Scandal


Mr and Mrs Smith” (1941) was exhibited as “A Crazy Couple” (a slang was also used here)

Sullivan's Travels” (1941) went on as “Human Contrasts”

Lifeboat” (1944) was too simple, so it became “A Boat and Nine Destinies”

The Heiress” (1949) was exhibited as “Too Late”

People Will Talk” (1952) went on as “They Say It's a Sin”

An Affair to Remember” (1957) is remembered here as “Too Late to Forget”

North by Northwest” (1959) got renamed as “International Intrigue”

One, Two, Three” (1960), a favorite of mine, got the clever title “Cupid has no Flag”

I hope you liked these and soon I'll come back with Part 2!

4 comments:

Karen said...

I loved these! I look forward to Part 2!

Marianne said...

I really enjoyed these translations. I hope you post more soon.

Sylvia (FilmFanatic.org) said...

Same here -- looking forward to more, Le!

My favorite here is "Cupid is a Stubborn Brat".:) He is, indeed.

-Sylvia

Hal C. F. Astell said...

Fantastic post. Many thanks for sharing these!

Some of them are actually quite poetic. I particularly like A Boat and Nine Destinies, but Too Late to Forget is evocative too.

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