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Quiz about What Film Lurks behind this Italian Title
Quiz about What Film Lurks behind this Italian Title

What Film Lurks behind this Italian Title? Quiz


In Italy we not only dub movies, but in translating titles we take liberties, often with funny results.

A multiple-choice quiz by zordy. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
zordy
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
396,858
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
261
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Did you know that Dustin Hoffmann and Robert De Niro starred together in a film called "Sex and Power" ("Sesso e potere")? You didn't? Well, do you remember the original title of the 1997 movie, directed by Barry Levinson about a sex scandal involving the President of the United States?
Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. The title of this 1990 Adrian Lyne's film, starring Tim Robbins, has a biblical source, but in Italian it was called "Perverse Hallucination" ("Allucinazione perversa"). Much more enticing than the original, that was what? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Have you ever heard Johnny Cash singing his famous song "When Love Burns My Soul"? Wait a minute: what song is this? Actually, it's the Italian title ("Quando l'amore brucia l'anima") of the biopic about Cash's early life and career. The title of this 2005 film, directed by James Mangold, is the same as the title of a 1956 hit by Johnny. Can you pick the earliest among the following songs? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Which 1972 comedy directed by Ernest Lehman, based on a bestselling novel with the same title, written by Philip Roth, had the privilege of being translated in Italian into: "If I Don't Do That I Am Not Amused" ("Se non faccio quello non mi diverto")?
Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Let's go to Britain for a very successful 1962 film: "Only Two Can Play". In Italian, for the reasons I have already mentioned, it was called "Sex, Sin and Chastity" ("Sesso, Peccato e Castità").
Do you remember which actor, comedian, singer, and who later interpreted a French inspector, starred in this film?
Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. This great French director was often mistreated by his Italian "cousins" with the translation of his titles. Two examples:
"La sirène du Mississippi" (Mississippi Mermaid") became "My Drug is Called Julie" ("La mia droga si chiama Julie"); "Domicile conjugal" ("Marital Home") became: "Don't Make a Drama... It Is Just a Matter of Horns" (Non drammatizziamo...è solo questione di corna") where "horns" mean "adultery".
Who is this director, who gave us also the beautiful "Day for Night" and "Jules and Jim"?
Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Jimmy Stewart had acrophobia in this film that in the Italian version was called "The Woman Who Lived Twice". The woman was Kim Novak. Do you remember the name of this 1958 Hitchcock classic?

Answer: (One Word)
Question 8 of 10
8. Could you ever imagine which John Ford film is hidden behind the Italian title "Rio Bravo"?
It was released in 1950, and it's the only one among those listed starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.
Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. "Please Don't Touch the Old Ladies" ("Per favore non toccate le vecchiette") is the Italian title of Mel Brooks' debut as a director. Do you remember the original title of this film, starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, that was later adapted as a musical?
Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. "La signora del venerdì" sounds like a good translation for a 1940 film, directed by Howard Hawks, with Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant. But it is not.
What film, adapted from the play "The Front Page", am I talking about? (Think Robinson Crusoe).
Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Did you know that Dustin Hoffmann and Robert De Niro starred together in a film called "Sex and Power" ("Sesso e potere")? You didn't? Well, do you remember the original title of the 1997 movie, directed by Barry Levinson about a sex scandal involving the President of the United States?

Answer: Wag the Dog

Let's admit that translating "Wag the Dog" in Italian is not easy. But Italian distributors never miss the chance to add a bit of pepper with sexual innuendo in translating titles.
This film at least, has a sexy motive in it: the President makes passes at an underage girl. How to avoid the scandal? In the usual fashion: averting attention with a war; a fictional one, in this case.
The other choices are all films directed by Levinson.
2. The title of this 1990 Adrian Lyne's film, starring Tim Robbins, has a biblical source, but in Italian it was called "Perverse Hallucination" ("Allucinazione perversa"). Much more enticing than the original, that was what?

Answer: Jacob's Ladder

Jacob here is a Vietnam veteran who actually has hallucinations, more bizarre than perverse I think.
In the Bible (Genesis 28) the patriarch Jacob dreams of a ladder reaching to Heaven. Not perverse at all.
In 2019 a remake of the film, directed by David M. Rosenthal, was released.
3. Have you ever heard Johnny Cash singing his famous song "When Love Burns My Soul"? Wait a minute: what song is this? Actually, it's the Italian title ("Quando l'amore brucia l'anima") of the biopic about Cash's early life and career. The title of this 2005 film, directed by James Mangold, is the same as the title of a 1956 hit by Johnny. Can you pick the earliest among the following songs?

Answer: Walk the Line

Well, actually the song's called "I Walk the Line".
The film stars Joaquin Phoenix (as Cash) and Reese Witherspoon (as June Carter), who won an Oscar as Best Actress.
The reason for the Italian translation remains obscure.
4. Which 1972 comedy directed by Ernest Lehman, based on a bestselling novel with the same title, written by Philip Roth, had the privilege of being translated in Italian into: "If I Don't Do That I Am Not Amused" ("Se non faccio quello non mi diverto")?

Answer: Portnoy's Complaint

The film, starring Richard Benjamin and Karen Black, was very unsuccessful, but is worth mentioning here for the silly Italian title. If you haven't seen it, that is probable, maybe you've read the book, that was translated correctly into "Il lamento di Portnoy". Maybe a too neutral title for a story about a man telling his shrink about his sexual fantasies. Hence the translation.
5. Let's go to Britain for a very successful 1962 film: "Only Two Can Play". In Italian, for the reasons I have already mentioned, it was called "Sex, Sin and Chastity" ("Sesso, Peccato e Castità"). Do you remember which actor, comedian, singer, and who later interpreted a French inspector, starred in this film?

Answer: Peter Sellers

All actors in the choices have been Clouseau in their career, but Sellers was the real thing.
The film was based on a novel by Kingsley Amis called "That Uncertain Feeling" and was nominated Best Film at the 1963 BAFTA Awards.
Since the plot includes a unconsummated love affair, the "Chastity" is justified.
6. This great French director was often mistreated by his Italian "cousins" with the translation of his titles. Two examples: "La sirène du Mississippi" (Mississippi Mermaid") became "My Drug is Called Julie" ("La mia droga si chiama Julie"); "Domicile conjugal" ("Marital Home") became: "Don't Make a Drama... It Is Just a Matter of Horns" (Non drammatizziamo...è solo questione di corna") where "horns" mean "adultery". Who is this director, who gave us also the beautiful "Day for Night" and "Jules and Jim"?

Answer: François Truffaut

Truffaut played a major role in founding the New Wave of French Cinema in the Sixties. He was also a writer (his interview with Hitchcock became a book classic), a fine film critic, and acted in many of his films. He died too young, at 52, in 1984.
The English title of "Domicile conjugal" is "Bed and Board".
7. Jimmy Stewart had acrophobia in this film that in the Italian version was called "The Woman Who Lived Twice". The woman was Kim Novak. Do you remember the name of this 1958 Hitchcock classic?

Answer: Vertigo

"Vertigine" could be a good title. But it was already taken, for it was the Italian title of Preminger's "Laura" that was released 14 years before. So they had to find something new for Hitch, and decided for a spoiler.
8. Could you ever imagine which John Ford film is hidden behind the Italian title "Rio Bravo"? It was released in 1950, and it's the only one among those listed starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.

Answer: Rio Grande

What's wrong with Grande (that means "Large") and why is Bravo (that means "Good") better? Maybe because Rio Bravo is how they call the Rio Grande in Mexico? But it's also a 1959 western directed by Howard Hawks, also featuring John Wayne. So that title in Italy had to be changed into "A Dollar of Honor" ("Un dollaro d'onore).
9. "Please Don't Touch the Old Ladies" ("Per favore non toccate le vecchiette") is the Italian title of Mel Brooks' debut as a director. Do you remember the original title of this film, starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, that was later adapted as a musical?

Answer: The Producers

"Blazing Saddles" became "Noon and A Half of Fire" ("Mezzogiorno e Mezzo di Fuoco").
"Silent Movie" became "Mel Brooks Last Folly" ("L'ultima follia di Mel Brooks").

"The Producers" involved two of the title theatrical types attempting to find a play that was so bad that it was sure to make no money.
10. "La signora del venerdì" sounds like a good translation for a 1940 film, directed by Howard Hawks, with Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant. But it is not. What film, adapted from the play "The Front Page", am I talking about? (Think Robinson Crusoe).

Answer: His Girl Friday

The allusion to Robinson Crusoe and his servant Friday was completely lost in translation: the Italian title means "The Lady of each Friday", that makes me think of a female who appears once a week, maybe to clean the apartment. Or worse.
Source: Author zordy

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor spanishliz before going online.
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