What’s in a film name?
QUESTION Has the title of any film or TV show been changed after a test screening?
It IS not uncommon for films and tV series to be retitled before release as a result of feedback from test screenings or due to legal issues.
the 1989 timothy Dalton James Bond film Licence to Kill was originally Licence Revoked, but test screenings revealed most Americans didn’t understand the meaning of the word ‘revoked’.
In 1982, the Lewis Collins movie Who Dares Wins was retitled the Final Option for the U.S. as Americans were unfamiliar with the SAS and its motto.
Schloss Adler (Castle Of the Eagles) was changed to a punchier Shakespearean quote, Where Eagles Dare, by producer Elliott Kastner.
the 1990 aviation war film Memphis Belle was renamed Southern Belle for legal reasons, then changed back.
the tV series the Professionals was originally called the A Squad.
Bizarre provisional titles for Monty Python’s Flying Circus included Owl Stretching time and Gwen Dibley’s Flying Circus.
Dr Colin M. Barron, Dunblane. SOME film titles have been changed because what may be an innocent word in the U.S. could have a lewd meaning in
Rejected: The original Bond title Britain, and vice-versa. the title of Al Jolson’s 1933 musical comedy Hallelujah, I’m A Bum was deemed too much for British audiences and renamed Hallelujah, I’m A tramp.
Likewise, A Girl, A Guy And A Gob, a 1941 comedy starring George Murphy and Lucille Ball, became the Navy Steps Out, and W. C. Fields’s 1940 comedy the Bank Dick became the Bank Detective.
the 1944 British drama Fanny By Gaslight was renamed Man Of Evil in the U.S., where fanny refers to the posterior. the title predates changes in modern British parlance.
Some changes are harder to fathom. Peter Sellers’s the Smallest Show On
Earth became Big time Operators in the U.S. and the 1943 war film tomorrow We Live was named At Dawn We Die in the U.S.
In 1956, Walk Into Paradise, a perilous trek deep into Papua New Guinea, became Walk Into Hell in the U.S. because it was felt audiences wouldn’t grasp the satirical title.
Emma Gillingham, Cardiff.
QUESTION Which Number One single has sold the least number of records?
NO tOMORROW, the debut by U.S. rock band Orson, released on February 27, 2006, had the lowest weekly sales of a British No 1, with 17,694 physical copies.
Contrast this with Britain’s highestselling single, Elton John’s Candle In the Wind 1997. Released following the death of Princess Diana, it sold more than 650,000 on its first day on sale and in excess of 1.5 million in its first week.
Song streaming is now incorporated into the singles chart, but the Official Charts Company continues to compile a sales only chart.
Sign Of the times by Harry Styles, Number One in April 2017, sold only 16,686 physical copies, beating No tomorrow’s record.
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