Should we create translations of foreign movie titles?

[alehel]

I've started adding some old Norwegian classics to the movies database, but I'm currently stuck debating how to name them. Usually one uses the english name of the movie and then put in brackets to original name. How should we do this for foreign movies that never had an english release and therefore no official english translation? One example is a norwegian movie from the 50's called "Dødens tjern". Translated this could be "Lake of the Dead", but this is not the official translation as it was never released abroad. Should I just add these movies without an english title, or make my own translations? I've already added a couple without the english translation, but I could always edit these entries to include them.

Also, despite these movies not being available abroad, their new dvd releases (not available on blu-ray sadly) include english subtitles, so most of these are english friendly.

[Jarfa]

Originally Posted by alehel

I've started adding some old Norwegian classics to the movies database, but I'm currently stuck debating how to name them. Usually one uses the english name of the movie and then put in brackets to original name.

Correct

Originally Posted by alehel

How should we do this for foreign movies that never had an english release and therefore no official english translation? One example is a norwegian movie from the 50's called "Dødens tjern". Translated this could be "Lake of the Dead", but this is not the official translation as it was never released abroad. Should I just add these movies without an english title, or make my own translations? I've already added a couple without the english translation, but I could always edit these entries to include them.

without the english translation for now

[alehel]

Thanks . Time to get busy adding old classics

[alehel]

I suddenly realized that maybe the movie subtitles contained translations of the movie title. So I turned on the subtitles for "De dødes tjern" and sure enough, the first subtitle to come up said "Lake of the Dead". I guess that's as official as it gets for these movies.

[pro-bassoonist]

Alehel,

Thank you so much for adding these. I have two discs, Ni liv and Faneflukt, and both are very good.

When you are done, could you PM me and let me know which titles you have. I am interested in getting quite a few more, but would like to know how are the transfers.

On a side note, some time ago Warner and Sandrew Metronome had a similar Swedish line and I picked up Nattlek because it was never released in the U.S., but it turned out to be non-anamorphic. I am still glad I bought it, but with the classic line I would like to pick up the better discs first.

.

Pro-B

p.s. If you don't have Ni liv, make it a priority title. Great film, reminded me a lot about As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me

[alehel]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Alehel,
When you are done, could you PM me and let me know which titles you have. I am interested in getting quite a few more, but would like to know how are the transfers.

I would be very happy to do so . Quality varies a lot with these titles. There is an interview on youtube with the company that publishes this series. They say that when they bought the distribution rights they had no idea how badly kept the masters were, and there has since been a long argument about whose responsibility it is to restore them. Many believe the government run organisation "NFI" who owns the masters should pay for their restoration. Without government funding, full restorations just aren't possible as it makes no financial sense. Some of these films sold less than 1000 copies. Some of these only have masters on DigiBeta, which have the same resolution as a DVD disc, so they will never look better unless they can find the original negatives. Also, as far as I can tell, the 2004 releases where not anamorphic, whereas the 2009 releases are, but I'll have to look closer at this to be sure.

It was a bit back and forth with the first films I was adding to the database as I got a few things confused, so I apologize to admins who have had to accept my entries more than once. I've now discovered the best thing to do is to first add the movie and then once that gets into the system, add the dvd, so things should go well from here on . The hardest part is writing a good synopsis in english :P.

Pro-bassoonist, seeing as you've seen a few of these, maybe you could give me a few tips. Do you agree that the title translations used in the movie subtitles would be good to have in the database? Also, do you think I should include "Norske klassikere" in the titles of the dvds as these are part of that series (like we do with studiocanal collection titles) to make it easier to find? Take a look at Norske byggeklosser for an example of what I mean.

I currently have the following titles - "Fredrikssons fabrikk - The movie", "Ni liv", "De dødes tjern", "Norske byggeklosser" and "Fjols til fjells". I've only had time to watch Norske byggeklosser and Fredrikssons fabrikk, but will be watching the others this weekend. My hope is to get as many as possible of the "Norske klassikere", and the plan is to add them to the blu-ray.com dvd database as I do so, so keep an eye on my dvd collection , but I'll send you a PM once I get everything in place on the sites database, etc. I have quite a few titles on their way to me now

I really recommend Norske byggeklosse. Its a comedy about a couple who buy a property and the landlord promises to build their house on the property within 10 months. Rolv Wesenlund (one of our best comedians ) plays 8 different roles in this movie.

[pro-bassoonist]

Thank you for the info, Alehel

Titles - Sure, it would be great if you included Norske klassikere so that our members could search the collection. Also, yes, if the distributors have included an English title as you note (in the translation file), it would be good to have it in our database.

Yes, when you enter the titles, please drop me a line. I will keep an eye on your collection as well. As far as the quality goes, I just need some basic info, as I will be adding as many of these films to my library as possible. You are absolutely right, unless someone restores them, these DVDs will likely be the best presentations that they would get. And considering the fact that they are very unlikely to ever appear in the U.S., for me these are essential releases. (I actually thought that Ni liv looked quite good).

Originally Posted by alehel

I really recommend Norske byggeklosse. Its a comedy about a couple who buy a property and the landlord promises to build their house on the property within 10 months. Rolv Wesenlund (one of our best comedians ) plays 8 different roles in this movie.

Excellent. Will get it

On a side note, there are also some really good releases of Finnish director Teuvo Tulio's films. I picked up a few not too long ago and have been very happy with them. If they ever come out on Blu-ray, I will be upgrading immediately. Maybe you could find them in Norway cheap:

http://www.amazon.com/s?url=search-a...+Tulio&x=0&y=0

Thank you again for your contributions

Pro-B