Every week, “Charts & Graphs” looks past the weekend box-office numbers to examine other lists of movies that are popular right now, as assessed by the likes of iTunes, Amazon, Box Office Mojo, and other services.
Earlier this week, The Hollywood Reporter posted a story about a Russian parliamentarian who has proposed legislation to ban all foreign films in which Russia is “overtly demonized or shown in a primitive and silly way.” But the part of that Hollywood Reporter article that particularly caught my attention was the passing mention of a list generated by Russia’s culture ministry, of 100 recommended foreign films. I tried to find a site that had printed the entire list in English, but the best I could find was a link to the actual Russian culture ministry’s page, with the list in Cyrillic. I let Google Translate work its magic, and it spit out a list that’s about 80% the same as the original movie titles, and about 20% roundabout translations. Of those translations, most of the them—minus a small handful—are pretty easy to figure out. Nevertheless, I thought it would be fun to reprint the translated list as I originally saw it (save for my alphabetizing), to give readers a chance to play the reinterpretation game.
Alien (USA)
Amadeus (USA)
Amarcord (Italy, France)
Among Max Linder (France)
Apocalypse Now (USA)
Ashes And Diamonds (Poland)
Atalanta (France)
Ball (France, Italy)
Bambi (USA)
Best Years Of Our Lives (USA)
Bicycle Thieves (Italy)
Bonnie And Clyde (USA)
Breathless (France)
Broken Blossoms (USA)
Cabaret (USA)
The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (Germany)
Cabiria (Italy)
Un Chien Andalou (France)
Children Raika (France)
Citizen Kane (USA)
City Lights (USA)
Condominium (USA)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Taiwan, Hong Kong, USA, China)
Dad On A Business Trip (Yugoslavia)
Dersu Uzala (USSR, Japan)
The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie (France)
Dizziness (USA)
Eclipse (Italy, France)
Eight And A Half (Italy, France)
Every Man For Himself And God Against All (Germany)
Father - Diary Of One Faith (Hungary)
Finally Safe! (USA)
Forbidden Games (France)
Four Strokes (France)
The Godfather (USA)
Gold Fever (USA)
Gone With The Wind (USA)
Goodbye, Children (France, Germany, Italy)
Grand Illusion (France)
The Grapes Of Wrath (USA)
The Great Dictator (USA)
Great Expectations (UK)
The Great Train Robbery (USA)
Hamlet (UK)
Hiroshima, My Love (France)
Idiot (Japan)
Intolerance (USA)
Kes (UK)
Koyaaniskatsi (USA)
Last Emperor (China, Italy, Uk, France)
Last Man (Germany)
Leopard (Italy, France)
Locomotive “The General” (USA)
Lumière Films (France)
The Maltese Falcon (USA)
Man And Woman (France)
Man Of Marble (Poland)
M. City Looking For The Murderer (Germany)
Mephisto (Germany, Hungary, Austria)
Metropolis (Germany)
Nanook Of The North (usa, France)
The New “Paradiso” (Italy, France)
New Times (USA)
Nights Of Cabiria (Italy, France)
The Nuremberg Trials (USA)
O’Clock In The Morning (USA)
Oliver! (UK)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (USA)
On The Western Front (USA)
Orpheus (France)
The Passion Of Joan Of Arc (France)
Pursuit (USA)
Quay Fogs (France)
Rashomon (Japan)
Red Sorghum (China)
Road (Italy)
Rocco And His Brothers (Italy, France)
Rome, Open City (Italy)
Rules Of The Game (France)
Scarface (USA)
Schindler’s List (USA)
Sentenced To Death Escaped, Or The Spirit Blows Where It Wants (France)
Seven Samurai (Japan)
The Seventh Seal (Sweden)
Some Like It Hot (USA)
Stagecoach (USA)
Star Wars: Episode 4 - A New Hope (USA)
Strawberry Fields (Sweden)
This Sporting Life (UK)
Three Epochs (USA)
The Three Little Pigs (USA)
The Tin Drum (Germany, France, Yugoslavia)
Titanic (USA)
To Be Or Not To Be (USA)
Trip To The Moon (France)
2001: A Space Odyssey (USA)
Under The Roofs Of Paris (France)
West Side Story (USA)
The Wizard Of Oz (USA)
A Wonderful Life (USA)
A few notes:
- I initially thought that Cabiria and Nights Of Cabiria was an accidental duplication, but no—the former is a 1914 silent film.
- Condominium, Dizziness, and Finally Safe! are my favorite retitlings, and ones I plan to integrate into daily usage as soon as possible.
- Although I could probably figure out the answers if I went back to the culture ministry page and looked at the posters, the titles I’m still puzzling over are Ball, Children Raika, Pursuit, and Quay Fogs.
- This is a pretty unimpeachable cinematic canon, overall, with maybe a couple of exceptions. Which movie is most out of place? And are any here that would meet with disapproval from the Russian parliament?