The Title Is Not Enough

A comprehensive list of the way some films are translated into foreign languages, why it occurs, and what title some films are known by outside of the U.S. and the U.K.:

1962--Dr. No:
"James Bond vs. Dr. No" (Belgium and France)
"007 Seized the Secret Island" (China)
"Mission: Murder!" or "Agent 007--Mission: Kill Dr. No" (Denmark)
"James Bond Chases Dr. No" (Germany)
"007 Is the Killing Number: Dr. No" (Japan)
"Agent 007 vs. The Satanic Dr. No" (Spain)

1963--From Russia With Love:
"Love and Kisses From Russia" (Belgium)
"Hunting Agent 007" (Denmark)
"Hearty Kisses From Russia" (France)
"Love Greetings From Moscow" (Germany)
"Moscow vs. 007" (Portugal)
"Agent 007 Sees Red" (Sweden) [!]


1964--Goldfinger:
The Man With Golden Fingers" (The Netherlands)
"007 Against Goldfinger" (Portugal)


1965--Thunderball:
"007 Averts SPECTRE" (China)
"Agent 007 In the Fire" (Denmark)
"Fireball" (Germany)
"Operations: Thundersky" (Norway)
"Atomic Ball" (Portugal)


1967--You Only Live Twice:
"007 Seizes the Rocket Base" (China)
"A Man Doesn`t Live More Than Twice" (Germany)

1967 - You Only Live Twice: Its German title "Man lebt nur zweimal" is the literal translation of the original one. "A Man Doesn`t Live More Than Twice" is a rather poor re-translation of the German title into English.
"007 Dies Twice" (Japan)
"James Bond In Japan" (Norway)


1969--On Her Majesty`s Secret Service:
"The Queen`s 007" (Japan)
"007 Seizes the Snow Mountain Castle" (Norway)


1971--Diamonds Are Forever:
"007 Averts the Diamond Gang" (China)
"The Man of Steel, Gold and Iron Catches the Gang With the Diamonds" (Hong Kong)
"Diamond Fever" (Germany and Sweden)
"Diamonds For Eternity" (Spain)


1973--Live and Let Die:
"The Dead Slave" (Japan)

1974--The Man With The Golden Gun:
"The Man With The Golden Colt" (Germany)


1977--The Spy Who Loved Me:
"007 My Beloved" (Finland)
"Beloved Spy" (Norway)


1979--Moonraker:
"007 Seizes the Space Station" (China)
"The Moon Rocket" (Norway)


1981--For Your Eyes Only:
"Top Secret" (Sweden)
"From A Deadly Viewpoint" (Finland)
"On A Deadly Mission" (Germany)
"A Deadly Point of View" (Norway)
“An Eye For An Eye” (Russia)


1983--Octopussy:
"Dangerously Yours" (France)
"Octopussy" (Germany)
"Operation: Octopus" or "Moving Target" (Italy)
"The Beautiful Prey" (Japan)
"With Death In Sight" (Norway)
"A Panorama To A Kill" (Spain)
"The Living Target" (Sweden)

1983--Never Say Never Again
"Warhead" (production title from 1975 - 1982)

1985--A View To A Kill:
"From A View To A Kill" was the working title (from Fleming`s short story of the same name in his "For Your Eyes Only") and was considered too much of a mouthful for EON publicists to translate.
"In the Face of Death," (a literal translation, meaning: "Facing Death" (Germany)

1987--The Living Daylights:
"Spies Die At Dawn" (Denmark)[!]
"Death Is Not A Game" or "To Kill Is Not To Play" (France) [!]
Depending how one translates "hauch", either "The Breeze of Death" or "The Whiff of Death" (Germany)
"Danger Zone" (Italy)
"In the Line of Fire" (Norway) [!]
"High Tension" (Spain)
"Ice Cold Mission" (Sweden)


1989--Licence To Kill:
"Licence Revoked" (Title changed from "Revoked" when marketing bigwigs feared an unintelligent public would confuse the Bond film with a movie about driving. In ironic fashion, the Corey Haim vehicle "License To Drive" came out the summer of `89 also, thus justifying the marketing executives` salaries.) Posters may be found with variations of the American "license" rather than the British "licence".

Foreign countries may not have adequate words to literally translate a film title from English into their language. They may approximate lines from the film or use a poor translation of an original, working title. For example, Japan uses the original title for "License To Kill", "Licence Revoked" to form their translation. Thus, License Revoked became "The Cancelled License"! The film was known more gracefully, for example, as "Agent 007 With A License To Kill" (Sweden) and also as:

"Private Revenge" (Italy)
"With A Right To Kill" (Norway)
"Time For Revenge" (Sweden) [!]


1997--Tomorrow Never Dies: "Tomorrow Never Lies" (One story says the title changed when a copyist, prepping a press release, mistyped "Dies" for "Lies". In possible verification, at least one band recorded "Lies" as a demo track for EON.)
"The Morning Never Dies" (Germany)

Other rumored titles for films post-TND, no matter how silly some might seem, are listed here:
"Aquator" (starring George Lazenby as the villain, "Aquator"!)
"Avatar"
"Dream Weaver"
"On Hot Ice"
"Risico"
"Shamelady" (from Fleming`s Jamaican digs)
"Shatterhand" (Villain of novel, "You Only Live Twice")
"The Postmaster"
"The Property of a Lady"
"The Undertaker`s Wind"
"The World Is Not Enough"
"Tomorrow Always Comes"
"Zameer Aquator"
"Zamfir Aquator"
"Zero Windchill" (Brrrr!)


1999--The World Is Not Enough, rumored titles for Bond XIX:
The aptly named "Bond 19" (USA press title)
"Bond 2000" (UK working title)
"Death Waits for No Man"
"Deathstriker"
"Elektra"
"Facts of Death"
"Fire and Ice"
"Prelude to Death" (One wag suggested the prelude was a Honda, perhaps.)
"Pressure Point"
"Stonecold"
"The World Is Not Enough" (Correct!)

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

1967--You Only Live Twice:
"007 Seizes the Rocket Base" (China)

Talk about giving away the ending.

Dangerously yours is not the French title of Octopussy but it's the A view to a kill one. Do you want all the French ones ? I add a literal translation on the right.

- James Bond 007 contre Dr No : James Bond 007 against Dr No
- Bons baisers de Russie : Hearty kisses from Russia
- Goldfinger : Goldfinger
- Opération Tonnerre : Operation Thunder
- On ne vit que deux fois : One only lives twice
- Au service secret de sa Majesté : On her Majesty's secret service
- Les diamants sont éternels : The diamonds are everlasting
- Vivre et laisser mourir : Live and let die
- L'homme au pistolet d'or : The man with the golden gun
- L'espion qui m'aimait : The spy who loved me
- Moonraker : Moonraker
- Rien que pour vos yeux : Only for your eyes
- Octopussy : Octopussy
- Dangereusement vôtre : Dangerously yours // Amicalement vôtre (Friendly yours) was the French name of The Persuaders. I think it's a kind of tribute.
- Tuer n'est pas jouer : Killing is not playing // Souffler n'est pas jouer (Huffing is not playing) was a very very old draughts rule (deleted in 1923). The famous James Bond sentence is Whoever she was, I must have scared the living daylights out of her. In French it was translated by Qui que soit cette fille il y a tout de même des cas dans la vie où tuer n'est pas jouer, which means Whoever this girl was in life there are moments where killing is not playing, or something like that. I like this title. It reminds me draughts like the movie From Russia with love reminds me chess. And killing is not playing reminds the sniper was a woman, and the cello.
- Permis de tuer : Licence to kill
- Goldeneye : Goldeneye
- Demain ne meurt jamais : Tomorrow never dies
- Le monde ne suffit pas : The world doesn't suffice
- Meurs un autre jour : Do die another day
- Casino Royale : Casino Royale
- Quantum of Solace : Quantum of Solace

Klaus Hergesheimer wrote:

Dangerously yours is not the French title of Octopussy but it's the A view to a kill one. Do you want all the French ones ? I add a literal translation on the right.

- Tuer n'est pas jouer : Killing is not playing // Souffler n'est pas jouer (Huffing is not playing) was a very very old draughts rule (deleted in 1923). The famous James Bond sentence is Whoever she was, I must have scared the living daylights out of her. In French it was translated by Qui que soit cette fille il y a tout de même des cas dans la vie où tuer n'est pas jouer, which means Whoever this girl was in life there are moments where killing is not playing, or something like that. I like this title. It reminds me draughts like the movie From Russia with love reminds me chess. And killing is not playing reminds the sniper was a woman, and the cello.

Thanks Klaus. Excellent response. I particularly appreciate your line translation from THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS. I always find it interesting to see how a movie is translated into a foreign language/culture.

Doctor No was released as Licence To Kill in Italian theatres in 1962, thus causing a few problems when Licence To Kill had a worldwide release in 1989. So Dalton's final Bond film was renamed "Private Revenge" in Italy.

Black Beer pockets:

Dr. No - Dr No or Docter No
FRWL - Liefst Uit Moskou (Thansk from Moskou)
GF - De man met de gouden vingers (The Man with the golden fingers)
TB - Kalm aan, Mr. Bond (Calm down Mr Bond)
Yolt - Je leeft maar tweemaal
OHMSS - In dienst van Hare Majesteit
DAF - Doden voor diamanten (Killing for diamonds)
LALD - Moord onder water (Murder under water)
TMWTGG - De man met de gouden revolver
TSWLM - De spion die mij beminde
Moonraker - Hoogspel (High Game)

Van een blik tot een moord - A View To A Kill:
FYEO - Voor uw ogen alleen
A view to a kill - Van een blik tot een moord
QOS - De kwantum solace theorie (The Quantum of Solace Theory)
Risico - Risico (Risk)
The Hildebrand Rarity - De Hildebrand rariteit (The Hildebrand Curio)

Octopussy
Octopussy - Octopussy
TLD - Veel liefs uit Berlijn (A lot of love from Berlin)
The Property of a Lady - Om het bezit van een dame (Upon it Propety Of a Lady)
007 in New York - 007 in New York

Casino Royale (2006 pocket) - Casino Royale


The movies not get a translation, but Der Morgen stirbt nie the German title of Tomorrow Never Dies means in Dutch: Morgen zal niet sterven, what Tomorrow Never Dies mean. Stirb an einem anderen Tag is the German title of Die Another Day and means in Dutch: Sterf een andere dag what be the meaning of Die Another Day. If there have yuse Tomorrow Never Lies, Tomorrow Never Lies means: Morgen zal niet liegen in others words: The Truth wil be discoverd tomorrow, something you said when you expect someone lies and waiting on the truth and the truth wil be discover / Rise at the Horizon in the future or the next day.

In Thailand SKYFALL translates to TWISTING THE BAD TIGER'S KILLING CODE.

Apparently "tiger" symbolises a womaniser over there.

Good thread. Lacks several italian titles, though. Also, Moving Target written for Octopussy is actually A View To A KIll.

Anyway, italian titles:

Licence To Kill
From Russia With Love
Goldfinger
Thunderball: Operation Thunder
You Only Live Twice
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
A Diamonds Waterfall
Live And Let Die
The Man With The Golden Gun
The Spy Who Loved Me (actually, it's not exact, see below)
Moonraker: Operation Space
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy: Operation Octopus
Moving Target
Danger Zone
Private Revenge
GoldenEye
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World is Not Enough
Death Can Wait
Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace
Skyfall


Ian Fleming's book The Spy Who Loved Me was translated as "La Spia Che Mi Amò" ("The Spy Who Loved Me"), which means Loved me for a short time.
The movie, instead, was translated as "La spia che mi amava", which means literally "The Spy who used to Love me", as the spy loved me for a long time.