8mm Forum: Why did Collectors Club often change titles on films?

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Posted by Joseph Banfield (Member # 2082) on November 01, 2012, 08:31 AM:

Does anyone know why Collector's Club often changed the titles completely on their films? For example a 200' foot synopsis of "Safety Last" from Harold Lloyd is still called "Safety Last", while a 200' synopsis of "I Do" is called "Bumps In the Night".

Another title that comes to mind is "Ninety Miles per Hour", which in fact is "Love, Speed and Thrills" by the Keystone Cops (1915) and is not even a cut down since it was originally a one-reeler to begin with....the only thing that changed was the title of the film when released by Collector's Club.

Does anyone know why they changed these title names so radically like this and what the purpose for doing so may have been?

[ November 01, 2012, 02:32 PM: Message edited by: Joseph Banfield ]

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on November 01, 2012, 11:23 AM:

They probably did not have the rights to these films and changed their issued name to hide the original title source.

Posted by Hugh Thompson Scott (Member # 2922) on November 01, 2012, 12:34 PM:

Just part of the fun of this hobby,you never know what the hell you've got until you put it on the screen.

Posted by Joseph Banfield (Member # 2082) on November 01, 2012, 02:14 PM:

Ha! Hugh that is great and well put, but oh so true!

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on November 02, 2012, 03:18 AM:

This has happened about a thousand times,with companies releasing cutdowns, or even complete shorts, or copies of copies.Of course,the surprises are about as many! To site two examples, THE HOLLYWOOD KID and THE CAMERA KID one reelers form the complete two reeler THE HOLLYWOOD KID. The rare Milburn Morante comedy I am looking for,is STEPPING ON THE GAS,yet, STEPPING ON THE GAS is also the retitled LIZZIES OF THE FIELD. Chaplin's early films are available in dozens of retitles, etc etc.

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on November 03, 2012, 02:58 AM:

THE HOLLYWOOD KID,(or is it THE CAMERA KID ?) is also retitled HOLLYWOOD BOUND. SAILOR BEWARE,if it is not the Laurel and Hardy or the Billy Dooley comedies, may be a retitle of Lupino Lane's BE MY KING (which is also available as 'S TWO FOR THE POT) etc etc

Posted by Dino Everette (Member # 1378) on November 03, 2012, 04:08 AM:

Pan I thought you finally picked up Stepping on the Gas? If not you want the 2 x 200ft Regent release, as the other 2 (Vistapaks and Collectors Club) are both the Sennett comedy... As for Sailor Beware, i never knew about that title being used for the Lupino Lane release...Do you know who put that out? I know Vintage Films UK put out the Be my King cutdown Two for the Pot as well as the retitled Hollywood Bound version of Hollywood Kid.

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on November 03, 2012, 04:58 PM:

In fact,I only saw it in the recent Classic list,unless Phil made a mistake and put a = instead of - between SAILOR BEWARE and BE MY KING. And yes,I am still interested in STEPPING ON THE GAS.Do let me know.Thanks.

Posted by Ron Douglas (Member # 2990) on November 03, 2012, 06:15 PM:

Hi Pan,
I've just sold a job lot of films, including Stepping on the Gas. It was on the list I mailed you that you purchased from, but maybe you missed it?
I could certainly ask if i could buy this back, if you'd like?
Warm wishes from the UK to you over in Greece!

Posted by Joseph Banfield (Member # 2082) on November 04, 2012, 02:06 AM:

There really is a need for a database on this site for those films whose titles changed. More information is always a good thing in this hobby.

Another title to add would be by Walton Films entitled "High Hopes"...aka "Never Weaken".

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on November 09, 2012, 02:29 AM:

Dino, I have sent you a p.m.

Posted by Joseph Banfield (Member # 2082) on November 09, 2012, 09:07 AM:

Does anyone know what the collectors Club sound release of the "The Magic Lamp" is really called? I have found no information for this film to date. It is a cartoon with chinese looking characters based on the Aladdin story. It looks as though it was probably from the 1940's.

Another good title to add to the database would be "Whispering Whiskers" (1926), which Collector's Club actually got right, while Castle films did not by calling it "Railroad Stowaways", which for some odd reason was the actual release title in the UK in 1926...figure that one out if you can! Castle films seems to have taken some liberties on the intertitles a bit on their version and changed them to be perfect Oxford dictionary English as well.

Posted by Pasquale DAlessio (Member # 2052) on November 09, 2012, 09:19 AM:

I always thought the names of the cut downs were based on content? [Confused]

Posted by Joseph Banfield (Member # 2082) on November 09, 2012, 01:17 PM:

Well, I think the titles of the films were based on content to some extent too. The problem is you have no idea what you have unless you can identify the film that the cutdown is from.

And the part that can be frustrating is that not all of them are even cutdowns, which really confuses things if you have unknown actors in a film with a fake title.

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on November 10, 2012, 03:40 PM:

It is ALADDIN'S LAMP, a Gandy Goose Terrytoon from 1943 (originally in color)

Posted by Joseph Banfield (Member # 2082) on November 13, 2012, 09:32 AM:

Thanks Panayotis, but that is not the same film I have. So, I still remain in the dark on "The Magic Lamp" from Collector's Club.

Posted by Panayotis A. Carayannis (Member # 1220) on November 21, 2012, 02:50 PM:

Wrong again !!! It is ALADDIN'S LAMP, a Terrytoon from 1935.
Terry sometimes used the same titles twice.

Posted by Joseph Banfield (Member # 2082) on August 05, 2018, 03:25 PM:

I finally found the original title of the Collector's Club film known as "The Magic Lamp" in B/W sound on Super8. It is a Terrytoon release from 1938 called "Maid In China" and originally in B/W, as were all Terrytoons before 1942. The mystery is finally solved!

Posted by Winbert Hutahaean (Member # 58) on August 05, 2018, 05:03 PM:

From one film, they can make 2 or 3 cut downs (it happens a lot with Abbot & Costello). Certainly with this reason they cannot use the original title but the content.

The funny thing is with Tom & Jerry, Walton and MGM use the original title but in Italy they printed TJs with English bogus titles. I don't understand the reason why, as they were not cut downs.

Posted by Allan Broadfield (Member # 2298) on August 06, 2018, 02:39 AM:

Changing of titles was standard practice back in the day, with Pathescope (9.5mm) commonly doing this. One of many examples was the Chaplin film 'The Cure'. This was released as 'The Water Cure'. Their prints were great but they would rename extracts as well as long versions in some cases.

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on August 06, 2018, 02:44 AM:

Indeed, I have a copy of "Mouse Follies" that is entitled "Tom & Jerry Skaters". Perhaps they thought the original would mean nothing to some buyers and might put them off it.

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