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What happened to the "A" in "A Clockwork Orange"?

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What happened to the "A" in "A Clockwork Orange"?

 
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Old 06-24-03, 06:45 PM
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What happened to the "A" in "A Clockwork Orange"?

Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" is one of my top ten favorite films. I just got around to buying it on DVD, and I noticed a rather curious omission. The title of on the cover is simply "Clockwork Orange." Anyone know why the "A" would be missing in the title. It's such a classic, unique title that I can't imagine why anyone would want to alter it in any way. I know this may seem like overt fussiness, but I am just curious.
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Old 06-24-03, 06:48 PM
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Ummm, isn't that it, above "Stanley Kubrick's"?
Kinda clever, actually.

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Old 06-24-03, 06:56 PM
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You know, I never really noticed that. You are right, I think. The image of Malcolm McDowell inside the letter A would represent the A in the film's title.

Butttttt......

When you look at the spine, the title is simple "Clockwork Orange." The A is omitted in the film title.
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Old 06-24-03, 07:03 PM
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On the spine of the original release it does say "A Clockwork Orange". Weird.
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Old 06-24-03, 07:05 PM
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Old 06-24-03, 07:14 PM
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My dvd copy from the Remastered Box Set (the second box set with 9 discs) has the "A" on the spine.
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Old 06-24-03, 07:47 PM
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My re-mastered copy that I bought individually doesn't have the "A" on the spine.
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Old 06-24-03, 08:20 PM
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It's on the spine of my copy (the remastered), but oddly not on the disc itself. What a mystery this is!
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Old 06-24-03, 09:17 PM
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It's not unique to this movie. I never knew "Hulk" was actually called "The Hulk" until recently since the ad campaign ditched the "the". I remember the same thing happened with the Al Pacino/Ken-U Reeves flick "The Devil's Advocate", which also left off "the" on the poster and DVD cover.
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Old 06-24-03, 09:39 PM
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My DVD (remastered version):

Cover - same as the one above
Spine - "A" is present
Disc - no "A"
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Old 06-24-03, 09:40 PM
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The title on-screen for "The Hulk" was just "Hulk". For the longest time, you get used to thinking of a movie as something, then they inexplicably drop a "The" or, you know, just call it "The League". It's not enough to end life as we know it, but it's a bit annoying.

K

P.S. The trailer of "A Clockwork Orange" lists it as "Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange", no "A".

Last edited by Cornelius1047; 06-24-03 at 09:51 PM.
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Old 06-24-03, 10:39 PM
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It's been there on mine since I bought it ~3 years ago. I just checked to make sure, and it hasn't gone anywhere...
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Old 06-24-03, 10:47 PM
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Originally posted by caiman
My DVD (remastered version):

Cover - same as the one above
Spine - "A" is present
Disc - no "A"
Same here... From the remastered box.

Interesting...
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Old 06-25-03, 12:24 AM
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I have the WB silver box that comes with the soundtrack and senitype, and nowhere on it does "A..." not the side, not the cover, not the disc, and not even on the senitype, on the senitype it says Clockwork orange 1971
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Old 02-03-04, 01:49 AM
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What's the actual name of the novel? I own it but can't find it right now to check.
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Old 02-03-04, 02:13 AM
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A Clockwork Orange is the actual name of the novel. Great work by Anthony Burgess, very faithfully adapted by Kubrick, with the exception of Alex being only 14 or 15 in the book.

Wow, 2 threads in this forum on this subject, surprised I havent seen any complaints yet, like the time I posted a Peter Pan thread after there had apparently been one weeks before. Oh well.
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Old 02-03-04, 02:14 AM
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Peep, it's called "A Clockwork Orange".



Read it, it's brilliant. Kubrick's film isn't so much an adaptation as it is a Reader's Digest condensed version; he's omitted a lot, but the message still translates (though it pisses me off that Kubrick ignored the explanation of the title).

The book also has the restored last chapter that Kubrick hadn't read before the film's completion.

EDIT: Just noticed you said that you owned it. Silly me. I laud a book but I can't even read.
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