I've noticed this off and on for the last few years. Looking through an actor or directors filmography and noticing IMDB using an alternate or foreign title instead of the established title.

I've probably seen a lot better examples than this, but I was on Andre The Giant's imdb page and noticed this. His last film "Trading Mom" with Sissy Spacek is listed as "The Mommy Market" even though the poster they display is of Trading Mom. I've noticed this a lot over the last few years and have no idea why they do this. It's annoying.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111470/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1

Don't even get me started on the Godzilla series listings there...

The official IMDB rule is that the on-screen title is used. This has resulted in all sorts of hilarious things from stylized and creative title sequences being slavishly entered by obsessive compulsive nerds. Look up The Talented Mr. Ripley for the most ridiculous example of this.

Even in the rare occasions that common sense prevails and the official stance is that the on-screen title isn't the true title you can always count on somebody making sure the questionable one is still listed as an alternate title. Batman Forever is probably the best example of that one since the title screen just says "Forever" and shows the Batman logo.

The list of international titles looked pretty normal to me until I saw the last one. The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad Lonely Troubled Confused Loving Musical Gifted Intelligent Beautiful Tender Sensitive Haunted Passionate Talented Mr. Ripley.

I can just imagine the nerd sitting there transcribing the stylized credit sequence, pausing, rewinding etc. thinking "this is the true title per IMDB rules!"

That person is certainly more "sad" "lonely" or "troubled" than "intelligent" or "gifted." Well, maybe "gifted" fits after all in a euphemistic sense.

For the longest time, The Machinist was being listed as El maquinista. I thought I was going crazy.

I remember when Sunset Boulevard first started to be referred to as Sunset Blvd because someone pointed out that's how it appears in the opening credits (stenciled on the curb). No matter that on posters and everywhere else it's listed by the name fully spelled out. If IMDB wants to go the full mile, they should follow the capitalization on screen as well, so it should be SUNSET BLVD. And should use a font approximating the stencil as well. Never mind The COOK the THIEF his WIFE and her LOVER.

I wasn't aware of many others like this but I never looked up Fahrenheit 451 to see how it was listed (no printed titles at all, just read aloud). I think that my favorite for silliness is listing a popular movie from a well known comedy team as Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein because of how the credit sequence is done.

To be fair, some of those films have like three or four English titles.

Is that the translation of the Hong Kong title?

I noticed Imdb is still going with Ghost Busters. Silly

I remember when I Spit On Your Grave was "Day of the Woman" for YEARS.

I've reviewed a couple hundred kung fu films on IMDB and sometimes I'm astounded at the titles they come up with for the films. E.g. I reviewed the Shaw Bros. film, SECRET SERVICE OF THE IMPERIAL COURT (1984), which came out on a legit DVD under that title in 2003 and had, as far as I know, been known by no other English title in the decades since its initial release. I pinpointed that title in my review and it went up on IMDB in December 2003 without incident. Years later, they changed the title to "Police Pool of Blood." I have no idea where they got that from. And they've done this with dozens of titles, changing them years after I've posted the reviews. CHALLENGE OF THE LADY NINJA, which got a legit VHS release in the U.S. under that title, is now listed as "Never Kiss a Ninja." And I always pinpoint the exact title as I know it in my review, so there's no guessing game about what film I'm talking about. Others who review these films give absolutely no title in their reviews so when IMDB changes the title you have no idea what film the reviewers were originally talking about, since they haven't identified by the name they reviewed it under.

They listed Hard Eight as Sydney for years. I get that was the director's chosen title but as far as I know it was never released in any official capacity with the original title. If it wasn't such an obscure title I don't think it would have been listed like that way for any length of time. But some PTA fan fought the good fight and made sure his wishes were honored on the site you use when you can't remember Vincent Schiavelli's name.

And by the same token The Evil Dead should be listed as Book of the Dead by their nonsense rules since it was locally screened to a paying public in 1981 under that title before it was distributed elsewhere as The Evil Dead. But common sense has apparently prevailed on that one.

I think the reality of this is that some nerd who has a poster or remembers watching an oddly-titled VHS tape for years can easily get on there and change the title, and the stupid title rules on IMDB can be twisted around and argued enough to support just about any title being used, and the more obscure the title the less likely it is that someone is going to care enough to change it.