Science fiction question. No Googling, please

[Orrex]

What was the first theatrical film to use English subtitles for "alien" languages?

Star Wars is the earliest that I remember seeing, shortly before Han shot first. But were there others?

No Googling. No Googling. No Googling.

[Mister Ed]

1. Wild guess: "The Day The Earth Stood Still"?

I've never seen the movie, so completely a guess.

[Orrex]

2. Oooh. Interesting.

I wondered about that, but I haven't seen it in ages.

[Orrex]

3. I also wondered it if might have been used in old serials

Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon or the like.

I mean, with Lucas openly and admittedly drawing inspiration from serials, as in the opening crawl, it makes sense. Of course, he also borrowed heavily and visibly from Kurosawa's films, which he would almost have certainly seen with subtitles, so I can see him drawing the idea from that.

[Jeebo]

4. It's not "The Day the Earth Stood Still"

I've seen that movie umpteen times. It's one of my all-time favorites. "Klaatu barada nikto" does not come with subtitles. Neither does "Declensis brasco" or any other alien-language lines. They're never translated in any way.

-- Ron

[rampartc]

5. would the japanese monster movies count?

i'm sure rhodan used subtitles.

or how about "enemy mine?"

as for the day the earth stood still, "klatuu barada nictos " really needs a translation? michael rennie was a guest lawyer on perry mason last night. great actor.

[Orrex]

6. They'd definitely count, but...

Were the subtitles for some extraterrestrial language, or simply to translate Japanese for English-speaking audiences?

Enemy Mine came after Star Wars, as did the Star Trek films, so they count as examples, but they weren't first.

[haele]

7. Barbarella?

I don't think any of the Hammer Movies had aliens that didn't speak English.
Thinking back on my MSTK3k viewing, I can't remember any that weren't already foreign films that used subtitles.

Haele

[Orrex]

8. That's a good suggestion, and another film I haven't seen in ages

[Stuart G]

9. It was a Japanese Monster movie..??????, I don't recall the title but that's it, because I saw it..

[Orrex]

10. Like a kaiju movie?

I asked this above, but were the subtitles for an extraterrestrial language? Or simply to translate Japanese?

That is, if the aliens were speaking Japanese & the subtitles translated for western viewers, I don't know if that counts. But if the aliens were speaking alien-ese, then heck yes!

[Second Skin]

11. Remember the Alamo

Maybe that old Alamo flick with Daniel Boone & Davie Crocket as the lead actors. I don't know the year it was released but I'm sure they had to colorize it for tv.
Anyway, I can't help thinking the Mexican Army scenes were in Spanish CC'din English

[Orrex]

12. Looking for alien languages, though

Like, not-from-Earth aliens.

Still, that's a pretty cool fact you've offered. I'd be curious to know when that film came out.

[TomSlick]

13. "The Alamo" was released in 1960.

It was filmed in color.

[link:|

I recall Spanish language orders to the Mexican troops during battle scenes. There were no closed captions or subtitles.

Welcome to DU!

[Brother Buzz]

14. Are you thinking of the Disney feature with Fess Parker....

that spawned the coonskin cap craze?

It was a five part miniseries broadcast on television between 1954 and 1955. It was so hot, Disney glued three segment together into a theater release (coincidentally, just before Disneyland opened). It was filmed in color, and there are NO subtitles. By most measures, Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier was not a Science Fiction movie.

Jed Clampett was a costar, Baby!