Movie Titles

[David]

Someone recently asked about the meaning of the title of the play (& film) "A Moon for the Misbegotten." In "The Iceman Cometh," Larry says: "The lie of the pipe dream is what gives life to the whole misbegotten mad lot of us, drunk or sober." The misbegotten are the losers & bums. If the misbegotten lose hope, they die. There's a scene in "Misbegotten" in which the moonlight shines down on Jamie & Josie. Interpretations abound, but you can see the relevance of the title to the string of O'Neill themes that run through a lot of his plays ("Long Day's Journey Into Night," "A Moon for the Misbegotten," "The Iceman Cometh," "A Touch of the Poet"). Listen to the beauty of the sounds in these titles. It's a hymnal American core.


Long Day's Journey Into Night
Desire Under the Elms
A Moon for the Misbegotten
A Touch of the Poet
A Streetcar Named Desire
Summer & Smoke
Sweet Bird of Youth
Ludlow Fair
Redwood Curtain
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
Lemon Sky
The Holy Ghostly
The Blue Hour
The Salmon Tribunal
Spinning Into Butter

American playwrights infuse their titles with an evocative American poetry. What films have equally poetic (original) titles in an American mood?

The Last Waltz?
The Barefoot Contessa?
Apocalypse Now?