If you watch film credits all the way to the end, you might notice a piece of wording that features near their conclusion. It usually says the following: ‘All characters and events depicted in this film are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to actual events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental’. Most films involve entirely and obviously fictional events and people, which does rather beg the question: why is it there?
Troublesome title cards
Anyone who has studied law in England will be at least vaguely aware of a case called Youssoupoff v Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Ltd (1934) 78 Sol Jo 617. In that case, the plaintiff was a Russian princess, Irinia Youssoupoff. She had been portrayed (under a different name) in a film called Rasputin and the Empress (also called Rasputin and the Mad Monk) which had been made and distributed by MGM. In the film, a character called ‘Princess Natasha’
