I remember thinking it sounded stupid when, on the Fantoma DVD of The Great Silence, Alex Cox kept calling it “the big silence” in the interview.
It’s hard to believe that there isn’t a relationship with the words that Sartana utters in the opening scene, just before the appearance of the title:
Già che ci sono pregherò anche per l’anima vostra, perchè il Signore ha detto “Ricordati che sei polvere, e polvere ritornerai”
While I am at it I’ll pray for your souls too, because the Lord said “Remember you are dust, and dust you’ll become again”.
In any case the expression “nuvola di polvere” translates dust cloud.
Thanks for the explanations.
I have checked meanwhile a translation site and while polvere seems to be possible also as powder, the meaning of the expression novela de polvere seems to be indeed only dust cloud.
Interestingly enough, in the Sartana movies, I actually prefer the titles without the word “Sartana” most of the time. They make more sense from an English speaker’s standpoint.
Gunfighters Die Harder
Sartana the Gravedigger
Stranger’s Gold/Gunslinger
Gunman in Town
Fistful of Lead
Almost could imagine it as the title of a porn spaghetti