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It is not just that... plus - a question to Jim Willis and others from Europe

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Victor Khomenko

In Reply to: Looks like we have a fan of Gabin here... posted by Jeff Lessard on May 29, 2001 at 12:35:40:

Liking Jean Gabin is easy. After all, he is perhaps one of twenty or so of the greatest actors who have ever lived. We grew up with people like him, Michel Simon (who can forget "L' Atalante"?), Bourvil, Fernandel, etc. We loved them all the way to the point of coming to America. Then it all came to a holt.
The strange thing is how hard it is to obrain those movies here. Believe me, I don't have any problem with the fact that I can drive five minutes and rent every piece of junk that Harrison Ford or Kevin Kostner ever did, for this is their playground. But to not be able to get ANY Gabin or Fernandel movies (outside of New York, that is) really pisses me off in a major way.
Now, here is my question to Jim and anyone else living in Europe. Is the situation pretty much reversed there? Say, I am in Paris and have a burning desire to see a film with Jean Arthur - am I SOL?
Well, forget Jean, as nice as she was, but how about Spencer Tracy? How many of his films would I find in an average "good" rental place in Paris?
Staying with France for a moment (such an easy target... shooting fish in the barrel...), what kind of selection of German films would be there? Swedish? Japanese? Italian? Russian? Polish? English? Chinese?
Of foreign (to France) films, which country would be better represented, and which would not get any light of day at all? I don't care what reason...

Follow Ups:

I do not know for the rest of the world... Jeff Lessard 11:06:44 05/30/01 (0)
but if you are in Montreal, La Bo�te Noire will cover all of your need for "le cin�ma de r�pertoire"
Re: An answer... Jim Willis 10:16:02 05/30/01 (0)
My wife loves videos; rents them almost daily. Our local French video shop has thousands of English-language tapes. Regrettably, they mainly focus of pop movies of the last 10 years ("new releases" is the biggest section). But their oldies selection almost rivals a typical Blockbuster. The plus is that there is a very good selection of British, Irish and Awstrine movies. It is a treat to rent sets of "Yes Miniser" - probably the funniest TV series ever.
Another plus is that we get plenty of french movies subtitled in english.
And, to more directly answer your question - yes, we get tons of movies from around the world subtitled in english. This is the best selection of all, IMHO, and is much better than in the US. But we are in the Geneva 'burbs, where 25% of the population comes from another country.
Re: It is not just that... plus - a question to Jim Willis and others from Europe Jeff Starrs 08:05:04 05/30/01 (0)
Victor, here's my views for what they're worth:
"Say, I am in Paris and have a burning desire to see a film with Jean Arthur/Spencer Tracy"
Yes, it's possible. Mainly the film noir genre from the 40's/50's.
"what kind of selection of German films would be there? Swedish? Japanese? Italian? Russian? Polish? English? Chinese?"
There are 'V.O.' sections in most good rental shops, so they can be found but I'd say the majority would be american or english.
"Of foreign (to France) films, which country would be better represented, and which would not get any light of day at all?"
Definately american. I've never seen any Andorrean films ;0)

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