Read Any Good Subtitles Lately?

By Susan King

Oct. 27, 1996 12 AM PT

Susan King is a Times staff writer

It wasn’t long ago that foreign films were losing their popularity in America. That’s changing.

“I think that home video has become the new art house. The art house is now in the home,” says Jeff McGuire, vice president of sales for Home Vision, which has released such foreign classics as Jean Cocteau’s “Beauty and the Beast,” Marcel Carne’s “Children of Paradise” and Federico Fellini’s “Amarcord.”

McGuire says a new generation of film fans has grown up on home video:

“What you are finding is that you have far more sophisticated tastes out there--people who understand technique and the language of cinema much more. That’s why we have done so well, because we have focused on the great international filmmakers of all time.”

Miramax Films, McGuire says, has also helped to broaden the appeal of foreign movies, through the enormous box-office success of “Like Water for Chocolate” and “Il Postino (The Postman).”

“It’s absolutely true that foreign films are alive and well and I hope will be getting better and better,” says Mark Gill, president of marketing for Miramax. “It’s seemingly getting a little tougher to get people’s attention for any movie. We’ve had great success the past few years releasing foreign-language films in the summer. ‘The Postman’ is a spectacular example.”

Gill talks to people all the time--like cabdrivers in New York--and asks if they have ever seen a foreign-language film.

“The first one they say was either ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ or ‘The Postman.’ So we are definitely having some luck expanding the market,” he says.

Foreign films, Gill says, also have an amazing shelf life: “Regardless of how many videos we sell on a particular movie, they seem to rent very heavily. There’s this business of how many ‘turns’ a copy does, and they seem to have a very high turn rate. They definitely have a long life.”

“As a return on investment, they do remarkably well,” says Orion Home Video President Herb Dorfman. “For those who have limited shelf space, they wait for our product to come to the under-$20 price point. So [the titles] are not street-date sensitive.”

According to a recent study in the trade magazine Video Store, foreign films were listed as the fourth-best genre for return on investment, with a 61% average return.

“We are seeing consistent sales results from major retail chains, and we are seeing consistent reorders,” says Fox Lorber President Michael Olivieri.

Among Fox Lorber’s recent titles, which are distributed through Orion, are the first Welsh-language film to be nominated for an Oscar, “Hedd Wynn,” and Andre Techine’s “Wild Reeds.” The Orion Classics line includes such renowned films as Louis Malle’s “Au Revoir, Les Enfants” and “Murmur of the Heart” and Claude Berri’s “Jean de Florette” and “Manon of the Spring.”

“It’s a self-perpetuating process that makes us want to go and acquire more wonderful films that are out there and available,” Olivieri says. “We have been acquiring things like ‘Diva’ and ‘Swept Away.’ We have 120-some films out now at sale prices.”

Most foreign titles released on home video do have some sort of theatrical release.

“A domestic release is important for us,” Olivieri says, “so that the critics in one market or another have something positive to say about it.”

Kino releases roughly 15 foreign titles a year, about a third of its total output. Its top seller is Akira Kurosawa’s “Dersu Uzala,” the Oscar winner for best foreign film of 1975. On Nov. 5, the company will unveil a remastered, letterboxed version of Volker Schlondorff’s acclaimed German film “The Tin Drum,” the foreign-language Oscar winner of 1979. Last month, Kino offered the series “Lost European Classics,” which featured such rarities as Billy Wilder’s 1933 directorial debut, “Mauvaise Graine.”

“I think video stores are wising up to the fact that people are tired of the same old thing,” says Lance Schwulst, director of video for Kino. “In order to keep [customers’] attention, they are going to have to mix up their inventory.”

Cultivating their foreign catalogs, he says, may be the most cost-effective way for stores to set themselves apart from the crowd.

Schwulst says fans of foreign films are not necessarily aging baby boomers--some of his best customers are “stores that are in typically younger neighborhoods, more bohemian neighborhoods.”

Home Vision, which was primarily known for its arts titles, began releasing the Janus Film Collection five years ago. The company currently has 250 titles in the marketplace. Its top seller is Kurosawa’s 1954 “The Seven Samurai.”

As with Kino and Fox Lorber/Orion, Home Vision’s releases are usually remastered with new subtitles.

“Janus has always been committed to films as art,” Home Vision’s McGuire says. “They do an awful lot of restoration work. We draw from the same master material as Criterion laserdisc. In some instances, restored footage has been put back.

“ ‘Wages of Fear’ is a good example of that,” he says, referring to the 1952 H.G. Clouzot classic. “Whenever possible, we try to offer [films] as they were originally intended.”

McGuire says the rise in interest in foreign films is the result of what he calls the “shrinking globe--with people on the Web and the increasing power of information.”

“I think there’s a lot more interest in other cultures,” he says. “Films, music and art are the principal way to understand other cultures.”

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Foreign Fare Here’s what’s coming soon (where sales prices are not noted, the movies are priced for rental):

Tuesday

“Halfmoon.” First Run.

“Johnny 100 Pesos.” Fox Lorber.

Roman Polanski’s “Knife in the Water,” digitally remastered. Home Vision. $30.

Ingmar Bergman’s “The Magician,” digitally remastered, new electronic subtitles. Home Vision. $30.

“The Return of Martin Guerre,” digitally remastered, letterboxed director’s cut. Fox Lorber. $30.

Lina Wertmuller’s “Swept Away,” digitally remastered, letterboxed. Fox Lorber. $30.

Nov. 5

Jan Svankmajer’s “Faust.” Kino. “Nueba Yol.” Kit Parker. $20.