I find a long list of classic French films distributed by Gaumont on amazonfrance. The covers say "Gaumont a la demande." Does that mean they are burned on demand, like Warner Archives MOD's?
The covers are uniform:
The overriding question is, do they have English subtitle options?
Anyone bought any of these?
A la demande is just that-namely an initiative where 5 titles are released each month in response (largely) to requests from the public. Unofficially it is believed that 50 requests, rights willing, should be enough to lubricate their release. The materials are drawn only from existing masters of varying quality but all that I have seen are eminently watchable. Like Criterion's Eclipse line for example. The only subtitle option is French HoH which is imposed by french law.
The 'lack' of english subtitling can sometimes be a rights issue but probably more of a cost consideration as this line runs on a shoestring budget. Gaumont is a very open company which freely discusses its marketing and forward planning . Why don't you write to them direct and get an answer from the horses mouth?