Several months back I was asked to compile a list of French Language videos for a local French teacher. While I was at it I also selected a number of French Language DVD's I thought I would add to the collection. I later did the same for Spanish Language films. The hardest thing to do in collection building is trying to get the right mix of popular materials versus retrospective materials. Every public library has to work hard to get the right mix of Educational, Recreational, and Informational missions. I want all the things I buy for the library to fly off the shelves, but at the same time if a teacher comes to the library I hope they will find something they can use in their class. I also hope that some day someone will come into the library who is curious about the history of American Cinema and they find John Barrymore's the Black Pirate in our collection.

There are some great foreign language movies, movies that changed cinema. One of my favorite foreign directors is Akira Kurosawa. His movie the Seven Samurai was remade into the Magnificent Seven. His movie Yojimbo was remade into a Fist Full of Dollars then into Last Man Standing. And of course Kurosawa's the Hidden Castle was supposed to be the inspiration for Star Wars. When you include Bergman, Truffaut, Fellini, Brunuel, and Eisenstein there are a ton of important foreign films that should be in a well rounded collection. One film I have been agonizing over is Lani Reifenstahl's Triumph of the Will. On one hand I cannot see this movie flying off the shelf but on the other hand it is a film that is both important from a historical aspect and a film history aspect.

I don't know where I'm going with this yet. The DVD collection needs to grow rapidly. I have been thinking that I would concentrate on general release 'movie' and television first. But the more I look at the 'How- to' I wonder if I can wait. I already know I'll get the major Academy Award winners and 'classic movies' first. Of course Classic Horror is in the pipeline, and I've looked at Classic Sci-Fi and Classic Comedy. When I start looking at classic foreign film I wonder if I'll ever get to Basketball skills and drills. So it looks like Foreign Language DVD's are getting pushed back to this summer. (Sigh)