Its strange France is not only frequently stereotyped as having some of the world's most gorgeous women but the country is well-respected for being a cinema powerhouse (even today, France still sends prestigious movies that garner acclaim world wide including frequently gaining nominations in the Academy Awards and occasionally wining some). Not to mention France was one of the big 3s in the Silent Film era along with USA and Britain and made major advancements in film science esp techniques and technology.
As someone who's been on an Audrey Hepburn binge since last month (LOVE LOVE LOVE HER!) and started to check out Sophia Loren movies I haven't seen 3 days ago.........It baffles me............. No film star in the Golden Age of cinema (which I will for convenience's sake refer to in this discussion from the silent film era all the way to 1972) from France has remained legendary status and still adored today in the international scene esp English language nations.
France doesn't seem to have produce someone who who is still remembered today as a legend of cinema before the modern era on the status of Sophia Loren or even her own Marlene Dietrich. Why? It seems at best French Golden Age stars like Jean Sorel are only remembered in Europe and not the international scene and even than even the UK the mainstream non-core movie watcher base is often ignorant of them with the exception of maybe Alain Delon.
Even if we discount British actors, Sophia Loren still remains a name of immense commercial power and is he non-English Golden age era star that still has big fame in North America and Australia outside of movie buffs (as seen in Seinfeld's referencing her). Multiple film awards organization still star her in interviews and point out back to her magnus opei work.
Hell even Marlene Dietrich despite now being forgotten today (even older generations from the baby boomer era I notice are unfamiliar with her) is still the face of golden age German cinema among film buffs and people getting into German cinema or even getting deeper into Golden Age Hollywood will always eventually encounter her (as I finally watched a film starring her for the first time last week when I watched It Sizzles in Paris in my Audrey marathon). Marlene Dietrich while now obscure among mainstream non-movie watching commoners, still is considered prestigious among movie enthusiast. So much that the AFI put her in the top 10 greatest female movie stars of all time, beating Sophia Loren who was placed in top 25.
So how come no one French (and I mean strictly French such as born and grew up in France and had a career strictly in European cinema, mostly playing French language roles) seems to have become the nation's Sophia Loren in international mainstream fame and prestige outside of Europe?
