Egyptian audiences rejected didactic Soviet cinema for Western films

Evidence

Russian films are found to be heavy and didactic and quite incredibly boring. Cinemas which show American or West European films are usually crowded; those which show Russian films are almost invariably half-empty. This is a source of quiet satisfaction to many Egyptians and of baffled resentment to Russians. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1299

Categorization

• SHARE: Sharable to someone interested in Cold War soft-power reception — audience taste as an involuntary referendum on Soviet cultural diplomacy.