DVD player refusing to play in 10.3.9

Can a drive with specs

  Model:    MAT****A CD-RW CW-8123
  Revision: CA0T
  Drive Type:   CD-RW/DVD-ROM
  Disc Burning: Apple Sup****ted/****pped

be expected to play a French film on a commercial DVD?

The specs are for the CD/DVD that came in a G4 PowerBook with 10.3, now
at 10.3.9.

When I insert the DVD I can see that there is an audio folder and a
video folder on the disk (which means it's being looked at as data).

But the DVD Player promptly terminates when I launch it.

I would be grateful for any pointers -- software, limits to region
switching ... thanks

(In the normal way of things we rely on a cheap all-region DVD player
with a scart socket to the TV set)

-- 
Hylton