The VideoLAN Forums

Scroll down until you find "Playlist", click that and a list of "General playlist behaviour" options should appear.
Find AUTO START and uncheck it.

Worked for me but I also had to check the 'play and stop' check box

Absolutely brilliant. I have been looking for this solution for years. I screen outdoor movies in summer for our local council, sometimes with subtitles on sometimes with them not on. This aspect has kept me with VLC because no pro software seems to be able to handle subs like VLC does. But the play...