Il trono di fuoco

Christopher Lee plays Welsh Judge Jeffries (who was in fact a real judge back in the 17th Century in England) in this Jesus Franco directed horror-biography from 1970. He was known as "The Hanging Judge" and would convict with a heavy strike from his gavel. Lee does quite a fine job in the lead role and almost all on his own leans me toward recommending this one, but alas it is close, but no cigar on this one. As I mentioned earlier directed by the late Jesus Franco and over his career I would commend him on the amount of work he ended up directed and writing, even though at the time of writing this review I have seen 3 of his pictures and none of them I really liked or would recommend to anyone. This one was the best as his I have seen to date. The personal problem I had with this movie was at times (always happens when Lee was not on screen) I would get bored. It became too talky and not enough action for me. Although to me the 3rd act was the best and does pick up, but wasn't enough for me.

Jess Franco's "Il Trono di fuoco" aka. "The Bloody Judge" of 1970 is one of a bunch of early 70s exploitation flicks inspired by the success of Michael Reeves' 1968 masterpiece "Witchfinder General" (starring the great Vincent Price). People familiar with Jess Franco's cinema might expect an immensely sleazy and gruesome film that mainly takes place in torture chambers, but the film is actually tame for what one might expect. Even though there are a bunch of very brutal scenes, the level of sleaze and violence is quite low for a Jess Franco film, and the film is not even nearly as nasty as other popular 'Hexploitation' films of the time, such as the ultra-gruesome "Mark Of The Devil" from the same year. Equally surprising is the budget that was obviously quite high for Jess Franco standards, as realistic costumes and nice settings are provided.

Horror icon Christopher Lee, who worked with Jess Franco on several occasions, plays Lord George Jeffreys, the infamous and merciless judge and Lord Chancellor in England torn by strife between the reigning King James II and William of Orange. Convincend of doing what's necessary, the cruel judge mercilessly persecutes 'traitors', who sympathize with the King's opponent William of Orange, as well as 'witches', who are accused of being in league with the devil...

Christopher Lee is, as always, great in his role as the merciless judge (who is based on the infamous real-life 'hanging-judge' George 1st baron Jeffreys). Beautiful Maria Rohm, who starred in many Franco-highlights, most memorably in "Venus in Furs" and "Count Dracula", plays the female lead here, and she fits in her role very well. Jess Franco-fans will also recognize another regular in his films, Howard Vernon, who plays the executioner. Another great enrichment to the film is the great score by Bruno Nicolai. Jess Franco, one of the most prolific directors ever, has directed a bunch of absolutely awesome films, as well as total stinkers. "The Bloody Judge" is definitely one of his better films (even though, in my opinion, not one of his masterpieces), and a more than decent historical horror film. Highly recommended!

Christopher Lee is tremendous as the pompous, perverse sadist, Judge George Jeffries. Lee and Director Jess Franco battled over the way in which Jeffries should be presented, with Lee wanting a more historically accurate approach, while Franco -of course!- wanted a more salacious portrayal. Well, they both won... sort of.

Lee played his part fairly straight, unaware of the lurid, gory, and demented stuff that Franco added later! So, the finished product is a historical drama with nudity, blood, and graphic torture.

Mr. Lee refused to watch it, not being a fan of anything graphic or gratuitous. Franco followers know what to expect, but those expecting a typical period piece or costume drama are in for a shock! Special mention must be made of the breathtaking Maria Rohm, who is the object of THE BLOODY JUDGE's carnal desires. Also, watch for Franco regular, Howard Vernon as Jack Ketch, the torturer in-chief...

As said, I just witnessed the full uncut version of the Bloody Judge. Like you could see IMDb never made notice of this version so I thought it must be wrong on the DVD but no, it clocked in at exactly 103 minutes. It's English spoken until the extra minutes appear, they are in German but the subtitles stays intact. The extra minutes are no more then a torture scene with full nudity, the others include all nudity with a love scene between the bloody judge and the witch, the last extra is a lesbian scene in the torture room with frontal bush nudity. Thinking of the year it was made, 1970, it was normal that it was cut out. Anyway, the storyline does refer to the real history but the movie is way too long. There is a lot of blah blah and the torture scenes are really laughable. You only see blood but it never runs or you never see cuts made by the executioner. A shame, could have done better by Franco. The performances are really good but the suspense isn't there due the lack of storyline, they really refer to much to history. It is nice to see how they made you say you are a witch. There are better witch hunt movies out there, I guess would Lee never appeared in it it would be a forgotten flick. It's not for the geeks of horror, just one of the Jess Franco flicks with the usual T&A features. It's available in his 103 minutes in Belgium with the German pieces in it, judge it for yourselves

Along with Witchfinder General (1968), The Bloody Judge was part of a small subset of films from the late 60's / early 70's that can best be described as historical horror movies. In these we have a true historical subject which is played up in such a way that it crosses over into the territory of the horror film. Seeing as this was a point in time where there was a plethora of period set costume horror flicks anyway, I suppose it makes a lot of sense that these films were made too. Like a lot of continental offerings from the period, this one throws in a lot of sadistic torture, nudity and sleaze as well and so covers the erotic horror sub-genre too. This is hardly surprising when you take into account that its director was the legendary Jesus Franco who was something of an expert at this kind of thing.

The Bloody Judge came out at a point when Franco was enjoying the most high profile time of his career and so this one like a few others he made at the time is pretty high budgeted by his subsequent standards. It has good locations and a fine cast and benefits from professional editing and photography as well. It was also one of several collaborations Franco had with horror stalwart Christopher Lee too. Unlike their earlier Fu Manchu collaborations, the role of the infamous Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys – aka 'The Hanging Judge' – was much better suited to Lee. He is very good as this cold central character, although he seemingly was not best pleased at all when he saw the finished film, presumably as a result of the salacious content Franco is famed for. The cast is good beyond Lee too; we have the beautiful Maria Rohm, the fine character actor Leo Genn and last but not least Franco regular Howard Vernon in a great over the top turn as a torturer/executioner.

Like Witchfinder General before it and several others too, this one is set in witch hunting times. It's a period in history peculiarly well suited to horror movies. Most costume horrors tend to be set in the later Victorian period but when we go back further into the far scarier, unenlightened years of the 1600's we are squarely in a historical period where many very horrible things occurred and it is very well suited, therefore, to horror stories. Like most historical films, this one also takes considerable liberties with the actual history to be honest. But let's be fair, lots of critically acclaimed big budget historical movies do exactly the same – Braveheart for instance – and if they can then why bother complaining if these far smaller films do a similar thing.

For my money this is one of the better Franco films out there. I think the story and central character are good ones for the treatment and the production value is good enough to pull it off. The smattering of salacious content throughout didn't do it any harm and simply added to the entertainment factor to be perfectly honest. This maybe isn't of the level of the more personal delirious Franco efforts such as Vampyros Lesbos but it's definitely one of his most well made. I enjoyed it a fair bit.