Judex
- 1963
- Tous publics
- 1h 38m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
3.1K
YOUR RATING
After abducting a corrupt banker to make him pay back the people he swindled, a conjuring vigilante must rescue the man's daughter when she is kidnapped by the scheming family governess.After abducting a corrupt banker to make him pay back the people he swindled, a conjuring vigilante must rescue the man's daughter when she is kidnapped by the scheming family governess.After abducting a corrupt banker to make him pay back the people he swindled, a conjuring vigilante must rescue the man's daughter when she is kidnapped by the scheming family governess.
Featured reviews
Judex "1963 redux" has been produced as a homage to Louis Feuillade's original serial. The production values are very much aligned with that endeavour, so you can't blame Franju's work for a shortage of faithfulness, let alone dissecting it to pinpoint some lack of respect or understanding of the source material.
The point is the movie works as a homage, and then what? You can't tell a story in 1963 the same way it was told in 1916. At the time there was a developing medium, silent and with static setups, yet a medium Feuillade helped transition away from the filmed stage by making it closer to the action-packed serial pulp fictions.
So Franju adds nothing. This would be OK if it was the first shot at features from a naive cinema student, but here lacks something closer to a real movie, a movie with its own rhythm, its own structure and real suspenseful action not silent action designed to fit a frame.
It is true that Franju was more interested in remaking Fantomas. How would he have succeeded in doing this any better, i.e. matching the original popular success of fascination for a frightful villain? That takes much more work than a nice little artsy homage to the movies of yore.
The point is the movie works as a homage, and then what? You can't tell a story in 1963 the same way it was told in 1916. At the time there was a developing medium, silent and with static setups, yet a medium Feuillade helped transition away from the filmed stage by making it closer to the action-packed serial pulp fictions.
So Franju adds nothing. This would be OK if it was the first shot at features from a naive cinema student, but here lacks something closer to a real movie, a movie with its own rhythm, its own structure and real suspenseful action not silent action designed to fit a frame.
It is true that Franju was more interested in remaking Fantomas. How would he have succeeded in doing this any better, i.e. matching the original popular success of fascination for a frightful villain? That takes much more work than a nice little artsy homage to the movies of yore.
a decent film. not great, not good, not convincing. seductive for its flavor and for beginning. for the references. and for few scenes. action, drama, justice, the silhouette of good guy are old ingredients and that reduced the surprises. the atmosphere is well , not bad for remind the Edgar Poe's Red Death . but something missing. too predictable, with few characters in wrong places, without a remarkable acting, it is only nice and, maybe, useful for remember the spirit of old French cinema. but, despite the story, it has the sin to seems almost boring. and that could be all. without great virtues or ambitions, it is a decent movie. and that status could be enough for viewer.
I have to agree with the review by Swanger2001. After the initial set up of the characters and the amazing Masked Ball scene, the film settles into boring dialogue and badly staged action.
I'm curious to hear what a French-speaking person thought of the acting. I don't speak it myself, but this one of the few times I've seen a French film and thought "this (acting) seems really lousy - like a low budget exploitation film".
I don't know if this film is available on DVD. I saw a VHS copy courtesy of Something Weird Video...and the subtitles left something to be desired. Film quality was mediocre.
Worth seeing if you liked "Eyes without a Face", but not essential viewing.
I'm curious to hear what a French-speaking person thought of the acting. I don't speak it myself, but this one of the few times I've seen a French film and thought "this (acting) seems really lousy - like a low budget exploitation film".
I don't know if this film is available on DVD. I saw a VHS copy courtesy of Something Weird Video...and the subtitles left something to be desired. Film quality was mediocre.
Worth seeing if you liked "Eyes without a Face", but not essential viewing.
The first "Judex" was made in 1916 and the late French critic Roger Boussinot was hard on Feuillade ,whose films were (I quote him) " brainwashing" .He was speaking of "Les Vampires" and "Judex" which ,for him,were hiding the atrocious reality.
Back in 1963,Franju,who had a penchant for mystery ("Les Yeux Sans Visages" "Pleins Feux sur l'Assassin" ) made a remake.He cast a conjurer(Channing Pollock) as the lead (which was not a bad idea after all for Judex being an almost surrealistic hero did not demand a great actor ) Franju used again his favorite actress ,Edith Scob,("les Yeux Sans Visage" ) whose eyes were the most beautiful (along with MIchèle Morgan's) in the French cinema.
Judex is some kind of mysterious Robin Hood,who comes to the rescue of poor people an unscrupulous banker has swindled . Franju's sense of mystery works wonder and creates a strange atmosphere with this hero with a bird mask .A sequence was filmed in Château-Gaillard ,les Andelys .
Back in 1963,Franju,who had a penchant for mystery ("Les Yeux Sans Visages" "Pleins Feux sur l'Assassin" ) made a remake.He cast a conjurer(Channing Pollock) as the lead (which was not a bad idea after all for Judex being an almost surrealistic hero did not demand a great actor ) Franju used again his favorite actress ,Edith Scob,("les Yeux Sans Visage" ) whose eyes were the most beautiful (along with MIchèle Morgan's) in the French cinema.
Judex is some kind of mysterious Robin Hood,who comes to the rescue of poor people an unscrupulous banker has swindled . Franju's sense of mystery works wonder and creates a strange atmosphere with this hero with a bird mask .A sequence was filmed in Château-Gaillard ,les Andelys .
French remake of a 1914 serial involving a "crime fighter" who uses masks and deception to right wrongs and such. Similar in someways to a more real batman. This remake has Judex-the Latin for judge- going after a banker who swindled people by telling him that if he didn't repay the money he would die. And die he does-or so it appears as Judex spirits the man away and hold him prisoner. From there it gets complicated. Good but unremarkable as a whole mystery/adventure story set in the late 1800's thats perfect for late night viewing since its the sort of thing I used to run across at 2am. Worth a look if you run across it but I don't know if I'd go out of my way to see it.
Did you know
- TriviaAwarded the Coupe Jean-George Auriol 1963, by the jury's unanimous decision, in France.
- GoofsJust before Cocatin, the private detective, sits down at Favraux's desk, a moving shadow of the boom microphone is briefly visible on the curtains at the top of the frame.
- Quotes
Alfred Cocantin: What's all this about nuns?
- ConnectionsFeatured in Cinéma, de notre temps: Georges Franju, le visionnaire (1996)
- How long is Judex?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Fantoma
- Filming locations
- Château-Gaillard, Les Andelys, France(Judex's hideout)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 38 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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