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 .
17 out of 22 found this helpful