This strikingly original pastiche, the mind—blowing 'Judex', a thriller for those who know something about cinema, reminded me of the Fantomas TV series, of the Marais franchise, of Hunnebelle, of Feuillade, of Clouzot, even of the spooky 'Marienbad'—some for dissimilarities, not all for the same reason; and most of all, it gave me a vivid taste of what a genuine tribute means, a straight one, not Burton's spoofs. It comes at once from Feuillade, and from the literary original.
Both broads, Mme. and Mlle., three—with the buxom acrobat Daisy, are very hot. Cocantin reads 'The Empty Coffin'.
Franju is the flip-side of Hunnebelle, Hunnebelle's movies shot by Clouzot—and I seem to remember that 'Morgan' wrote not only about 'Jéhu', but also about Feuillade—striking mind—bending surreal images, the unsung face of the French cinema, where scholars fail to tread. It's good to have them both.
A lavish thriller, good—natured and of great artistic intelligence, 'Judex' is a masterpiece of charm and storytelling. I didn't hope that I will come to live a joy like this movie gave me. It gave an excitement that I had almost forgotten. Franju has never been equaled. Franju is the most intriguing, and the most underestimated French director. His main aim is to recreate a world, not to spoof it. 'Judex' has the beauty of a jewel. This highly stylized, knockout form of suspense is something I can very much relate to—in films or books.
In its decade, so rewarding for the movie buffs, 'Judex' was aligned with 'Bond' and the Marais comedies; it rivals and, of course, surpasses them—it should go without saying. Movies like this evoke in me feelings of piety for the French cinema, before its entertaining wing slipped into the present barbarity.
The '60 had a knack for eeriness—in the mainstream of Bond and the Marais comedies, and in the legendary TV series of that decade; sometimes it was schmaltz, others—the chilling feel some movies from back then achieve. Of these, 'Judex' is the most impressive that I know of.
Two things—of course 'Judex' isn't a
crime drama, as one reviewer claims, instead it's a thriller—and it doesn't 'show little' (like a Gothic masterwork from the same epoch), as a matter of fact it's glamorous, lavish, resplendent—as action scenes, sets, images, shots, there's a gorgeous ambulance door, and not only fights and stunts, but even quite spectacular effects—so, quite the opposite of restraint and (British) 'mood alone', to quote directly—third, I liked better Édith (nowadays she looks like Marina Voica—understandably, since they're both Russian).
