According to this movie, 'Judex' is an old fashioned word for a judge and the film is about the attempts of a man, Judex, to punish a rich evil-doer as well as his fight against a criminal gang run by a pretty lady. I have no idea how close this is to the original movie serial, a five-hour silent from 1916. Both, apparently, were set about the same time...just before WWI.When the film begins, you learn that a very corrupt banker, Favreaux, has received a threat from the unknown Judex--promising to punish him for his many nasty deeds. Before Judex has a chance to strike, you see some of Favreaux's evil, you certainly are cheering for justice--and justice is served by Judex exactly when he promised. However, there are some serious complications--the dead Favreaux might not exactly be dead AND an evil woman and her criminal gang are afoot and might complicate things for Judex and Favreaux's sweet and innocent daughter.This film sure plays a lot like a movie serial. Again and again, narrow and ridiculous escapes occur just like with most serials. For example, one highly illogical scene shows the band of crooks kidnap the daughter and they just toss her in the river...hoping she'll drown. When she doesn't, they then kidnap her AGAIN! Such odd happenings are definitely not unusual for old-time serials but for the early 1960s it does seem antiquated and silly. Despite this and quite a few other illogical moments, the film has some cool moments as well such Judex's cool high tech gadgets as well as the masks worn at the ball. All in all, a fun film but also one that is hard to take very seriously...especially the way that the baddies all conveniently off themselves in the final moments of the film!

I haven't seen the original Judex, but I've seen Ultus, the equivalent British serial of the era... and I definitely recognise the style here. Multiple disguises, hairbreadth escapes from death, jawdropping coincidences, gadgetry and sleight of hand... and villains who never kill their victims when they ought to! The print in the BFI National Archive was in beautiful condition (save for some oversized and rather intrusive subtitling), and this film is visually and musically stunning; the Maurice Jarre soundtrack is lovely, fitting and eerie. The morality of the story -- despite its simplistic chase format -- is surprisingly grey, with Jacqueline the only pure innocent (and thus, alas, the least interesting character). It's hard not to sympathise with Favraux in his situation, despite everything that we learn, or with young Morales, caught between the ruthless woman he loves and his long-lost father, and Judex himself finds his self-appointed mission of punishment harder and harder to fulfil.Scenes like the masked ball (shrouded in almost surreal mystery, since it is not until afterwards that we have any idea what was going on!) and the spider-like climb of Judex' minions to the roof are very memorable, while the film also has a nice line in self-deflating humour, courtesy of the fiction-obsessed detective Cocantin and his rapport with small children. For such a preposterous comic-strip confection the plot holds together quite well, although having displayed such crowning ineptitude in their first attempt to kill Jacqueline (and what happened to the original idea of questioning her first?), it's hard to understand why the plotters don't just make away with her immediately the next time they get the opportunity! The one thing that really grated, as with all old historical dramas, was the very 'modern' hairstyles and make-up used on all the eye-candy characters in order to make them attractive to a contemporary 1960s audience -- the result now, of course, is that instead of appearing subconsciously appealing they appear distractingly out of period. It's hard to credit a swooning damsel of 1916 when she is made up to look more like Brigitte Bardot...Casting a professional magician as Judex enables the character to perform some impressive sleight-of-hand, and there are some subtle references to the original era, like the opening iris shot, the super-advanced (and supersized) antique surveillance gadgetry, and the title cards setting the various scenes. But perhaps the most impressive thing is that this is basically played entirely 'straight': it's not a tongue-in-cheek homage to pulp serials, it's presented in its own right as a piece of poetry for us to suspend disbelief -- a 1914 adventure of a mysterious caped avenger, an athletic, resourceful villainess, and a celestial innocent who sought to redeem her father's deeds.

What a strange and wonderful film this is. If you find yourself bored beyond belief during the early moments, hang in there for about 13 or 14 minutes and your patience will be amply rewarded. From that point on, I caught myself saying "Wow!", over and over again! Some of the imagery is just fantastic. It reminded me in places of some of the Dr. Mabuse films from the 60s. I have a sub-titled version and the story was very easy to follow.It is not the greatest film ever made, but "Judex" has become a permanent part of my collection, because it is so different and quite enjoyable. I got my copy from Sinister Cinema and their print is not as pristine as it could be, but it is certainly better than good.

At the beginning, and for a long while, I just thought : good visual cinematography, but it was too slow for me... I even used speed advance ! But what kept me not stopping the film, was it seemed amazing, for the visual Black and White aspect, even if the movie was much too slow, again... Because the plot seemed so small...My impressions, say until the third of the movie, were about of how much I appreciated the impressive dark atmosphere the director created...I Remember thinking how I would rate it, may be 6 on my personal scale ? and only for the B/W technique ? still because it was... almost boring slow.And telling myself : once is enough...Now I can say I think I was not in the mood...And incredibly to believe for me, a kind of brain wave happened in my mind (it may happen, sometimes, yes... :) Frankly, I was completely wrong ! More I watched, more I wanted to continue the viewing...Started really to enjoy, admitting I was impressed ! Until then, I didn't appreciate enough the slow pace (was I in hurry ? no...) and the easy plot, (stupid, I thought in the beginning), still kept on watching... for the fairy-like and poetic sides ...And finally, went on being strongly and deeply impressed for the whole performance of the camera and picture work...The Clair/Obscure work just let me admiring : wow ! And the multiple rebounding script, fairly from another era, enjoyed it...The actors were good, OK, but it was not especially them who made the fantastic performance : it was the man behind the camera ! The one who did the master work : the Director...Didn't know that gentleman, but if only some (or all) his work has the same quality, what a discovery for me ! My print is so so, but never mind...Great, great work !!! Will see it again... in some time...It is said it was made as an homage to Louis Feuillade, a merited great one...