Judex

Audience Reviews

View More

05/14/2016 Louis Feuillade mastered the serial format in the heyday of the silent era (most notably with Fantomas and Les Vampires) and this is his third major work (that is still available to be seen). The story begins with Favraux the unscrupulous banker (a villain for all time, it seems) receiving threatening notes from an unknown character, Judex, who plans to avenge Favraux's past misdeeds if he doesn't donate a portion of his millions to charity. Of course, he doesn't and the banker is subsequently struck down dead! His daughter, in penance for her father's evil ways, does donate the money. But then it turns out that Favraux is not really dead - only kidnaped and imprisoned in a secret underground cell by Judex. A couple of bad characters (including femme fatale Musidora) discover this and plot to recapture Favraux and force him to share his wealth (once reclaimed) with them. And on and on it goes for 5 1/2 hours across 12 or 13 episodes. Although each episode does not end with a fabled cliffhanger, the story contains a number of twists and is generally full of adventure. Georges Franju remade it (at a more modest length) in 1963 and tightened things up and added a bit of a surreal flourish. However, the original stands well on its own, even if it is less daring than Les Vampires. See more 09/13/2013 Epic French serial is a little hard to take at times, but is amazing for its sheer size and scope. See more 05/06/2013 not bad early serial See more 03/06/2009 Extremely disappointing (I'm probably giving it half a star more then it deserves). I really expected more from Louis Feuillade, who also directed the masterful "Les Vampires". See more 09/08/2007 It takes a while to get going but once it does it can be gripping in places with some great characters and scenes.Judex is the first ever superhero so its also interesting to see many of the conventions and ideas that would be later used in comic books. The storyline of Judex being sworn to kill the villain yet being in love with his daughter is simple and intriguing. Definately deserves a watch. See more 06/08/2006 Totally ahead of it's time. Feuillade is the man! See more Read all reviews

Judex

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW