Judex (1963)

Judex 1963

I’ve been watching some Louis Feuillade (<- French director, known mostly for his 1910s pulp crime films)

Judex: Prologue (Louis Feuillade, 1917)

Release the pigeons, via Robin Cracknell

Judex, 1963, dir. George Franju

Criterion cover art by Ron Wimberly

Pulptober 2023 Themes Elaborated, Part Three

Bit late, but here goes!

First, links to Part One and Part Two

11-Domino Lady/Born From Vengeance, Driven To Justice: Honestly, this is another straightforward one, exactly what it says on the tin. Alternates: Judex*+, El Sombra+, Darkman*

12-The Punisher/Veteran Justice: It will not surprise y'all to learn that quite a few Pulp Heroes picked up the skills and abilities they use in their war against crime fighting in more traditional wars. Today is for them. Alternates: Secret Agent "X", John Reese

13-Hellboy/Hero With Good Publicity: Not every Pulp Hero operates in the shadows. Quite a few of them not only do their thing out in the open, they are famous, and oft-times popular with the public. Today is for them. Mystery, Inc., The Chimera Brigade+*

14-Arsene Lupin/The Lawless Bringing Law: Many Pulp Heroes are technically on the wrong side of the law, but these take it a step further; they are, or were, professional criminals; thieves, gangsters, pirates, smugglers, hitmen...they made their living breaking the law, but that doesn't make them any less heroic or willing to do the right thing when needed. Alternates: Bandette, The Goon, Modesty Blaise

15-Tintin/Humor and Heroism: Traditionally, stories of Pulp Heroes are adventure stories, meant to thrill and excite. But sometimes, they're also meant to make you laugh. Alternates: Breckinridge Ellkins*, Paperinik, Lupin III*

Judex, Louis Feuillade, 1916

Musidora, 1914, ph. P. Choumoff/Roger-Viollet

Judex (1963)

Halloween, or indeed any costume party, is among other things a measure of one’s character and moral fiber.  Most folks are content to phone it in, whether with something from the local Spirit Halloween or what have you.  But everyone has that one friend who is VERY into Halloween and puts A LOT of effort into their look.  Bless them, because for every one of those, there are six generic hot girls who think putting on cat ears and making a dot on their nose and mascara whiskers counts as a fun costume.  I deride Marie Verdier for her pathetic attempt at a heist disguise, but honestly she kills it through the rest of the film, turning a lewk whether she’s an evil nun or an evil mod suit gal pulling it off even better than the likes of Tilda Swinton could ever hope to do so.  My gal has her cat eye on point whether she’s breaking into mansions, swindling ambulance drivers, or plummeting off of rooftops.  That said, nothing is quite so striking as Judex’ entrance into the film.   A man in a bird mask which outdoes anything anyone else at the pageant could hope to do—the masquerade is 90% boring pedestrian shit, 10% BIRB SQUAD RISE UP—enters, does dove-based magic tricks, and then slays the host with a gesture at the stroke of midnight.  The obvious comparison to draw here (or one of the front-runners, at least) is to Batman.  But here, Judex does everything the Adam West Batman series could do, but better.  A more based socialist agenda: he kills an evil venture capitalist banker and then apparently fucking resurrects him once his daughter proves she has a conscience.  A better persona and a more hilariously impractical commitment to the bit: make a really well-crafted mask for your big reveal, but then lean on… carrier pigeons for your instant alert signal.  Could there not be some kind of Bird Signal in the sky?  In a world where buggies need candles as headlights, I suppose that would be a tough ask.  We also get more enjoyable campy villains in Marie and her cadre of ghouls, Marie slipping into the catsuit and exploiting every possible angle as she hustles her way to riches, paired off with incompetence on the part of Judex: he’s a genius and yet somehow still places faith in the bumbling detective Cocantin who would much rather be reading something.  Pure rip-roaring fun through and through.

The film closes with an intertitle reference to the silent serial to which it is paying homage, acknowledging its source as something as a product of a darker time.  But truly, this sort of entertainment is evergreen and always needed.  This is a cousin of the likes of Adéla ještě nevečeřela and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, reaching back to a bygone era to realize that, yeah.  Sometimes we just need unhinged nonsense where the bad guy is an unambiguous monster and a little magic and circumstance can get you a long way. 

THE RULES

SIP

An intertitle appears onscreen.

Marie is a style icon.

Sci-fi shenanigans.

Cocantin is utterly useless, but at least he likes his stories.

Someone faints.

BIG DRINK

A clock starts chiming.

Someone gets conked over the head.

Someone is introduced.

Judex (1963) Dir. Georges Franju

Judex existe en su propio universo, todos los elementos de este poético montaje son resultado de un entendido claro en mantener una tensión constante en cada toma avanzando en escenarios con diseños preciosos como artilugios, vestuarios, estatuas, etc; hipnotizando al espectador La experiencia al ver por primera vez a Judex el héroe, así en seco, ante la cámara, puede ser sino una de las introducciones a escena de un protagonista más increíble que haya visto, el surrealismo y la magia presentes en este momento añade una chispa constante de sorpresas a lo largo de todo el filme.

Parece no ser necesariamente importante conocer a detalle la historia y referencias detrás de este homenaje a los atemporales e inmortales clásicos del cine mudo, que han demostrado que ante la culturalidad mutante del arte cinematográfico es un cine firme con historias únicas y de fácil consumo para cualquiera dispuesto.

El desarrollo de los actos son condensados de forma austera en 96 minutos en los que Franju trato de hacernos a entender intenciones, motivos y moralidades de los personajes de esta maravillosa historia, un juego así de divertido como en las primeras obras de Guy Ritchie.

christmas gift for my two closest pals @king-carnival and @fluffernauto yea

Judex: L'ombre mystérieuse (Louis Feuillade, 1917)

Judex, 1963, dir. Georges Franju