107 - Judex, 1963, France. Dir. Georges Franju.

Monday, April 17, 2017

107 - Judex, 1963, France. Dir. Georges Franju.

What if Zorro teamed up with Sherlock Holmes to battle an evil Catwoman, dressed as The Flying Nun.

Beginning at a masquerade where a bird-headed magician makes doves appear from nowhere.

And ending with a rooftop catfight with a circus acrobat.

Welcome to Judex.

Is it a film or a comic book mashup?

Favraux is a banker who will celebrate his bank.  The bank is now 20 years old.  Time for a masquerade.  A masked ball.

His daughter Jacqueline is getting married.  To Viscount Amaury de la Rochefontaine.

Say that name three times fast.

Favraux will celebrate both occasions at the ball.

If only he were not getting those pesky letters from some Robin-Hood-like gadfly.

Accusing him of some sort of skullduggery. 

Claiming he has hurt people.  And threatening to hurt him in return.

It is a good thing he has his trusty servant, his valet Vallieres, standing by his side.

Favraux hires a private detective.  The detective, Cocantin, seems a little more interested in telling stories to Favraux's granddaughter than to doing his job.

So it is not surprising when at the ball, after the bird-headed magician makes magic with silks and doves, Cocantin is nowhere to be found when Favraux falls down dead.

What!

With her father gone, Jacqueline renounces her wealth.

She now believes that he obtained his wealth through chicanery.

Marie Verdier eavesdrops and learns that early in his career he had acquired scandalous documents which he used to blackmail others to gain the money to launch his bank.

Marie has turned down Favraux's hand in marriage.  Now that he is dead she will break into his chateau in search of the secret documents, which she believes will now make her rich.

Why marry into money when you can steal it?

Jacqueline is played by Edith Scob, who also played Christiane in yesterday's Eyes Without a Face (1960).  She spends that movie with her face covered by a mask.  She spends this movie with her face covered by her porcelain innocence.

But just as Marie breaks into the chateau to steal the documents, so also a group of caped, masked men break into the chateau to steal Favraux's body.

They will deposit it in a secret lair like the Bat Cave, complete with old-fashioned-futuristic technology.

And now let the adventures begin.

What if Valierres is not who he claims to be.

What if Marie Verdier is really Diana Monti.

What if Favraux is alive.

What if a kid gets involved and helps crack the case.

What if Cocantin teams up with Judex.

What if his circus acrobat friend Daisy shows up to help.

Judex will play the avenger but Diana will look like an Avenger.

Judex will do his deeds of derring-do

Are we watching James Bond or The Count of Monte Cristo? 

Whatever it is, it is entertaining.

Narrative logic and nuanced acting may not be prerequisites but surreal set pieces are.

This is B-movie pulp on an A-movie budget.

Time for some popcorn.