Judex

French writer/director Louis Feuillade found his niche creating movie serials when he successfully brought to the screen two very popular movie series, 1913 "Fantomas" and 1915 "Les Vampires." Some do-gooder critics, though, howled at his two productions, complaining his so-called heroes were in fact criminals committing evil acts.

Feuillade took their harsh critiques personally, and set out towards a different path in his next serial. The release of the 12-part series "Judex," beginning in December 1916, set the tone for a new hero in movies, one partly based on the main character in Alexandre Dumas' 1844 novel "The Count of Monte Cristo."

Judex (latin for "Judge") is a son of a wealthy family whose father was financially ruined by a ruthless, corrupt banker, who sucked the wealth out of many other unsuspecting people. Judex exacts revenge by faking the banker's death and kidnapping him into his elaborate cave lair. The banker's beautiful daughter, previously oblivious to her father's shenanigans, renounces his fortune when she finds out the unethical practices he committed. Judex has romantic eyes for the daughter, but the banker's governess/mistress, played by actress Musidora (Irma Vep in "Les Vampires"), had her own devious plans of getting his fortune, only to be foiled by the events engineered by Judex. She suspects the banker is alive and gets her criminal gang in motion to find out where he is.

Through the mostly 30-minute episodes where intrigue, romance, and the righteous over evil battle take place, "Judex" was a big hit in war-torn European theaters during World War One. After the war, Feuillade directed a sequel serial, "Judex's New Mission" in 1918.

The 1930 radio show character "The Shadow" and the 1939 introduction of "Batman" in the comics have direct linkages to Judex, making the French serial the first movie to have a superhero as its main character. In fact, the French comic book "Hurrah!" published a series beginning in 1940 on Judex, which simply was a French translation of the American comic strip, The Shadow.

Favraux, a corrupt banker living a life of luxury in Paris, receives a note from an avenger named Judex, claiming that he must turn over half of his fortune to the public affairs bureau or else. Favraux hires a private detective, Cocatin, to protect him, but at his daughter's engagement party that night, he suffers what appears to be a cardiac attack, and dies. However, Favraux is not dead. He is taken by Judex (and his brother Roger) to a cliffside estate, where in the basement Favraux is imprisoned in Judex's super-scientific laboratory. Jacqueline, Favraux's daughter, learns of her father's crookedness and gives the entire fortune away. A pair of crooks, Diana Monti and Morales, were originally after Favraux's money before he "died", but suspect he may be alive, and are after Jacqueline and her son, Jean (a really annoying character), thinking they know where Favraux is. Its up to Judex to bring these crooks to justice. A hard serial to describe since its very Dickensian in all of its characters and plots. Creste is good as Judex, as is Musidora and Levesque as Cocatin. My main trouble was that the serial went from a very good crime element slowly drifting into melodrama for the second half of the serial, with little action or suspense until the boat finale. Feulliade did a very good job with directing and co-authoring the tale. Rating, 7.

An epic 5 hour serial in which Rene Creste rakishly dons black cape and hat as the title character (who takes his name from the Latin word for Justice) in order to right the wrongs suffered by his late father at the hands of corrupt banker Favraux. Judex features far less action than most silent serials, but easily transcends them in terms of thematic sophistication and depth of character as it dwells on the nature and complexity of justice. An entertaining saga that feels far shorter than 5 hours despite its measured pace.

Judez demands justice against a rich man who ruined people financially, among other things. Judex is making him face the consequences. Meanwhile, a woman just hired as a nanny has her own agenda. Also, meanwhile a old man comes to the rich man for help in finding his long-lost son. In the beginning this played out like a soap opera, with so many plots and people to keep track of. They all blend together eventually. Despite its flaws, I found this to be very entertaining. All the characters were three-dimensional and you really get drawn into this so easily. The hired detective and the licorice kid are highlights of this silent serial that delivers the goods, albeit in a long-winded way.

I recently saw Judex on television, and again I was impressed by the actress, Musidora, who had captured my attention as Irma Vep in Les Vampires. I found her villainess far more watchable than the anemic heroine chosen for the arrogant, vaguely ridiculous hero Judex. Musidora showed a naturalness and grace reminiscent of Rudolph Valentino at his best! The others were often over-emoting to the nth degree.

I also never understood why they had an obvious little girl in the role of the heroine's son,Jean. Little Olinda(Jean) really had a crush on the male child playing the Licorice Kid! The actor playing Judex's brother Roger was handsome and I think a beter silent actor than the man playing the lead. I found myself rooting for Diana Monti(aka Musidora) to eliminate the hero, and that is a sad commentary on the film in general! This film was supposedly to be light-hearted, but I found the storyline silly and often mawkish. Still, Musidora kept me watching despite the numerous flaws, and for her alone I recommend viewing this film!