Judex (DVD)
This effortlessly cool crime caper, directed by Georges Franju, is a marvel of dexterous plotting and visual invention. Conceived as an homage to Louis Feuillade’s 1916 cult silent serial of the same name, Judex kicks off with the mysterious kidnapping of a corrupt banker by a shadowy crime fighter (American magician Channing Pollock) and spins out into a thrillingly complex web of deceptions. Combining stylish sixties modernism with silent-cinema touches and even a few unexpected sci-fi accents, Judex is a delightful bit of pulp fiction and a testament to the art of illusion.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Interview from 2007 with cowriter Jacques Champreux
- Interview from 2012 with actor Francine Bergé
- Franju le visionnaire, a fifty-minute program from 1998 on director Georges Franju’s career
- Two short films by Franju: Hôtel des Invalides (1951), about the Paris military complex, and Le grand Méliès (1952), about director Georges Méliès
- New English subtitle translation
- PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien, along with a selection of commentary by Franju (dual-format only)
New cover by Ron Wimberly