The Bloody Judge (1970)
Producer Harry Alan Towers and director Jess Franco's impressive nod to Witchfinder General, starring Christopher Lee as as Judge George Jeffreys, a womanizing witchfinder.
The film is very loosely based on a real life judge from the 1600's - the aforementioned George Jeffreys, who actually was neither witch hunter or womanizer. He was however chief magistrate during the reign of King James II, a king who put to death many alleged witches during his short lived three year reign, and was infamously known as The Hanging Judge.
A strong cast - Lee, Leo Genn, Maria Schell, Maria Rohm and Howard Vernon together with some well staged battle scenes make this top tier Franco.
The film is set during the Monmouth Uprising of 1685 in which the Duke of Monmouth attempted to take the throne from King James. despite its modest budget, Franco filmed some excellent battle scenes featuring charging cavalry, batteries of cannons blazing away and what seems like a cast of thousands. The film looks very stylish and Franco has made a big film on a small budget - $5000. This arrived hot on the heels of Michael Reeves Witchfinder Genera and although nowhere near as good as that' film, due to its story being nothing like as interesting or exciting, The Bloody Judge is non-the less an impressive achievement for Franco.
88 Films Blu-ray looks gorgeous but it's sharp clear image allows cars to be seen going past the outskirts of the battle scenes which i'd never noticed on the dvd. Meanwhile some of the writing in the booklet is a bit poorly researched. For example claiming the film took place at the end of James II's reign when in reality the date in the prologue and indeed quoted in the booklet of 1685 was the year James became King.
|