Judex (1916) ch11 – The Water Goddess

So while Yvonne Dario is still consoling Yvette Andréyor about deceiving her–again, it’s not clear how much of the blame Dario takes on herself, which should be a lot since she made René Cresté vow to kill Andréyor’s father–Cresté goes off to save Andréyor’s father. On the way, he meets up with his brother, Édouard Mathé, who managed to get out of the house without raising Andréyor’s suspicions. Mathé tries to give Cresté a pistol but Cresté doesn’t need one.

What he does need is to pay some attention. At the meeting spot, Musidora sneaks up on Cresté. She’s on a boat. He doesn’t see a boat. Nearby, Marcel Lévesque and his girlfriend, Lily Deligny, see the boat. Which is good, because Deligny has to go save Cresté after he gets taken prisoner because he’s not good at planning. At all.

Deligny is the titular Water Goddess and, along with René Poyen, one of Judex’s real heroes.

It’s a fairly action-packed chapter. Not particularly suspenseful, as director Feuillade draws more attention to the melodramatic possibilities–but still action-packed. It’s good Judex has established Cresté as unable to think about anything else when he’s got Andréyor on his mind, because he forgets about Deligny. He also forgets about the guy he gets killed. He’s preoccupied. He’s convinced Louis Leubas (as Andréyor’s father) there might be a happy ending for all.

Except the dead people.

Lévesque’s got some adorable physical comedy and Goddess is paced well. It just further reveals, presumably unintentionally, Cresté to be more a feckless blue blood than determined vigilante.

One episode to go. Then the epilogue.

Judex (1916) ch05 – The Tragic Mill

The Tragic Mill earns its title. Villains Musidora and Jean Devalde kidnap currently sickly damsel in distress Yvette Andréyor and take her to an old mill. The kidnapping–Andréyor’s second in Judex (so far)–happens only before René Cresté arrives to protect her.

While the villains bicker over who has to actually murder Andréyor (it seems like they were expecting her illness to do her in, since she’s in desperate need of medical care), Cresté is back at Judex Base heartbroken. He’s not out trying to find Andréyor, he’s crying on brother Édouard Mathé’s arm. When it comes time for action, however, Cresté gets it together. The emotional scene is an interesting touch for the film; it makes Cresté a lot less disturbing when he’s in dread avenger mode.

It comes time for action because–initially through what appears to be great contrivance–Cresté’s new manservant, Gaston Michel. The Tragic Mill used to belong to him, before he went away for fraud. Turns out it isn’t contrivance in an wonderfully executed reveal. Judex has just enough melodrama behind the action, but never not enough action.

The chapter ends with Andréyor actually getting to do something for a scene. Her rescues, at this point, are almost guaranteed. Mill does put her face to face with Cresté for the first time and it’s a good moment. She gets actual character development later.

It’s an excellent entry. Breezy too.

Judex (1916) ch03 – The Fantastic Hounds

The Fantastic Hounds seems like a silly name for the chapter, but it turns out Judex’s dog pack is rather fantastic. They aren’t just able to sniff out kidnapped Yvette Andréyor, they’re able to rescue her. Sure, a ten or twenty dog pack is intimidating, but they execute their mission perfectly. Kudos to whoever trained the dogs.

But the dogs don’t open the chapter. Instead, it’s the brother of Juliette Clarens; the actor is unfortunately uncredited. Musidora and Jean Devalde shake him down for double the “ransom” on Andréyor (they’d kidnapped her so the brother could prove his worth by rescuing her). The brother turns to Clarens, who turns to their father (actor also uncredited). It’s a nice bit of acting from all concerned as the brother has to own up. Silly rich people, thinking they can just have complication free kidnappings.

So Feuillade splits the action between the brother, his family, the criminals, and then Judex and his brother. As the brother, Édouard Mathé ends up with more to do this chapter–even if he’s clearly the sidekick, though René Cresté finally gets some material in the title role. He’s mostly mooning over Andréyor, but it’s rather sweet.

After her rescue, Andréyor then has to deal with son Olinda Mano running away from hiding to visit her. Fantastic Hounds switches gears from action to family drama beautifully. The scenes with Andréyor and Mano are great.

But it’s still not over–Fantastic Hounds runs around thirty-seven minutes–because Feuillade and co-writer Arthur Bernède have another reveal. Gaston Michel didn’t die in the prologue. It’s unclear if it’s supposed to be a surprise. I just assumed he died.

Michel joins the Judex team, though so far his only job appears to be tormenting their captive–Louis Leubas.

There’s some lovely filmmaking from Feuillade here, particularly when Cresté daydreams of Andréyor who’s daydreaming of Mano. Very smooth.

Though he does have his weird perspective jump cut again at least once in Hounds (which is when the close-up jarringly changes angle from the long shot).

The Fantastic Hounds feels very much like the end of Judex’s first act.

Judex (1916) ch01 – The Mysterious Shadow

The first chapter (proper) immediately follows the prologue, with Yvette Andréyor taking over the lead (possibly for the rest of Judex). Unlike her father, she’s swayed by the mysterious Judex’s demand–half her father’s fortune was to go to charity or he’d be killed.

Andréyor, shedding herself of gold-digging fiancé Georges Flateau, gives away the entire fortune before her father’s even in the ground. Including the family castle. So Andréyor has to send away her adorable son and move away, in anonymity, to make a paltry living teaching piano and English.

Meanwhile, The Mysterious Shadow introduces Judex. He’s a tall skinny guy (René Cresté) with a distinct hat and cape. He makes a base underneath some ruins. His base, however, is not the ruins. It’s a very modern base. There, his brother (Édouard Mathé) works as sidekick… resurrecting Andréyor’s father (Louis Leubas). Judex, it turns out, isn’t a murderer. In fact, he’s a little sweet on Andréyor, finding her in her self-imposed exile, and promising to come to her aid if needed.

Turns out she might need the aid because one of her students has a scummy brother who tries forcing himself on her. Andréyor fights him off, only for the man to complain to already introduced criminal types Musidora (who lost her fake job as governess when Andréyor gave away the fortune) and Jean Devalde. Devalde hatches a plan to kidnap Andréyor, unaware of her true identity.

There’s a lot of story this chapter. Director Feuillade keeps it moving, with Andréyor an extremely sympathetic protagonist. Feuillade’s shots are more distinct this chapter–he really likes vertical composition. He also has one and a half jarring jump cuts. The vertical composition is far more successful.

Hopefully goofy (but well-meaning) private investigator Marcel Lévesque gets to come back. He too gets the boot with Andréyor’s dissolving of her estate.

Judex (1916) ch00 – Prologue

The prologue to Judex mostly concerns banker Louis Leubas. He’s rich, he’s French, he’s corrupt. He wants to carry on with a younger woman–Musidora–but he’s got a widowed daughter (Yvette Andréyor) and a grandson living with him. So he decides to marry off Andréyor to a presumably suitable suitor (Georges Flateau) and settle in with Musidora.

Musidora, however, is actually in league with villain Jean Devalde (though his villainy is only defined by his status as an ex-con, which is peculiar given something I’ll get to in a moment). It’s okay though, because Flateau is in debt up to his ears and probably only interested in marrying Andréyor for her money.

Everything is going along fine–at least so far as Leubas knows–until an aged man shows up at the castle gate. Leubas is castle rich; it turns out it’s partially because he’s been ripping people off for years. The old man, Gaston Michel, has been in prison twenty years; Leubas bankrupted him before Michel turned to a life of crime. So, not all ex-cons are bad.

Leubas isn’t satisfied turning Michel away (though Michel just wanted some help reuniting with his missing son). Leubas runs Michel down because the old man won’t get aside for Leubas’s car.

Leubas goes from being a dirty old man to a villain real quick.

But then Leubas gets a threatening letter signed Judex and employs private detective Marcel Lévesque to protect him.

Can Lévesque–a newbie to the private investigation game–keep his client safe?

As a prologue, it’s a little odd. There’s very little hint at what’s going to come subsequent. No one gets much time onscreen except Leubas (and, eventually, Lévesque). Lévesque is rather funny, but he’s still probably not going to be a consequential character in the rest of the serial.

It all moves well–director Feuillade and co-writer Arthur Bernède fit a lot in–but it’s Leubas’s show. And he’s not going to be a big part of what comes. So as a narrative prologue, it works. As a pilot for the serial proper? Not so much. Presumably the next chapter will give a better indication of how Judex is going to play.