Judex (1963 film)

Judex is a 1963 Frenchlanguage crime film remake of the 1916 French film serial of the same name concerning the adventures of pulp hero Judex. Directed by French filmmaker Georges Franju, the film stars Channing Pollock as JudexVallieres, dith Scob as Jacqueline and Francine Berg as Diana.

The production of Judex happened by chance. French writer Francis Lacassin was writing an article on French film, and while doing research he was approached by a production manager with an idea for a film, when he suggested to do a film on Judex. The story came to Jacques Champreux who was the grandson of the original creator of Judex, Louis Feuillade. Champreux has been a fan of director Georges Franju and asked him to make the film, who accepted despite having a larger desire to remake Fantmas. Franju was not very interested in the character or original story of Judex, stating that Judex is the only film of Feuillade that isnt good Feuillade, but he wanted to recreate the film in the style of early French cinema that he remembered from his childhood. Jacques Champreuxs idea for the film was to combine Franjus film style with the elements of the story in the original Judex and started writing the screenplay with that in mind. Champreux and Franju had the film open with a costume ball where everyone is wearing animal masks. This scene is influenced by French cartoonist J.J. Grandville, who depicted people with the heads of animals and birds.Channing Pollock, who was a famous conjurer in cabaret circles, was cast as Judex. Pollock had been in several films beforehand and the backing producers wanted to make him into a Rudolph Valentinotype star. Franju and Champreux made his character into more of a magical character rather than a dispenser of justice. Many actresses were thought of for the role of Diana Monti, originally played by Musidora in the Feuillades Judex. Franju and Champreaux wanted someone who would still look good even in the dark and originally desired to have Brigitte Bardot as Diana Monti which excited their producers. After seeing Les Abysses at the Cannes Film Festival, they chose Francine Berg who also played the role of Michele in the film. Franju cast dith Scob as Jacqueline who he had worked with on his

Source: Wikipedia