Movielogr
The Bloody Judge (1970)
Directed by Jesús Franco
Twitter Facebook Google+Most recently watched by ashe5k
Overview
Horror icon Christopher Lee, who worked with Jess Franco on several occasions, plays Lord George Jeffreys, the infamous and merciless judge and Lord Chancellor in England torn by strife between the reigning King James II and William of Orange. Convincend of doing what’s necessary, the cruel judge mercilessly persecutes ‘traitors’, who sympathize with the King’s opponent William of Orange, as well as ‘witches’, who are accused of being in league with the devil…
Rated PG | Length 84 minutes
Actors
Christopher Lee | Maria Schell | Leo Genn | Hans Hass Jr. | Maria Rohm | Margaret Lee | Pietro Martellanza | Howard Vernon | Milo Quesada | Werner Abrolat | Diana Lorys | José Martínez Blanco | José María Prada | Vicente Roca
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11/18/2017 | TV | DVD | Rented | 6 stars |
| (Average) 6 stars |
Viewing Notes
Jess Franco saw WITCHFINDER GENERAL and said, “how can I make that movie only more sleazy and exploitative?” Of course casting Christopher Lee bumps this up a point but overall not a good movie or example of witch hunting. Also another wild multi-language/country production. This presumably uncut* version from Blue Underground includes the snippets of German dialogue.
*not the complete cut as I learned from watching the extras. There’s a 6min scene taken from the Spanish VHS in the extras that’s not included in the film. There are alternate scenes also included. Apparently there are at least 4 different cuts of the movie as noted by Jess Franco in the interview.
The interview with Christopher Lee and Franco is very revealing. Lee didn’t know that all the exploitation scenes were added to the film after he was done with his scenes; he refuses to watch it. He and Franco had disagreements with how Judge Jeff was to be portrayed but finally compromised (Lee wanted to be more factual and true to the real person). Franco discusses how professional Lee was but didn’t really appreciate him. Weird. The worked together on 7 films. Lee thinks Franco was good enough to deserve bigger budgets and casts but was never given the chance. Franco also discusses the mixed production across a few countries (Spain, Germany, France, Portugal, England, etc).
Pretty damn good interview! Also love that Franco is probably 80 years old when he recorded the interview and he’s smoking during the entire time. Then in each still shot of him during the filming he’s also smoking. So on brand!
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