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 |  The Bloody JudgeDirector: Jesus Franco Rating: not rated 104 mins Blue Sunshine Let's get one thing straight: Christopher Lee is - and has always been - pure class. Sure, there might be a fair whack of dross amongst his 250+ films thus far (the execrable 'Funnyman' springs to mind), and Hammer's charms might have been distinctly campy rather than horrific, but you can't ever accuse him of a bad performance or of not taking his time on screen seriously. I'm particularly delighted that he's undergone a late-career renaissance via the 'Star Wars' and 'Lord Of The Rings' franchises: if there's one thing that the world needs more of, it's that rich, sonorous voice booming out through theatre speakers. Lee is also the only reason why 1970's 'The Bloody Judge' is anything more than an exploitative piece of swashbuckling witches-and-rebels nonsense. It's a change of pace for director Jesus 'Vampyros Lesbos' Franco, better known for his sex-and-gore masterpieces than his historical epics. Of course, he still manages a few typically subtle touches here, which we'll come to later. It's billed as a horror film for some reason, but lovers of comely starlets and geyers of blood will be disappointed. Well, lovers of geysers of blood anyway. The film is set in the 1680s and uses some the biographical details of King James II's Chief Justice George Jeffries who presided over the trials that followed the unsuccessful Monmoth Rebellion against the Crown, known as the "Bloody Assizes" for their severity. According to the film he was also the Witchfinder General, which seems to be a "broad interpretation of the facts", or to put it another way, "completely made up". Still, the bonus interview demonstrates that the erudite Lee certainly knows his character's biography. Viennese sexpot Maria Rohm plays Mary Gray, the suspected witch who has won the heart of the nobleman Harry Selton (Hans Hass Jr), who is himself suspected of disloyalty to the crown. Hence these two lovers are a succulent temptation for Jeffries, who loves disposing of his traitors and witches. There's a whole lot of plots and counter plots, carefully rehearsed swordplay and fake blood (especially in the torture chamber, which is one of the few nods to Franco's regular tropes). Still, it's not exactly fine cinema. This DVD has been enhanced, if that's the word, with a few scenes cut from the UK release including Mary's "forced lesbianism" scene (a solid three minutes of her delicately lapping at the artfully blood-splattered torso of a fellow prisoner) plus a bathing and sex scene. These scenes were never dubbed into English, meaning that there's a sudden switch to German with English subtitles as Jeffries intones "you turn me on" in breathy Deutsch. It's not Lee doing the intoning though: indeed, Jeffries is out of shot throughout the scene save for one roaming, suspiciously un-Lee-like hand. 'The Bloody Judge' isn't Lee's finest moment, but as an example of how the man maintains his dignity in the face of a whole lot of silliness there are worse ways to spend a couple of hours.  | |
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