The Bloody Judge (1972)

Directed by Jess Franco and produced by Harry Alan Towers, the Bloody Judge is none other than Christopher Lee, playing Christopher Lee playing imperious Judge Jeffries. The beautiful Alicia Grey (Margaret Lee) is brought before him, a woman of such beauty there is more than a note of appreciation that threatens to ripple Jeffries powdered wig before he condemns her to death. She is, like many others, accused of witch-craft. Why at that very moment, slimy Jack Ketch (the excellent Howard Vernon) is torturing some other poor blood-drenched beauty on the rack.Said with some justification to be inspired by 1968's powerful 'The Witchfinder General,' this is an involved and involving story concerning Alicia's sister played by Franco favourite Maria Rohm, another to catch the keen gaze of Jeffries. She is courting Harry Selton (Hans Hass), who falls foul of many powerful people including the vengeful Satchel (Milo Quesada sporting some convincing scarred make-up). Selton's father, the very powerful Lord Wessex (Leo Genn) is one of few people who threaten Judge Jeffries' power.Jeffries' unflappable veneer is occasionally exposed as being more brittle than initially apparent, and Lee plays the insecurities very well, despite his character quite rightly being labelled 'devil' by Mary Grey, Maria Rohm's most impressive character. In this, Rohm comes across as Franco's own Veronica Carlson. Carlson often exuded a style and composure which often elevated her from the characters she played for Hammer films – here, Rohm does the same.

This is actually one of Jess Franco's better films; a relatively high budget goes a long way in creating some authentic locations and costumes in this historical drama. The film is also refreshingly free (well, not totally) of the pointless zoom shots of which Franco was so proud. The original title was NIGHT OF THE BLOOD MONSTER, but as there are no monsters involved, it seems to bear little relation to the film and THE BLOODY JUDGE is indeed far more apt. Christopher Lee plays the cruel judge who has blood on his hands as he finds all suspected witches guilty and sends them to be burnt alive.The film is very similar storyline to WITCHFINDER GENERAL, an obvious influence, as well as MARK OF THE DEVIL. The film has a lot going in its favour, but ultimately it fails to be a masterpiece due to the confusing editing and disjointed feel to the whole thing. While the threadbare plot is nothing new, it gives ample opportunity for Franco to delight in what he likes best: naked women, and plenty of torture scenes, including a woman being whipped and (the most wince-inducing) a bloodied woman stretched on the rack.Christopher Lee gives a tour-de-force performance in the title role and he's perfectly cast as the cruel, tyrannical lawman. His portrayal of the corrupt and seemingly powerful leader who is plagued by inner demons is an insightful one. Lee is surrounded by some top Euro crumpet, indeed Franco fills out the cast with lots of beautiful women who get variously tortured and murdered. Franco favourite Howard Vernon enjoys himself as an executioner.Those who enjoyed the aforementioned classic with Vincent Price will be sure to delight in this very similar film. Attention to detail is surprisingly thorough, and the costumes and sets are brilliant. Without the grisly torture sequences the film would be an interesting, engaging historical story of a barbaric time in Britain, but with them, it becomes an accurate portrayal of the violent and perverse state that the country was in. Worth seeing for Lee's memorable performance alone, this may not be a very good film, but it's definitely better than you might have come to expect from exploitation king Franco.

Il trono di fuoco (AKA: The Bloody Judge) is directed by Jesus Franco and written by Anthony Scott Veitch and Peter Welbeck. It stars Christopher Lee, Maria Schell, Leo Genn, Hans Hass Jr., Maria Rohm and Margaret Lee. Music is by Bruno Nicolai and cinematography by Manuel Merino.Based on the real life Judge Jeffreys, the so called Hanging Judge who presided over what became known as The Bloody Assizes in Winchester 1685.Spaghetti horror with plenty of blood but nothing else. Christopher Lee was known to say this performance as the cruel Judge Jeffries was one of his best, you have to think he was bluffing by way of trying to be on the same planet as Vincent Price's turn as Matthew Hopkins in Witchfinder General two years earlier. Not that Lee is bad, far from it, he's the reason to watch this, it's just that he is planted in the picture for a number of scenes and everything else is spliced around him in hap-hazard fashion; and that's the uncut version as well!Ponderously paced and done on the cheap, it also comes off as tacky exploitation, where sex and glimpses of flesh serve for titillation, while exposition rules the day. It's a real hack job, aimlessly directed even. A battle scene stands out, but is at odds with the film, the costuming is smart, the set design equally so, and the colour photography decent. Yet the over riding sense of boredom and amateurism strips the film of any real entertainment factor. Apart from Chris of course, but even then we don't really get a great deal of him! 3/10

...Spoilers hereI generally like anything Christopher Lee is in (as a main character and mostly as a supporter actor) but this movie is just a mess.The movie gets confused about what it is supposed to be: historical re- telling of the "Hanging Judge," a horror film, a romantic story, or a porno?All those elements are present in this film, and despite best attempts, the film cannot weave it all together.Lee plays the Hanging Judge, known as Judge George Jeffreys. Jeffreys, by historical account was a severe issuer of justice in the wake of Monmouth's rebellion and up until the Glorious Revolution. His portrayal as the stern, lustful judge is well-done but the rest of the film is just mixed up.While I always appreciate a nice nude scene, there were some in this film that were just there to keep the audience interested. Some of the torture scenes are heavily erotic in terms of the BDSM aspect. Including a scene where the main female character licks the body of a chained and tortured (and nude) woman. It is a rather long scene and really makes no sense...The jailers had been ordered to bring this woman to the judge, but instead they strip her down and she voluntarily decides to give another woman a tongue-bath while they eagerly watch. It was a bad porno intro scene if you ask me.Anyway...there is some history here...Monmouth's Rebellion and the politics of the Glorious Revolution play a role, but not enough of one to make this an interesting film.The horror aspect is really not there...the torture scenes are not horrifying; scantily clad beauties being randomly tortured isn't enough to classify this as a horror film.The love story is odd as well...highly unlikely that a nobleborn man would fall in love with a 'wench' from the town. And that story is interspersed with everything else, not giving it enough room to grow, even if it were plausible.You can probably go without seeing this movie...also the version I saw had a couple of sections where the dialogue went German with English subtitles. This occurred at the especially graphic sex and sex/torture scenes leading me to believe that the original of this movie had those edited out to avoid a XXX rating or a ban by some nations. Just odd.