Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 11: The Water Goddess
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 24, 2018
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 read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 10: Jacqueline’s Heart
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 23, 2018
Jacqueline’s Heart is a very short episode. Nine minutes or so. And nothing much happens except René Cresté plays fast and loose with his multiple identities and Yvette Andréyor finds his make-up kit. Overhearing Andréyor wish his sweet old man persona would show up, Cresté obliges. A note from read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 9: When the Child Appeared
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 22, 2018
This chapter begins with the principals removed from their problems and living it up on the Mediterranean. Édouard Mathé and mother Yvonne Dario have taken Yvette Andréyor, Olinda Mano, and (of course) René Poyen away from the troubles in Paris to a beautiful seaside estate. Somewhere they can all read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 8: The Underground Passages of the Chateau-Rouge
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 21, 2018
The Underground Passages of the Chateau-Rouge shows the audience the most of Judex’s base so far. There’s a finished bedroom and some castle interior hallways. Not just the ruins and then laboratory. Some of it is revealed when brothers René Cresté and Édouard Mathé show their mom, Yvonne Dario, read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 7: The Woman in Black
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 20, 2018
The Woman in Black introduces the first new character to Judex since the first chapter. There’s the prologue and then the first chapter; The Woman is the first new character since the first chapter. It’s Judex’s mom, played by Yvonne Dario (mostly in some awesome old age makeup–Judex is great read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 6: The Licorice Kid
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 19, 2018
The Licorice Kid–René Poyen–gets his own chapter. Sort of. Poyen figures into it quite a bit, but it’s not his chapter. He doesn’t even save the day (he does help save the day). While Yvette Andréyor is safe, René Cresté is still very sad she doesn’t like him after he threatened to kill read more
Lifeboat (1944, Alfred Hitchcock)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 18, 2018
Lifeboat never feels stagy, which is one of the film’s greatest successes. The entire thing takes place in a single lifeboat, with director Hitchcock not doing many medium or long shots of the lifeboat exterior. All the action is with the actors, Hitchcock using distinctive composition–Glen MacWill read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 5: The Tragic Mill
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 17, 2018
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 read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 4: The Secret of the Tomb
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 16, 2018
I was wondering how Judex was going to move forward–the last chapter ended with villains Musidora and Jean Devalde foiled in their kidnapping of Yvette Andréyor. This chapter begins with Musidora suspicious of Judex’s warnings. She convinces Devalde to investigate and they head to the graveyard. read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 3: The Fantastic Hounds
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 15, 2018
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. read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 2: The Atonement
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 14, 2018
The Atonement might be a peculiar chapter for Judex; since it’s only the second one, however, maybe it’s going to be the norm. It starts with Judex gently intimidating his captive–Louis Leubas. At first, it seems like Leubas is going to be doing some atoning. It’s also where Feuillade has some read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Episode 1: The Mysterious Shadow
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 13, 2018
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 read more
Judex (1916, Louis Feuillade), Prologue
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 12, 2018
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 read more
Soylent Green (1973, Richard Fleischer)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 11, 2018
If you leave the twist–which isn’t even a twist, just a justification for conspiracy–ending off Soylent Green, it’s a detective story. The case–the murder of a wealthy businessman–isn’t as important as how that case affects lead Charlton Heston. He starts carrying on with the victim’s read more
The Phantom Creeps (1939, Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind)
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 10, 2018
For the first few chapters, Bela Lugosi can carry The Phantom Creeps. He’s hamming it up as a mad scientist surrounded by actors who can’t even ham. Creeps has some truly terrible performances, particularly from its other leads, Robert Kent and Dorothy Arnold. He’s the military intelligence officer read more
The Phantom Creeps (1939, Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind), Chapter 12: To Destroy the World
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 9, 2018
Sadly, there’s not much world destroying in To Destroy the World. Not even when Bela Lugosi, finally reunited with his meteorite and able to escape, decides instead he’s going to steal a biplane and bomb things. Starting with the federal building. Only he drops a bomb on a zeppelin, which does inde read more
The Phantom Creeps (1939, Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind), Chapter 11: The Blast
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 8, 2018
The Blast features some of Phantom Creeps’s most prevalent tropes. Good guys following bad guys because they happened to drive and pass one another. Jack C. Smith’s henchman (to Bela Lugosi’s mad scientist) getting shot and dazed. Smith’s been shot at least three times (and dazed) in the serial. read more
The Phantom Creeps (1939, Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind), Chapter 10: Phantom Footprints
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 7, 2018
The title, Phantom Footprints, could almost refer to when a spy–seeing invisible Bela Lugosi’s shadow–thinks there might be something there. But then another spy just tells the first spy to shut up about it. It happens twice, first with Anthony Averill saying it’s stupid, then (after Averill read more
The Phantom Creeps (1939, Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind), Chapter 9: Speeding Doom
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 6, 2018
Speeding Doom once again has the good guys, bad guys, and Bela Lugosi trying to get Lugosi’s box. In the box is a powerful meteorite, which allows for all of Lugosi’s inventions. But the good guys and bad guys don’t know about it yet. They still aren’t sure Lugosi’s alive. Until the bad guys read more
The Phantom Creeps (1939, Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind), Chapter 8: Trapped in the Flames
The Stop Button Posted by Andrew Wickliffe on May 5, 2018
Trapped in the Flames is yet another exciting installment of The Phantom Creeps. Yet again, the Feds (led by Robert Kent) pursue the foreign agents (Anthony Averill’s the chief henchman, Edward Van Sloan’s the boss) trying to find Bela Lugosi’s missing box. No one but Lugosi (presumed dead by read more