The Bloody Judge (Il trono di fuoco) (Stomp Visual) (1970) (NTSC)

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Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In the late 17th Century the English Crown was in turmoil. The Catholic James II was tolerated (barely) because his daughters were Protestant, and it was expected that one of them would succeed him. This did not prevent his illegitimate half-brother the Duke of Monmouth from declaring himself King on the death of Charles II, and a bloody rebellion followed in which Monmouth was defeated. The trials of the rebels became famous as the Bloody Assizes when the presiding justice Judge Jeffreys handed out death penalties (hanging, drawing and quartering) to over 300 of the accused. Three years later the Glorious Revolution was provoked by the birth of a son to James II. James was deposed and his sister Mary and her husband William took over the throne.

    It is against this historical backdrop that The Bloody Judge chronicles the later career of Judge George Jeffreys (Christopher Lee). A woman is accused as a witch and Jeffreys sentences her to be burned at the stake. Her sister Mary Gray (Maria Rohm) appeals to the judge to no avail. Later Mary becomes romantically involved with Harry Seldon (Hans Hass), son of the Earl of Wessex (Leo Genn). Jeffreys gleans the information that Harry is associated with supporters of Monmouth, and accuses him of being a rebel against the Crown. Meanwhile the chief executioner Jack Ketch (Howard Vernon channelling Boris Karloff from Tower of London) spends his time torturing prisoners.

    This is another of the seven films that Christopher Lee made with Spanish director Jess Franco, and like the two Fu Manchu films this one was produced by Harry Allan Towers, who also wrote the screenplay under the name Peter Wellbeck and ensured his wife Rohm was in the cast. A co-production of many countries, it has mainly British, German and Spanish actors, including Maria Schell as a blind witch. It was shot on location in Portugal and Spain and the film rarely looks as if it is actually located in England.

    In a departure from his normal fictional horror roles, here Lee plays a non-fictional horror role. Despite his attempts to portray the real-life Jeffreys, who was a cultured man who suffered from chronic kidney stones, the infamous judge comes across as something of a monster. The film itself is somewhat monstrous as well. There are numerous unnecessarily gory scenes of torture, copious nudity and one completely unbelievable lesbian scene. The film is unbalanced by the extended torture scenes, as the director seems to wallow in them for an unnecessary period. They also don't fit in with the tone of the earlier scenes, which are more like a historical epic. It's obvious that the production was inspired by the success of the Vincent Price vehicle Witchfinder General of two years earlier, but it does not have the style of the previous film.

    Christopher Lee has appeared in some terrible films in his long and prolific career, and this is by no means the worst of them. It has some good things going for it, but (pardon the pun) the middle section is torturous. The film was released under numerous titles around the world and in various cuts tailored to each market. This one appears to be the most complete on video and some sequences have been inserted from the German release. However, the original director's cut ran about 120 minutes, so further restoration is in order.

Video

    The film is presented in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. It is in the NTSC format, which is not surprising as this seems to be simply an import of the American edition. While this may be inconvenient for some, it is certainly better than having an NTSC to PAL conversion. And it also means that there is no unsightly classification logo on the cover.

    While the transfer appears to be sharp most of the time, there is little in the way of fine detail. This may be how the film originally looked, but in some of the wider angle scenes where the actors or scenery in the shot is at a distance the lack of detail is noticeable.

    Brightness and contrast are good, with few issues in terms of shadow detail. Colour is more problematic. It looks like the red part of the spectrum has been boosted, so that the bright red robes of the judiciary are far too bright in comparison to the rest of the palette. Flesh tones are a little too brown or ruddy, which is an issue given the amount of flesh on display.

    Some Gibb Effect is visible from time to time, but not to any significant extent. Telecine wobble can be seen throughout the film. There is some dirt visible and less frequently there are flecks and scratches.

    There are no subtitles provided for most of the film. However in reconstructing the movie several scenes were taken from the German print. These scenes did not appear in the original English version and so did not have an English dub made for them. They are inserted into the movie in the original German with English subtitles in yellow.

    The disc is RSDL-formatted with the layer change positioned in the middle of a scene at 58:33.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The sole audio track is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono.

    A good audio track for a mono film, this has clear dialogue and effects with little distortion or hiss. I had no trouble understanding the dialogue. I think that this is due to most of the soundtrack being dubbed in afterwards. Certainly Lee and Genn dub their own voices, but many of the other actors are dubbed by different actors, and so audio sync is approximate at best.

    The music score by Bruno Nicolai is very good. Not only does he create an atmospheric score very much in the tradition of 1960s horror, with dramatic chords and swelling themes, he also uses what sounds like actual music of the period in which the film is set.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    A very good extras package for this relatively obscure movie. All of this material is 16x9 enhanced.

Main Menu Introduction

    Some short scenes from the film with a blue filter lead into the menu.

Menu Audio

    The static menu features some of the music score.

Featurette-Bloody Jess-Interviews With Jess Franco And Christopher Lee (25:08)

    Exactly as the title suggests, this is the reminiscences of Franco and Lee of this movie. Lee proves himself to have a detailed knowledge of the character he plays and the historical context in which the film unfolds. He expresses regret at what became of the film after his work on it was completed. In fact he reveals that he has not seen the film because of this. One wonders whether he could have been coerced into watching it by engaging him to record an audio commentary. Lee also states that he has not appeared in a horror film for 27 years. I would have thought that Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf and even Sleepy Hollow fall into that category.

    Franco is less critical of the movie, and reserves his vitriol for the international producers who changed the name of the movies in other markets. For example in America it was called Night of the Blood Monster, while in Germany it was The Witch-Hunter of Blackmoor and in Italy The Throne of Fire. As can be seen from the clapper boards in the behind the scenes snaps the original title was indeed The Bloody Judge. Franco speaks in French and his dialogue is subtitled.

Deleted Scenes (5:51)

    This deleted scene is taken from a Spanish video bootleg and shows how Mary and Harry meet. Inclusion of this in the film itself would have helped flesh out the story, but the video quality is terrible. Audio is in Spanish and subtitles are provided.

Alternative Version-Alternative Scenes (5:27)

    Four short scenes showing alternative shots used in various countries, for example the German opening sequences and a clothed version of Mary and Harry romping in the hay.

Theatrical Trailers (3:50)

    Two US release trailers plus a double bill trailer for this film and Blood From the Mummy's Tomb.

TV Spot (0:33)

    A TV spot for the double bill mentioned above.

Gallery-Poster And Stills

    A large collection of production stills and behind the scenes photographs is completed by the original press book, posters, lobby cards, soundtrack booklet and video covers.

Biographies-Cast & Crew

    Detailed text biographies of director and star.

    This Region 4 release is identical to the US Region 1 release.

    There is a DVD release in the UK which is a shorter cut running 89 minutes. The widescreen presentation is not 16x9 enhanced and the audio is reported to be poor. The Region 4/Region 1 is obviously the one to have, at least until a complete 120 minute cut turns up.

    A nice try at a historical epic which was derailed by the emphasis on sex and torture. Still this is a fine presentation of the movie on DVD.

    The video quality is good but not ideal.

    The audio quality is very good.

    Some considerable effort has been made to create an above average extras package.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall