The Bloody Judge (film)

{{Infobox film

| name = The Bloody Judge

| image = Il-trono-di-fuoco-italian-movie-poster-md.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| native_name =

| director = Jesús Franco

| producer = Harry Alan Towers

| writer =

| screenplay = {{plainlist|

Jesús Franco
Colombo Enrico
Anthony Scott Veitch
Michael Haller

}}

| story =

| based_on =

| starring = {{plainlist|

Christopher Lee
Maria Schell
Leo Genn
Maria Rohm
Margaret Lee
{{ill|Hans Hass Jr.|de|Hans Hass (Schauspieler)}}

}}

| narrator =

| music = Bruno Nicolai

| cinematography = Manuel Merino

| editing = {{plainlist|

Gertrud Petermann
Maria Luisa Soriano
Derek Parsons

}}

| production_companies = {{plainlist|

Fénix Films
Terra-Filmkunst
Prodimex Films

}}

| distributor =

| released = {{Film date|1970|2|5|Italy|1970|6|5|West Germany|1971|4|20|Spain|df=yes}}

| runtime =

| country = {{plainlist|

Spain
Italy
West Germany{{cite web|url=https://www.filmportal.de/en/movie/der-hexentoter-von-blackmoor_ea43d4a718a25006e03053d50b37753d|publisher=Filmportal.de|title=Der Hexentöter von Blackmoor|access-date=December 7, 2018|language=de}}

}}

| language =

| budget =

| gross =

}}

The Bloody Judge is a 1970 horror film directed by Jesús Franco and written by Enrico Colombo, Jesús Franco, Michael Haller, and Anthony Scott Veitch. The film stars Christopher Lee, Maria Schell, Leo Genn, Hans Hass Jr., Maria Rohm and Margaret Lee. The film was released in Italy on February 5, 1970.{{cite web|author=Robert Firsching |url=https://allmovie.com/movie/the-bloody-judge-v127776 |title=The Bloody Judge (1969) – Jesús Franco |publisher=AllMovie |access-date=2017-04-28}}

Plot

This film is loosely based on the story of Judge Jeffries, the Lord Chief Justice of seventeenth-century England, who, in this film, condemned women as witches to further his political and sexual needs.

Cast

{{cast listing|

Christopher Lee as Judge Jeffries
Maria Schell as Mother Rosa
Leo Genn as Lord Wessex
{{ill|Hans Hass Jr.|de|Hans Hass (Schauspieler)}} as Harry Selton
Maria Rohm as Mary Gray
Margaret Lee as Alicia Gray
Peter Martell as Barnaby
Howard Vernon as Jack Ketch
Milo Quesada as Satchel

}}

Production

According to Harry Alan Towers' biographer Dave Mann, the collaborations between director Jesús Franco and Towers were fraught with difficulties.{{sfn|Mann|2014|p=86}} Franco explained that Towers liked doing co-productions with others and that the film was going to be an Anglo-American-German-Spanish-French-Italian co-production.{{sfn|Mann|2014|p=87}} This led to many changes to suit producers in each country's needs, with Franco recalling that the film was at first a horror film with a historical backdrop, then more of a historical film with a background of inquisition, then primarily about the inquisition, then an erotic film.{{sfn|Mann|2014|p=87}}

Release

The Bloody Judge was released in Italy on 5 February 1970.{{cite web|url=https://allmovie.com/movie/the-bloody-judge-v127776|first=Robert|last=Firsching|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805012848/https://allmovie.com/movie/the-bloody-judge-v127776|access-date=December 7, 2018|archive-date=August 5, 2012|publisher=AllMovie|title=Bloody Judge}} It was later released in West Germany on 5 June 1970. The film was released in Spain on 20 April 1971 as Proceso de las Brujas.{{cite web|url=http://infoicaa.mecd.es/CatalogoICAA/en-us/Peliculas/Detalle?Pelicula=343250|title=Proceso de las Brujas|access-date=24 December 2019|language=es|publisher=ICAA Film Database}} The film had 688,928 admissions in Spain. In 1972 the film was released in the US as Night of the Blood Monster.

It was released on DVD in the UK by Salvation Films in 1999.

References

=Sources=

{{cite book |title=Harry Alan Towers: The Transnational Career of a Cinematic Contrarian |first=Dave |last=Mann |publisher=McFarland |year=2014 | location = Jefferson, NC |isbn=978-0-7864-7982-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_bXZBAAAQBAJ}}