"Director: Georges Franju"

• Masters of Cinema - Judex/Nuits Rouges | DVD | (25/08/2008) from £39.79   |  Saving you £-14.80 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  Judex (1963): The magical rarely seen Judex directed by the great Georges Franju (Eyes Without a Face) was largely unappreciated at the time of its release in 1963. This lyrical and dreamlike picture a putative remake of Louis Feuillade's own 1916 Judex is as evocative of the silent master's own works as it is the later films of Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dali. A French reviewer wrote in 1963: The whole of Judex reminds us that film is a privileged medium for the expression of poetic magic. Starring the magician Channing Pollock the divine Edith Scob and the mesmerising Francine Berg'' Judex concerns a wicked banker his helpless daughter and a mysterious avenger. It plays like a fairy tale one in which Franju creates a dazzling clash between good and evil eschewing interest in the psychological aspects of his characters for unexplained twists and turns in the action. The beautifully controlled imagery superbly rendered by Marcel Fradetal's black-against-white photography animates a natural world and the spirits of animals all at war with a host of diabolical forces. Franju's Judex and Nuits Rouges both paid overt homage to the surreal silent serial-works of Feuillade. Scripted in collaboration with Feuillade's grandson Jacques Champreux these films evince the same poetic magic that made the art of that earlier master a cause c''l''bre not only for the Surrealist movement but also for the world renowned Cin''math''que Fran''aise. It was the Cin''math''que (co-founded by the legendary Henri Langlois with Franju) that helped resurrect the reputation of Feuillade decades after he'd slipped out of the public consciousness. Nuits Rouges (1973): Nuits Rouges [Red Nights] released in the UK as Shadowman was the second Franju Champreux meditation upon the films of Feuillade. It aggressively escalates a pulp atmosphere steeped in shocking turns of events to an even more vertiginous level. Here the object of pursuit is the fabled treasure of the mythical order of the Knights Templar which the filmmakers use as the jump-off point for staging a series of fantastic set-pieces. As the Fant''mas-esque arch-criminal (known only as The Man Without a Face played by Jacques Champreux himself) violently pursues the treasure the action intensifies amongst a cadre of post '68 bohemians the Paris police bureau and a cult of cowled conspirators. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present Georges Franju's two most mindbending films on DVD in the UK for the first time.

• Spotlight On A Murderer | Blu Ray | (29/05/2017) from £11.39   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  When the terminally ill Count Hervé de Kerloquen (Pierre Brasseur, Goto, Isle of Love) vanishes without trace, his heirs are told that they have to wait five years before he can be declared legally dead, forcing them to devise ways of paying for the upkeep of the vast family château in the meantime. While they set about transforming the place into an elaborate son et lumière tourist attraction, they are beset by a series of tragic accidents if that's really what they are The little-known third feature by the great French maverick Georges Franju (Eyes Without a Face, Judex) is a delightfully playful romp through Agatha Christie territory, whose script (written by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac of Les Diaboliques and Vertigo fame) is mischievously aware of the hoariest old murder-mystery clichés and gleefully exploits as many of them as possible. They're equally aware of the detective story's antecedents in the Gothic novel, a connection that Franju is only too happy to emphasise visually at every opportunity thanks to his magnificent main location. A young Jean-Louis Trintignant (The Conformist, Amour) is amongst the Kerloquen heirs. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS: High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations of the feature, restored by Gaumont Uncompressed French Mono 1.0 PCM Audio Optional English subtitles Vintage production featurette from 1960, shot on location and including interviews with Georges Franju and actors Pascale Audret, Pierre Brasseur, Marianne Koch, Dany Saval and Jean-Louis Trintignant Original theatrical trailer Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Chris Fujiwara

• Eyes Without A Face | DVD | (12/05/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Guilt-ridden after recklessly crashing his car and leaving his daughter severely disfigured celebrated plastic surgeon Dr Gennesier becomes obsessed with restoring her beauty by transplanting a new face onto her mutilated features. Aided by his devoted assistant Louisa young woman are lured back to his home to become unwitting 'donors' in his horrific procedures. Although too much for many critics of the day to stomach Franju's masterpiece is now considered to be one of the greatest most influential and disturbing horror films ever made.

• La Tete Contre Les Murs | DVD | (21/09/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  An intense study of the clash between medical ideals the first full-length work from Georges Franju (Les yeux sans visage Judex) is a gripping examination of postwar psychiatric care boasting a memorable cast including Pierre Brasseur Anouk Aim''e Charles Aznavour Paul Meurisse and Jean-Pierre Mocky. Mocky plays Fran''ois G''rane an aimless young man whose delinquent tendencies cause his father to have him committed to a psychiatric ward. There under the cold command of Dr. Varmont (Brasseur) he finds himself fighting for his dignity sanity and freedom barely holding on through the new-found love of his girlfriend Stephanie (Aim''e) and the promise of rival Dr. Emery's (Meurisse) more humane techniques. Compassionate yet unflinching La T''te contre les murs is a bold precursor to the likes of Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor and Milos Forman's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest revealing Franju's poetic gift for creating images both concrete and evocative and an ominous hint of the clinical horrors yet to come in Les yeux sans visage. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the debut feature of a late-flowering great filmmaker.