Favraux, a corrupt banker living a life of luxury in Paris, receives a note from an avenger named Judex, claiming that he must turn over half of his fortune to the public affairs bureau or else. Favraux hires a private detective, Cocatin, to protect him, but at his daughter's engagement party that night, he suffers what appears to be a cardiac attack, and dies. However, Favraux is not dead. He is taken by Judex (and his brother Roger) to a cliffside estate, where in the basement Favraux is imprisoned in Judex's super-scientific laboratory. Jacqueline, Favraux's daughter, learns of her father's crookedness and gives the entire fortune away. A pair of crooks, Diana Monti and Morales, were originally after Favraux's money before he "died", but suspect he may be alive, and are after Jacqueline and her son, Jean (a really annoying character), thinking they know where Favraux is. Its up to Judex to bring these crooks to justice. A hard serial to describe since its very Dickensian in all of its characters and plots. Creste is good as Judex, as is Musidora and Levesque as Cocatin. My main trouble was that the serial went from a very good crime element slowly drifting into melodrama for the second half of the serial, with little action or suspense until the boat finale. Feulliade did a very good job with directing and co-authoring the tale. Rating, 7.
