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Bloody Judge (The) AKA Il Trono di fuoco AKA Der Hexentöter von Blackmoor AKA El proceso de las brujas AKA Il trono di fuoco AKA Night of the Blood Monster (1970)
Hunted like dogs, hunted wolves, burned like devils: in the name of the right!Director: Jess Franco
Year of Copyright: 1970
Year of Production: 1969
OVERALL: Draw-
OVERALL: Draw
The R0 Blue Underground and R2 Medium Rare releases offer a completely English-friendly version of the uncut composite release. The limited Koch release has a longer integral version only in standard definition along with the composite cut and German cinema cut in HD.
The German releases from '84 Entertainment and Starlight, on the other hand, feature a similar composite and the German theatrical cut, plus a wealth of extra features. However, please note that these releases are not completely English-friendly (some scenes in the longer composite are presented in German without English subtitles, and the German theatrical cut is in German only) and feature forced German subtitles on the English language track.
VERSIONS:
GENERAL NOTES:
This Italian/West German/Spanish/Liechtensteinian co-production exists in five primary versions:
The English-dubbed export version (94 minutes NTSC / 89 minutes PAL)
This version is missing:
23:43 - A scene lasting 5:25 in which Mary tries to commit suicide and is rescued by Harry. This can be found in the Spanish print (and panned-and-scanned in the Canadian version).
58:32 - A single 0:04 shot of the chained women being led into a house. This is also in the Spanish and Canadian prints.
66:09 - The scene in which Sally appears before Judge Jeffries in court contains three additional shots in the Spanish, Canadian and German prints.
73:42 - The German print includes a complete 2:23 scene in which Sally washes and dresses Mary before giving her a dagger. In the Spanish print, this scene has been cut down to 1:27 eliminating as much nudity as possible (though three unique close ups of the guards have been added to smooth over the cuts). In the French print, only the final three shots of this sequence are retained.
75:10 -'The German print includes a complete 2:23 scene in which Jeffries' hand removes Mary's clothes. The Spanish print cuts this scene down to 1:37 removing all nudity. The scene does not feature at all in the Canadian / French version.
Also, the German print uses alternate takes of three scenes.
29:11 - The scene in which Mary and Harry talk in the barn appears in a clothed variant in the Redemption release, and a nude variant in the German release.
54:33 - The montage of tortures in the Salvation and other releases uses superimpositions to obscure the image. In the German edition, these shots appear without superimposition.
72:38 - The scene, in which the guard releases Mary from the dungeon appears in the German version via alternate takes - not for any good reason, though the action is noticeably different, with the guard threatening Mary with a dagger.
(This info is from Brad Stevens / Mondo Erotico)
Additional info from the Rewind user Tim (for clarity this print):
- Has the clothed version of the love scene in the barn.
- Is missing the disrobing bath scene in which Maria Rohm is given the knife.
- Is missing the sex scene between Jeffries and Maria Rohm in which you only see Jeffries' hand.
- Is missing the suicide scene.
- Is missing the scene in which Rohm licks blood of naked prisoner.
Obscures some of the torture scenes by distorting the image (and then cuts to Jeffries waking up thereby implying that he has dreamt it).
A composite of the English dubbed export version and the edit of the film prepared for the German market (103 minutes NTSC = 99 minutes PAL)
This version does not have the scene of Maria Rohm attempting drowning and being rescued within the film. However, it does include the scene in which Maria Rohm is forced by prison guards to lick the blood of a naked female prisoner hanging down from a ceiling (in German, with Dutch subtitles). It also has the unclothed version of the barn sex scene.This version features the following footage from the German release prints (which has been composited into the English export version of the film):
- 23:43: Omits a scene lasting 5:25 in which Mary tries to commit suicide and is rescued by Harry. This can be found in the Spanish print (and panned-and-scanned in the Canadian version).
- 58:32: The shot of the chained women being led into a house is present and is preceded by a brief night-time scene of the chained women being led through the woods
- 66:09: The scene in which Sally appears before Judge Jeffries in court contains three additional shots in comparison with the Salvation release; some of Christopher Lee’s dialogue is in German usually presented with optional subtitles.
- 73:42: Includes the complete 2:23 scene in which Sally washes and dresses Mary before giving her a dagger. The scene includes a glimpse of full frontal nudity, which is intact in this version of the film. Dialogue for this scene is in German usually featuring with optional subtitles.
- 71:15: A shot of a severed hand lying on the floor in the torture chamber.
- 72:41: A strung up woman whose modesty is barely concealed by ripped clothing is whipped.
- 75:10: Includes the complete 2:26 scene in which Jeffries' hand removes Mary's clothes.
- 76:00: A naked woman is tortured (Branded on back ?)
- 77:00: Howard Vernon speaks to Rohm in German (usually with optional subtitles prior to the 'licking' scene).
Also, the German print uses alternate takes of three scenes:
- 29:11: The scene in which Mary and Harry talk in the barn appears in a clothed variant in the Salvation release, and a nude variant in the German release; uses the nude variant of the scene.
- 54:33: The montage of tortures in the Salvation and other releases uses superimpositions to obscure the image. In the German edition, these shots appear without superimposition. This version is uncut and, like the German prints, features no superimposition; a female prisoner’s hand is graphically hacked off prior to shots depicting Lee waking from his nightmare.
- 72:38: The scene, in which the guard releases Mary from the dungeon appears in the German version via alternate takes - not for any good reason, though the action is noticeably different, with the guard threatening Mary with a dagger.
Extended composite version AKA the fully restored European version (112 minutes NTSC = 108 minutes PAL)
This adds the deleted scene found on the Blue Underground release (and others); only presumably in better quality. Also adds other bits from the German release version.
German release version (79 minutes NTSC = 76 minutes PAL).
Italian release version (95 minutes NTSC = 91 minutes PAL).
Spanish release version (94 minutes NTSC = 90 minutes PAL). -
CUTS:
- R0 America- Blue Underground - No cuts - composite version (102:33 NTSC)
- R0 Spain- Divisa Red - No cuts - Spanish theatrical version (~90:00 PAL)
- R2 Austria- XT Video - No cuts - (102:39 PAL)
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R2 Germany- '84 Entertainment - No cuts: contains two edits
- "The fully restored European version", a composite of the English dubbed export version and the edit of the film prepared for the German market (108:30 PAL)
- The German theatrical version (76:18 PAL) - R2 5-Disc Limited Edition Germany- Koch Films / Filmjuwelen - No cuts - includes the German cinema version (79:04), the international version (102:40), and the integral cut (104:08 PAL)
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R2 Deluxe Special Edition Germany- Starlight - No cuts: contains two edits
- "The fully restored European version", a composite of the English dubbed export version and the edit of the film prepared for the German market (108:30 PAL)
- the German theatrical version (76:18 PAL) - R2 Holland- Dutch Filmworks - No cuts - Composite version (102:38 NTSC > PAL)
- R2 Italy- Passworld - No cuts - Italian theatrical version (see Notes) (90:47 PAL)
- R2 United Kingdom- Mediumrare - No cuts - Composite version (102:41 NTSC > PAL)
- R2 United Kingdom- Salvation Films - No cuts - English export version (89:20 PAL)
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Comparison added by Jari_Kovalainen on 20/10/03
Comparison last updated by Eric_Cotenas on 30/11/23UPDATE LOG:
25/07/13: Added German releases from '84 Entertainment and Starlight, Austrian release from XT Video, UK release from Medium Rare and Italian release from Passworld, and corrected spelling errors.
Please ensure you read our disclaimer.
11/06/17: Added detail and Amazon links where possible.
04/05/18: Updated UK Salvation Films release specs.
31/05/18: RTs added to UK (Medium Rare) release (movie / extras). Theatrical trailer / slideshow added to Medium Rare specs.
22/05/20: Added titles and version notes.
11/02/21: Added caps-a-holic and German limited edition.
12/06/21: Dates.
12/06/21: Tagline
30/11/23: Version notes corrections and co-production title additions.
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