La Nouvelle Mission de Judex

Jacques de Trémeuse, better known as Judex, has married Jacqueline, and has become a father to her son, Little Jean. Jacques' brother Roger loves Primerose, whose father is the inventor, Milton. Jean's teacher conceals a double identity: he is both the distinguished Dr. Howey, and also the criminal One-Eyed Man, who wears an eye patch. Dr. Howey and his accomplice, the dangerous Baronne d'Apremont, head an organisation known as the Rafle aux secrets ("The Raiders of the Secrets"). They both have the capacity to hypnotise the innocent Jacqueline and Primerose and make them do things against their will: Primerose steals the plans for her father's invention for them, an automatic propulsion system, just before Milton is to file the patent with the Minister of the Navy; Jacqueline threatens to poison her already ill son. Primerose kidnaps Jean on behalf of the crooks.

Judex is forced to take action. The Baronne and her female aid Gaby hold Little Jean, but they are captured and imprisoned by Judex and his colleague Cocantin. Gaby repents but the unrepentant Baronne escapes. Dr. Howey and the Baronne die when their boat explodes, accidentally caused by Cocantin. In the end, Primerose is cured and marries Roger.^[2][3]

The sequel uses many of the same actors and characters as in the previous Judex film serial, with the notable exception of Musidora whose character, the villainous femme fatale Diana Monti, was killed off at the end of the earlier series.

• René Cresté as Judex
• Marcel Lévesque as Alfred Cocantin
• Yvette Andréyor as Jacqueline
• Édouard Mathé as Roger de Trémeuse
• Louis Leubas [fr] as Favraux, the banker
• Gaston Michel as Kerjean
• Émile Keppens [fr] as Milton
• Andrew Brunelle [fr] as Dr. Howey alias "The One-Eyed Man"
• Juana Borguèse^[a] as Baronne d'Apremont
• Georgette De Nerys as Primerose
• Cyprian Gilles as Gaby
• Olinda Mano as Little Jean

The director Louis Feuillade and the novelist Arthur Bernède had collaborated on the 1916 film serial Judex, accompanied by a 12-part cinematographic novel, which was simultaneously serialised in newspapers and film.^[2] After the success of that approach, they created a sequel serial titled La Nouvelle Mission de Judex (lit. "The New Mission of Judex", released in the UK as The Further Exploits of Judex).^[5]

The serial was shot almost entirely on the Riviera, in seven months.^[2]

The printed story ran in Le Petit Parisien from 11 January to 4 April 1918, and the film episodes ran from 25 January to 15 April 1918.^[2]

The twelve numbered episodes average 25 minutes in length each:^[6]

1. Le Mystère d'une nuit d'été (A Midsummer Night's Mystery)
2. L'Adieu au bonheur (Farewell To Happiness)
3. L'Ensorcelée (The Bewitched)
4. La Chambre aux embûches (The Chamber of Traps)
5. La Forêt hantée (The Haunted Forest)
6. Une Lueur dans les ténèbres (A Glimmer In The Darkness)
7. La Main morte (The Dead Hand)
8. Les Captives (The Captives)
9. Les Papiers du Dr. Howey (Dr. Howey's Papers)
10. Les Deux destinées (The Two Destinies)
11. Le Crime involontaire (The Unintended Crime)
12. Châtiment (Retribution)

It is generally agreed that the serial was a poor sequel to the earlier Judex. The public was disappointed by the blandness of the revival and the serial was lambasted by critics, with the influential film critic Louis Delluc stigmatising Feuillade's "serialised abominations",^[7] and writing "Friends took me to see La Nouvelle Mission de Judex. Friends?"^[2]

The Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) holds the most complete copy of the serial, with scenario and archival film material.^[1]

The BFI describes the serial as "infuriatingly unavailable (even online)".^[8]The serial is also unavailable on DVD.

• Judex
• Judex (1916 film)
• Judex (1934 film)
• Judex (1963 film)
• List of film serials
• List of film serials by studio