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Fresh and Exciting

Absolutely Fantastic

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

"Dr. Renault's Secret" is a remake of "The Wizard" a lost film from 1927 that was in turn based on "Balaoo" a 1912 short story by Gaston Leroux. In "The Wizard" the plot involved a mad doctor (Gustav Von Seyffertitz) using an ape like creature to seek revenge on those he considers responsible for his son's execution. It was more of a comedy horror, with a couple of dumb detectives - a genre that was very much in vogue in the late 20s. "Dr. Renault's Secret" doesn't play it for laughs - in fact it tries to bring a lot of sensitivity to the distasteful subject matter.Dr. Larry Forbes (John Sheppard) arrives in France (the locale of the original Leroux story) to meet his fiancée Madelon Renault (Lynne Roberts), the niece of Dr. Renault (George Zucco) another scientist. He is greeted by Noel (J. Carroll Naish), a zombie like creature who has a strange affection for Madelon. He also meets Rogell (Mike Mazurki), Renault's gardener, who by intimidation keeps the villagers in fear. Next morning one of the guests at the inn is found murdered - he had accidentally fallen asleep in Forbe's room. Suspicion falls on Rogell and he does nothing to show he is innocent. Weird things begin to happen when Forbes arrives at Dr. Renault's. Noel almost has a car accident when he "senses" a dog on the road - the same dog who savagely attacks him before the evening is over.If you watch the original trailer (that is on the DVD I have) it gives almost everything away. Dr. Renault's secret is - he has captured an ape in Java and through experimentation and plastic surgery has tried to make him more human like. J. Carroll Naish engages your sympathy from the start, not only with his plaintive voice which is like a slow motion Peter Lorre but he also carries himself in a hunched fashion with a simian walk. George Zucco is the repellent Dr. Renault, who keeps Noel in a fearful, subservient state with the help of a huge whip. It is interesting that Rogell is part of an experiment as well - a failed experiment because Rogell, coming from a family of criminals, his bad character is ingrained in him and will never change. A spate of murders happen in the village and from the start it is not hard to figure out who it is - with shots of a concerned Noel looking at his hands!!!George Zucco was a British stage actor who earned the nickname at Universal "One Take Zucco". He appeared in so many monster flicks in the 40s ("The Mad Ghoul", "Voodoo Man", "Fog Island") usually for smaller independents that if you look up Mad Doctor or Mad Scientist in the dictionary you will probably find his picture.P.S. The print I viewed was so clear that I could even see strings used as a pulley when Rogell was thrown in the water.Highly Recommended.

I was surprised to see that 20th Century Fox had produced this B horror classic, it was the kind of thing that Universal Studios was known for at the time. Had it been done at Universal I could have seen a whole series of films based on this.George Zucco plays the title role her, he's certainly played many a sinister character in his day. He's from the Doctor Moreau school of science. But whereas Moreau was tucked away on a remote South Sea Island doing his experiments on a host of animals, Renault has brought his one great experiment back from Java to his château in France.J. Carrol Naish plays the experiment, a Java ape who's not got the human social graces quite down yet. Naish's characterization falls somewhere between Charles Laughton's Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Frankenstein monster of Boris Karloff. It's a brilliant piece of acting, gone unappreciated because it's in a B horror picture.Lynne Roberts is Zucco's niece, deliberately brought to his château to stimulate Naish's budding human libido. It's budding a little too well so her scientist boyfriend Sheppard Strudwick is brought in to get her out of the place and safely married. There's also a nice side story involving Zucco's retainers Mike Mazurki and Jean Del Val in a kidnapping scheme. The two parts of the story come together at the finish.I was lucky enough to see this as I got up earlier than expected today. Don't miss it if it's ever broadcast at a reasonable hour.

Dr. Renault's Secret (1942) is a boring science-experiment-gone-wrong sci-fi horror. Dr. Renault, eager for notability in the medical field, turns an ape (man wearing gorilla suit) into an apeman (man wearing bad wig and lump under his top lip), named Noel. Noel becomes Dr. Renault's servant and all goes seemingly well for a while but soon things take a turn as Dr. Renault learns he underestimated Noel's animal instinct and aggression.Could've made more of it's 58 minute run time but it jumped around in a jumbled fashion making it impossible for the viewer to care.To sum this film up in a word: lackluster.

I watched this movie on a videotape which was rather dark but I enjoyed the film. I have been watching horror films for 45 years and through the miracle of NTSC imports, I'm trying to catch up with those that I have missed. And I'm seeing some stinkers! This however is a reasonable example of the genre, the standouts being Arthur Sheilds, J.Carrol Naish and Mike Mazurki. Unusually, George Zucco hasn't got much to do in the title role. Noel the ape-man is very fortunate and obviously a skilful driver as he handles the Rolls Phantom II very well and can see round corners (when he avoids the dog). Very useful. Not a film for those who are not connoiseurs. Also not much effort given to the cliche creepy bits, but definitely miles better than a Monogram effort.