Simply A Masterpiece

Good concept, poorly executed.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

While reading a review of another movie this film was mentioned. Deciding to check it out, I found it on line. Unlike some reviews I've read, I found it interesting. The short running time of fifty eight minutes was probably a good decision by the film makers considering the screen play offers few surprises. An American doctor travels to Europe to visit a doctor friend George Zucco and uncle of his intended bride.Forced to stay overnight at an inn because of a storm, the doctor is met by a driver Noel, played by J. Carrol Nash.. A murder occurs, with Noel being a suspect. Arriving at their destination, the investigation continues with other murders occurring. Confusing at times the film comes to a satisfying conclusion. A familiar cast with Lynne Roberts and Arthur Shields as a police inspector make good use of a screen play that drags in spots. Ray Corrigan doubles Nash in the stunt department. Nothing exceptional but a good way to pass an hour.

"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.

Yes, this is a poor man's ISLAND OF LOST SOULS -- it can only afford ONE lost soul. But J. Carrol Naish is so amazing as the Ape-Man and he has such a marvelous supporting cast (including the always-solid George Zucco and Mike Mazurki) that it's absolutely watchable and compelling. Plus director Harry Lachman takes such care in creating each shot -- beautiful shots, every single one -- that it looks far more expensive than it must have been. They play the Man-Beast as more sympathetic and Pitiful than Frightening, which is a very good choice. So this doesn't have Big Scares but it has emotion and tenderness and care and wonderful attention to detail. I liked it quite a bit.

WARNING! DANGER! SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER! I must confess that I only saw this film for the first time recently on video, having missed it when it was shown on New York T.V. in the early seventies. About all knew about this film was that it featured J. Carrol Naish and George Zucco and was a variation on "The Island Of Dr. Moreau" from a still and a brief mention in Dennis Gifford's "A Pictorial History Of Horror Movies." I had wrongly assumed this was just another cheezey "poverty row" B horror, when actually it was a Fox production (although still a "B") with decent production values in the manner of low budget big studio films. I also discovered the film has a remarkably good performance from J. Carrol Naish. I should have known the former and expected the latter. In many ways the film is surprisingly good and the reasons for its relative obscurity remains a mystery.Most of what makes this film memorable is the performance of J. Carrol Naish as the unfortunate apeman Noel. Naish plays the apeman Noel as a sad, unhappy, and very sympathetic character. I read once where Naish said that an actor owes it to the audience to always give his best performance, even if he thinks the production is beneath him. Naish stated that an actor should always see a given role as a challenge, and Naish takes the challenge head on in this film. Naish was one of thirties and forties best character/supporting players. He always gave a good account of himself whether in prestigious films like SAHARA (1943) or dismal programmers like JUNGLE WOMAN (1944) (See my comments on that film). Most any other actor cast to play an apeman would have probably felt embarrassed, walked through the role, collected their paycheck and never looked back.George Zucco makes the most of his limited screen time. Here he gives his usual suavely sinister-if at times over the top-performance as Dr. Renault. There is some distraction involving an ex-con handyman employed by Dr. Renault played Mike Mazurki. Early on, Noel is kind of a red herring for Mazurki's own murderous activities. The film is set in France, but some the cast, especially Arthur Shields are unconvincing as Frenchmen. Other cast members like Shepperd Strudwick who plays a non-Frenchman are adequate.This film was the last film directed by Harry Lachman. Most of his films were routine studio films with some exceptions including DANTE'S INFERNO and OUR RELATIONS with Laurel and Hardy. He soon retired from films after this and went back to being an artist and opening up a shop in Hollywood that sold unusual antiques. In fact the last film he was connected with was a short documentary about his shop called TREASURE FROM TRASH (1946) in which he appeared as himself. There is one very interesting scene in the film when male lead Shepperd Strudwick sneaks into Dr. Renaults lab and discovers his notes. The transformation is told in narration by Zucco and a series of still photographs capturing Noels transformation from ape to man. E.A. Dupont used a similar scene told in a series of still photographs to good effect in the otherwise dismal film, THE NEANDERTHAL MAN (1953.) (See my comments on that film). The one very weak point in the film is having Noel actually kill two people which we see on screen. There is a murder early in the film (off screen) where Noel is a suspect but its obvious by the films end he didn't do it. Why have a character that ends up becoming the hero at the end commit two murders kind of bothered me.Dr. RENAULT'S SECRET is decent forties B horror film made people who cared about what they were making. It's not an unsung classic of the horror film genre, but it is worth viewing by people who can appreciate good old fashioned horror films.