Steineded How sad is this?

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

tomwal 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.

bensonmum2 While I enjoyed watching Dr. Renault's Secret, the movie has one serious flaw that keeps it from being a real winner. The problem with Dr. Renault's Secret is that there really isn't much of a secret. Anyone with half a brain would be hard pressed not to guess what's going on within the first ten minutes of the movie. I have a hard time believing that even the less jaded horror fans of 1942 would have been shocked by the revelations made toward the end of the film about Dr. Renault and his assistant, Noel. The movie all but beats you over the head with its supposed "secret".But even with this flaw, there's still a lot to enjoy here for fans of classic horror. To start with, J. Carrol Naish gives one of those wonderful performances that I'll remember long after having watched the movie. He's awesome as the strange Noel. The way he changes his body language as the movie goes on and his more animalistic tendencies start to come out is perfect. George Zucco gives his usual nice performance even though his role is limited. The film also very nicely shot. Dr. Renault's Secret features some top-notch cinematography, set design, lighting, and everything else that goes into make a movie look "good". It might have been a "B" film, but it doesn't look like it. Fox didn't make many horror films, but when they did, they did it right.One final note – it's odd to me that the movie is supposed to be set in France. While I don't necessarily have a problem with some of the British and American actors in the movie, there's just no way Arthur Shields could have ever been a French police inspector. He's way too Irish to ever be anything but Irish.

bkoganbing 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.

sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** If anything else the film "The Secret of Dr. Renault" is a Tor de Force for veteran character actor J. Carrol Nash as Dr. Renault's, George Zucco, ape-like and super sensitive, about his looks, handyman Noel.Nash, or handyman Noel, steals every scene that he's in, with a minimum amount of lines, as he actually wins over the sympathy of the audience even though he ends up brutally murdering a number of totally innocent persons. Noel becomes madly protective of Dr. Renault's daughter Madeline, Lynne Roberts, not just because she's beautiful but because she's the only person in the movie who can bring the best, as well as human, side out of him. Being born and brought up as a wild ape in the Javanese jungle Noel despite Dr. Renault's many experiments into making him into a human being is still really a monkey at heart.It's when Madline's fiancée American brain surgeon Larry Forbes, Shepperd Strudwick, show up at Dr. Renault's country château outside of Paris that strange things begin to happen both at Dr. Renault's place and the nearby town. The evidence of the murder of American tourist Mr. Austin, Jack Norton, that happens in the beginning of the movie points to the sensitive but a bit overprotective, in regards to Madeline, Noel who was turned off by a remark that Austin made. It soon becomes very obvious to who murdered Mr. Austin very early in the film and it's not Noel. The police in investigating Dr. Renault's handyman in the Austin murder are sure to find out the real reason that the doctor keeps Nole employed and it doesn't have anything to do with his plumbing and electrical skills.Trying as much as humanly possible to keep the animal in him under control the half-man half-ape Noel in the end give into his animal instincts and goes bananas from the very negative reactions that he gets from the local townspeople. This is in regards to what the townspeople say about his appearance looking like a cross between Mafia Godfather Don Corleone, with his mouth stuffed with cotton balls or candy jaw breakers, and Apache Indian chieftain Geronimo. Noel is also very hurt over the snide remarks said about him in his inability to dance like Fred Astaire as he was plodding all over the dance floor with Madeline during the towns Bastille Day celebrations.In the end Noel makes up for all the bad that he did in the movie by saving Madeline from being kidnapped held for ransom and possibly murdered by Dr. Renault's gardener the also ape-like ,but still human, looking Rogell, Mike Mazurki. Dr. Renault hired the ungrateful Rogell, whom he testified for at his trial, despite him having a long and violent criminal record. Dr. Renault had a bad record himself in picking those whom he employed at his château. It was that sloppiness on his part that lead to Dr. Renault in having his neck broken when he got too overconfident in his pushing, with a bull-whip,the meek and obedient Noel around.Noel now completely taken over by his other self, the wild and uncontrollable ape, throws caution to the wind in going after Rogell who's making his getaway together with the kidnapped Madeline by boat. In the most exciting sequence in the film Noel and Rogell, who's at least a foot taller, slug it out at a deserted watermill with the lovely Madiline's life hanging in the balance.