Doctor Renault’s Secret is a 1942 horror film about a young doctor who visits his fiancée, who is idolised by Renault’s assistant, a strange immigrant from Java.
The movie was directed by Harry Lachman from a screenplay by William Bruckner and Robert F. Metzler. It is based on the story Balaoo by Gaston Leroux (author of The Phantom of the Opera) which was adapted as a film in 1913 and again as the 1927 “lost” film The Wizard.
The 20th Century Fox production stars J. Carrol Naish (The Monster Maker), Shepperd Strudwick, Lynne Roberts and George Zucco.
Plot:
A young doctor named Larry Forbes (Shepperd Strudwick) arrives in a French village in order to wed the niece of prominent local doctor, Doctor Renault (George Zucco). Doctor Forbes learns from the innkeeper that a storm has washed out the bridge to Renault’s house and he ends up spending the night at the inn. There he meets most of the film’s main characters including Doctor Renault’s strangely deformed man servant, Noel (J. Carrol Naish). It is during the night that the first of the murders occurs. Another tourist takes the room meant for him and is killed mysteriously.
The next day, Forbes travels to the house of Doctor Renault, where he is reunited with Renault’s pretty young niece, Madeline (Lynne Roberts). A sequence of strange events, including an incident in which Noel is viciously attacked by a stray dog that Madeline picked up, convinces Forbes that there is something unusual about Noel, but he does not know what it is. Also, it quickly becomes clear that Noel is interested in Madeline as well.
After Madeline’s stray dog is killed, Renault confronts Noel and it is revealed that his man servant is actually an experiment – an animal given the physical and mental characteristics of a man. Fearing for Forbes’ life (as well as his own), Renault locks Noel in a cage, but the former animal is able to use his strength to escape and follows Forbes and Madeline to a carnival. There he is heckled by a pair of villagers, who are promptly murdered in their homes.
Forbes’ suspicions increase and he sneaks into Doctor Renault’s laboratory. There he finds a book detailing the experiments Doctor Renault carried out to transform Noel from an ape into a man. Renault catches Forbes reading his notes and threatens to kill him if he reveals the truth to anyone, but Noel sneaks up on the both of them and attacks and kills Doctor Renault. In the closing sequence, Madeline is abducted by her gardener, an ex-convict named Rogell (Mike Mazurki), and Noel pursues them. After a lengthy chase, Rogell shoots Noel. Before succumbing to his wounds, Noel strangles Rogell.
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