Dr. Renault's Secret

Dr. Renault's Secret

Credits
Title:	Dr. Renault's Secret
Director:	Harry Lachman
Writers:	William Bruckner; Robert F. Metzler
Producers:	Sol M. Wurtzel
Composer:	Emil Newman; David Raksin
Cinematography:	Virgil Miller
Editors:	Fred Allen
Production
Production company:	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Released:	October 19th, 1942
Rating:	Approved
Running time:	58 min.
Country:	USA
Language:	English
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Dr. Renault's Secret is an American feature film of the science fiction and horror genres. It was directed by Harry Lachman with a screenplay written by William Bruckner and Robert F. Metzler loosely based on the novel Balaoo, written by Gaston Leroux in 1911. The film was produced by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and released theatrically in the United States on October 19th, 1942.

Plot[]

A young doctor named Larry Forbes arrives in a French village in order to wed the niece of prominent local doctor, Doctor Renault. 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. 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. 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 Dr. 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, and Noel pursues them. After a lengthy chase, Rogell shoots Noel. Before succumbing to his wounds, Noel strangles Rogell.

Cast[]

Actor	Role
J. Carrol Naish	Noel
John Shepperd	Doctor Larry Forbes
Lynne Roberts	Madelon Renault
George Zucco	Doctor Robert Renault

Notes & Trivia[]

The tagline to this film is "Half-ape...half-man! He dared to love and found himself hunted and hated! Condemned to a limbo of two worlds...and invisible chains!"
There are a total of four credited cast members in this film.
This movie was filmed at 20th Century Fox Studios in Century City, Los Angeles, California.

Recommendations[]

Boogie Man Will Get You, The
Corpse Vanishes, The
Monster and the Girl, The
Undying Monster, The

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