Dr. Renault's Secret (1942)

Dr. Larry Forbes is visiting a cosy French village to meet his fiancee, and her uncle Dr. Renault. He is quickly introduced to Renault's strange assistant Noel, and he swaps rooms with a drunk American tourist, who is found murdered. There's some concern the killer was after Larry, which he brushes off. But he's soon given pause for thought when more killings occur, and Dr. Renault has his own suspicions, tying back to a secret from his past...

Based on a 1911 novel by Gaston Leroux, Dr. Renault's Secret is a fairly standard 1940s b-movie. A mad scientist with a fascination in gorillas is doing experiments, the usual. Broadly this isn't anything we haven't seen before, but the finer details are where it gets more interesting!

Renault's assistant Noel is the key to the film's success. He seems relatively normal, if perhaps mentally simple. He's passed off as a native from Indonesia, but in actuality his origin isn't what it seems. Noel, the talking standing human being, used to be an ape! Usually when we see primates in the captivity of mad scientists, they're just animals, but Noel used to be an animal, and is now a human, who acts like us, and can even speak! It's a fascinating idea, how a completely different life form would adjust and learn, and how it can be more like us.

Despite this change to his nature, Noel is still an animal at heart. He yearns to be free and experience things how he used to, and feels frustrated by Dr. Renault's attempts to keep him 'civilised', as a boring old human. While Noel may be simple, he understands that the doctor is trying to make him something he's not. In a way making him every bit as Renault could have hoped!

The film has a nice sense of ambiguity. Noel's animal desires often translate to violence. He loves Madeline...and may kill to keep her from another man. He likes dogs, but they don't like him, leading to a cross-species punch-up. As the body count racks up, Renault is convinced Noel is the guilty party, but we never actually see him commit those first murders, and he may well be innocent! But the point still stands, he's capable of it, as we see when he does murder two heckling townsfolk (in pretty spectacular fashion!). Noel is neither portrayed as entirely good, or evil, and our sympathies are meant to lie with him.

The titular Dr. Renault is quite ambiguous himself. He's not evil, and his experiment is perfectly benevolent. He even intends on taking action when he thinks Noel has killed people. But it's his whole attitude that makes you wonder. Although I really think the movie coulda worked a bit harder to make his actions questionable. Because as it is, all he's done is turn an animal human, teach it English, and employ it as a butler. Nothing really illegal, no egregious tampering in God's domain. In fact if he brought his findings to the scientific community as is, not only would he not be charged with anything, he'd be lauded!

The final act takes place at a local fair, where fun and games are had, until Noel dispatches two tormentors, before confronting the doctor. Meanwhile Madeline is kidnapped by a more human villain, and only Noel can save her. This leads to a fun climax, and Noel is absolved of his previous murders by dying to save the day. After which we get a pretty abrupt ending!

The leading guy and girl are an alright pair, but nothing more than standard. Noel gets the lion's share of development, and is interesting to follow. And Dr. Renault is an affable host, but with something to hide. Even if he doesn't technically do anything villainous, and his heavy-handedness with Noel only comes when he thinks he's been killing people, he still meets a sticky end. He's pretty much forgotten by the end though! I'm not sure if anyone even learns he's dead, let alone his daughter, nor do we see her mourning him.

The supporting players range from the townsfolk, who can be nice at times yet also bullies (They are such brazen assholes!), the lilting Irish police inspector, and Renault's shifty ex-con gardener. And then there's the most adorable dog! He's such a big boy, and gets in some nice pats!...Yeah, you'll wanna skip past minutes 28-29.

The direction in Dr. Renault's Secret is very dynamic. Scenes are shot and framed well, and there's a creative use of dutch angles! In fact it goes a little overboard. Half the movie is tilted on its side! The film believably recreates a quaint little French village, and has some nice locations and sets. There's not much in the way of effects besides set destruction, which is done well. I also liked the effort that went into Dr. Renault's picture book! Most other films woulda used stock images, but not this.

And lastly, the acting here is a real high point! George Zucco is a fun mad scientist, while the young couple are tolerable. And the townspeople are varying degrees of entertaining, with Mike Mazurki being a traditional hood. The accents are funny too, with everyone in this French town either sounding American, British, or Irish! And most importantly is J. Carroll Naish, who delivers a great performance! He delivers his lines in an effectively stiff way, like someone who's only just learned to speak, without sacrificing emotion. And his mannerisms really nail the not quite human feel of his character.

Dr. Renault's Secret is a pretty good film! And short too at only 58 minutes, so it definitely can't hurt checking it out...